http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/ Welcome to Been there. Your tips on the places you know - that you love, live in or have just visited - are what make this guide. http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/32868 There is a logic to the displays, but you notice that this is not applied rigidly. There are train sets, dolls, cowboys and Indians and piggy banks competing with model kitchens, tin
soldiers and wind-up ladybirds. There’s wood and metal, but not so much plastic. Teddy
bears can be found everywhere, along with wooden toys to climb on and plenty of corners
to play hide and seek. Through a window you glimpse a workshop where dolls’ limbs and
broken rocking horses hang, just waiting to be nursed back to life. Other children laugh and chatter away as they clamber on the exhibits, and the adults seek out their own childhood toys and rarer items such as a Noah’s ark, paper theatre or dolls houses behind glass. They’d say the only thing that’s missing is a coffee shop.
Then I stumble across André, the curator of the museum tucked in a room downstairs, working with a young apprentice. He says that as a father of six children, he found he was always packing and unpacking toys. The idea for a museum came automatically thirty years ago, and it has now been in its current location for 22 years. “It’s dusty, noisy and full of bric-a-brac”, he smiles. “But people still really like it.” The children will tell him that he has understood the interactivity part all right, unlike many other stuffier museums. “A toy has to be played with”, André says. Luckily it is easier to acquire toys that are a little worn, and that explains the 35,000 objects, the 700 or so teddy bears, the vaults underground and the crammed attic above. “It’s a lot of work”, says André of the constant tidying, unpacking and restoration, “but really it’s a pleasure.”
He’s even written a book about working at the museum, with a name strikingly similar to that of a famous film. Thinking about it, this place is the perfect setting for a film, if only the toys came alive after dark …]]> http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/32868 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/16106
Scentastic is located underground at the Bourse metro/tram stop, and is just a couple of minutes walk from the Grand Place.

Once you’ve found the understated entrance (difficult, even if you know it’s there) you enter what looks like a large romper room/playground, all primary colours and play equipment.

Scientastic will then amaze and educate through its use of simple psychological, physiological perception experiments.

Virtually everything is hands on and a simple explanation leaflet can explain some of the impossible thing you encounter.

Try to arrive just as they open as usually a multi-lingual member of staff will perform a series of moves in front of a mirror.

Then go and play and explore at your leisure, it can and should take at least a couple of hours, adults will at least be surprised and kids just love it.]]> http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/16106 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/16102
Not so big and overwhelming, with so many "must sees," as Paris, but more than enough to keep you busy.

And there is loads of great chocolate - need I say more?

Don't miss MIM, with more than 1,000 ancient and rare instruments from around the world.

There is a lovely cafe overlooking the city on the top floor.

The best place we've found to stay with kids: Novotel Centre/Tour Noire. It has a cool hammam/indoor swimming pool surrounded by rocks which creates a very cool atmosphere. It is walking distance to Grand Place, also to many waterside restaurants and off-the-beaten path neighborhood places and playgrounds, good ethnic restaurants nearby, easy access to train station.

If you have more than a weekend, take a day trip to Bruges, Antwerp, or any other place in Belgium: distances are short!]]> http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/16102 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/16101 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/16101 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/16090
buy a Belgian speciality fruit beer and savour both the beer and the show.

And when it finishes, take a short walk to Chez Leon (rue des Bouchers) for the speciality of the house - Mussels and Chips - 14 different mussel speciality meals to choose from.

nb Children under 12 accompanied by parents are entitled to a free meal.]]> http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/16090 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/8243
It's started four years ago, and is repeated yearly.]]> http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/8243 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/3844
This a place where locals eat and drink, reflected in the menu and the prices. There are the usual steaks and moules frites, but you can try other typical Brusselois fare such as Anguilles au Vert (eels in green sauce and nicer than it sounds), Stoemp and even horse!

This is a very friendly, real place and well worth a try even if only for a drink before eating at the excellent St Catherine restaurants. Only a brief stroll from Bourse.]]> http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/3844 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/3842 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/3842 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/3841 If you call the hotel direct and not via the call centre you will get some fabulous deals.
Although a business/diplomat hotel at heart, our three children, aged four, eight and 12, are always welcomed.]]> http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/3841 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/3816 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/3816 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/3786 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/3786 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/323 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/323 http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/3793
Not only is there a fantastic collection of original drawings and memorabilia, including the rocket that took Tintin to the moon, but it's all housed in a wonderfully glamorous building by Victor Horta, whose art nouveau architecture has become synonymous with Brussels.

The museum has a superb gift shop where you can buy, as I did, an amazingly characterful furry Milou (Snowy) of your own to take home: mine, intended for my mother, was too adorable and has stayed with me ever since.]]> http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/3793