If you are taking your first trip to Brussels, be prepared for a wonderful surprise. The city is charming and fun. Of special interest is the Museum of Musical Instruments located in Upper Town near the Royal Palace. The museum is housed in a wonderful art nouveau building that used to be the Old England department store and it is beautifully maintained. The museum will delight young and old. It houses hundreds of instruments, including folk instruments and some instruments dating back hundreds of years. The wonderful thing about this museum is that everyone is given headphones and as you see each instrument, you can actually hear how that instrument sounds and the type of music that is played with that particular instrument. Even for those not musically inclined, this museum is interesting and highly enjoyable. There is a guide that you can take along with you that tells you the name of the piece being played and who the musicians are. It is fascinating to hear musical pieces performed with ancient instruments, instruments made out of gourds or animal skins or old instruments such as lyres and primative flutes. The admission is reasonable and children are only 2.50 GBP.
When entering, obtain your tickets from the counter on the right, then take your ticket to the coat check counter on the left and obtain your headphones.
