Letter to the Editor: Jack Kennedy Taking Exception to Adrienne Smith's Column on Brussels

To the Editor:

Mar. 30, 2016:  I would like to take exception to my good friend Adrienne Smith's article on Brussels. I had the good fortune to live in Brussels for almost a year in the mid-1970s. Brussels is not Paris, as others have said, but it has its charms.

Sitting in the Grand Place staring at the beautiful city hall at 10:00 pm sipping a Stella after a glorious three-star meal at Comme Chez Soi or a traditional Belgian waterzooie (I prefer chicken) at Taverne du Passage in the Galleria is heaven on earth.

The first Michelin three-star outside France was awarded in 1972 to the famed Villa Lorraine in the Bois de la Cambe, Brussels's great park ten minutes from downtown. You will also get a superb meal on the (scorned by Adrienne) rue des Bouchers at Chez Leon or Aux Armes de Bruxelles, where locals go.

The Amigo is the best hotel, but there are many others, and the Avenue Louise is a fashionable neighborhood with restaurants, shops, and hotels a convenient trolley ride from downtown.

The country's political situation is a mess and always has been. Three national groups--Flemish, Walloons, and Germans--each with its own liberal and conservative wings that can't agree on almost anything, which is the basic problem for the ineffective security situation.

But this does not impact the charm of the city or the country.

Jack Kennedy
Bronxville, NY

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