Brussels on a Monday?

I will be in Brussels for 2.5 days - half day Sunday, Monday, %26amp; Tuesday. I am looking for suggestions for what to do on Monday, as Monday seems to be the day many tourist attractions/museums are closed.

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Brussels%26#39; main attractions are open-air, like the Grand%26#39; Place and Manneken Pis, and the Galeries St. Hubert is a shopping gallery so Monday is a good day for wandering around there. The exhibition %26quot;Bruxelles en Scène%26quot; is open every day, see www.bruxelles-enscene.be . The Atomium also claims to be open every day and during its season (March-October?), so is Mini Europe (for both, metro to Heysel).

Exhibitions held in spaces run by private organisations (banks..), such as the ING Cultural Centre in Place Royale, currently showing %26quot;Contemporary Art in Germany%26quot;, are usually open on Mondays - though the current exhibition seems to be in collaboration with Bozar which is closed on Mondays, so if it interests you, you may have to check.

The following museums are open on Mondays: Autoworld at the Cinquantenaire (Mérode metro); Brewery Museum, Grand%26#39; Place; Jewish Museum (rue des Minimes, near the Sablon) ; Museum of Radiology; the botanical garden at Meise; the Gueuze Museum (Cantillon brewery), near Gare du Midi; Costume and Lace Museum, rue de la Violette (near the Grand%26#39; Place); the David and Alice Van Buren Museum; National Museum of the Resistance (Clémenceau metro); Wellington Museum in Waterloo. This is not an exhaustive list, as all private museums housed in university or union etc. buildings are also likely to be open Mon-Fri.

For details, click on %26quot;search options - alphabetical%26quot; on here for the full list of Brussels museums, and select: www.brusselsmuseums.be/en/musees/index.php

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So it looks like I%26#39;ll have a lot of options. Do you know if most of Brugge is open on Mondays? If not, would it be unrealistic to plan on taking the train at 12:30 or so on Sunday for a half day in Brugge, possibly staying until 9 and then returning via train to our hotel in Brussels? What are your thoughts on the following:

Sun: 1/2 day in Brugge

Mon: Brussels

Tues: Antwerp

I%26#39;d love to be able to see all three, but not at the cost of doing a disservice to one.

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You can check opening hours for Brugge museums on here: http://www.trabel.com/brugge-museum.htm

Of course, if you just want to walk around for a few hours (the train takes 1 hour) and perhaps take a boat ride on the canals, it doesn%26#39;t matter which museums are open and which closed.

As for Brussels, if your only day here is Monday then you wouldn%26#39;t be able to go to any of the really important museums, like the Musical Instrument Museum, the Royal Art and History Museums, the Fine Arts Museum (Ancient and Modern), the Horta Museum, the Comic Strip Museum, Africa Museum or the Oriental museums (Japanese Tower, Chinese Pavilion...), although you could drive past some of these on the hop-on, hop-off tourist buses that leave from the Central Station. If you have no interest in any of those, then what you propose is fine, but I am afraid this is something you can only decide for yourself.

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thanks! thats very helpful information as i will be in brussels on Monday, May 14th... I am staying at the Amigo which i believe is very close to the Grand Place. Any ideas on really good affordable restaurants?

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