I Went To The Most Hated, Unsafe City In Europe (

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  • Опубликовано: 14 окт 2024
  • If you're from the Americas, it's hard to find anywhere in Europe that's not worth a visit. Sure, London and Paris might have a few rough spots, but on the whole the continent is way more organized, clean and safe than most other places.
    Unfortunately, the capital of Europe seems to want to buck that trend. It truly is a unique city: one divided between two languages and peoples. It's dirty, not particularly nice looking, and dangerous--right in the heart of the city.
    Welcome to Brussels and Belgium. This wasn't what I expected.
    --------
    Instagram: sabbatical.tommy
    Patreon: / sabbaticaltommy
    #sabbatical #belgium #brussels

Комментарии • 3,9 тыс.

  • @SabbaticalTommy
    @SabbaticalTommy  Месяц назад +266

    No wonder they make the beers there so strong.
    This is stop #5 on the trip across Eurasia to the Pacific. Still haven't left the Atlantic but we're about to pick up the pace..

    • @super8nacho
      @super8nacho Месяц назад +16

      I pray you visit Oceania one day 🙏 Fiji, PNG, Solomon Islands, Vanuatu would make great videos

    • @Kerouac2024
      @Kerouac2024 Месяц назад +22

      If you're in Europe, you should visit Wales. Not many travel RUclipsrs do so you'll have a unique perspective. It's a bit of a shithole, but it's our shithole

    • @mrgrump5194
      @mrgrump5194 Месяц назад +4

      Muscles from Brussels

    • @Paradox-coffee
      @Paradox-coffee Месяц назад +1

      Government has given up cleaning it up. They keep spraying it while they paint even.
      There are plenty of jobs. But the migrants don't want to learn the language. And those that do speak it so poorly that there are less (still quit a few) jobs that would hire them because they need to be understandable.
      In the mean time the litter and drop of garbage in the streets to save on the money for garbage bags. The teens destroy public property and spray graffiti everywhere. And prices and tourism go's time, lowering jobs. They harass ppl, are violent and keep blaming a lack of jobs and other nationalities. Not necessarily white, any that's just not there nationality.
      Result, the cities is a dump and no one wants to live there but the non working migrants. Anyone that lived there has moved. Over 70% of the population is migrant, so i am not just dissing on migrants. They really are the majority. And they are also the problem it's a dumb.

    • @gazala141
      @gazala141 Месяц назад +7

      Tommy i am from belgium!? You want a free tourguide?! How long you staying man!? I can drive you around and show you our history!???

  • @jozefn1297
    @jozefn1297 Месяц назад +961

    I went to Brussels in 2016, and i got mugged on my first day there. I lost my keys, wallet, credit cards, ID, passport. I also broke my nose and chipped a tooth and had to go to the hospital, so i'm not too fond of Brussels either, lol.

    • @mokisan
      @mokisan Месяц назад +102

      Bloody hell that's so sad.

    • @mtnvortex
      @mtnvortex Месяц назад +58

      Part and parcel. Our greatest strength. Glad you're okay.

    • @optimystik181
      @optimystik181 Месяц назад +39

      Worst vacation ever. Glad ur good bro

    • @PEPPERS777
      @PEPPERS777 Месяц назад +104

      Went to brussels to see "groundation" in like '09. Almost got robbed twice wandering the streets after the concert. Three diverse individuals cornered my mate and me, shoving their hands in my pockets. I squared up and started yelling only to look back at my friend who was already 50 meters in the opposite direction, running.
      The city is a sad sight bordering on revolting.

    • @fair98fair
      @fair98fair Месяц назад +70

      ​@@PEPPERS777"diverse individuals" 😂

  • @YvS666
    @YvS666 Месяц назад +422

    I live in Belgium, 42 yrs old. 1 1/2hr drive from my place to central Brussels.
    Used to love it in my teens to go skateboarding and shopping ... seen the city become more and more dirty/sketchy/dangerous theoughout the years.
    You could pay me now to go there, i would tell you to keep your money.
    Really sad, used to be a thriving, vibrant city.

    • @karlheinzvonkroemann2217
      @karlheinzvonkroemann2217 Месяц назад +14

      What's changed huh?

    • @Sven-c4t
      @Sven-c4t Месяц назад

      ​@@karlheinzvonkroemann2217 Immigrants

    • @Vocalhero-w9q
      @Vocalhero-w9q 29 дней назад

      @@karlheinzvonkroemann2217Muslims

    • @Andek74
      @Andek74 29 дней назад +81

      @@karlheinzvonkroemann2217 savages came to live there, I guess

    • @MwanaZion
      @MwanaZion 29 дней назад

      You made it like this yourself with your immigration policies bringing in Moroccans, turks and the rest of the uncivilised barbarians from the middle east, what did you expect would happen? You only got yourselves to blame. Trulym your sins will find you out, this is only the beginning good sir, it will get much much worse and darker for Brussels and Belgium as a whole.

  • @deadbeat5165
    @deadbeat5165 29 дней назад +514

    as an arab from the gulf idk why europe accept so many refugees without even thinking twice .. i get that the average age is quit old in europe and u need workers but we in GCC countries needed workers even more .. we just give them job contracts and thats about it no citizenship or anything and i don't understand why would that even be on the table.

    • @Alex_Gordon
      @Alex_Gordon 29 дней назад +1

      WE the people didn't accept all these refugees, it's our corrupt, self indulgent, power hungry, narcissistic politicians that are deciding things over our heads. we can't do anything about it!

    • @halko7122
      @halko7122 28 дней назад +87

      you don't understand? woke ideology is the answer.

    • @deadbeat5165
      @deadbeat5165 28 дней назад +39

      @@halko7122 but Woke ideology shall be applied to the ethnic minorities within the country and who are native to the land .. not to some foreigners from other continents.

    • @carick235
      @carick235 28 дней назад

      Because when people ask for proper border controls and controls of immigration they are called "nazis" by mainstream media, so no wonder right-wing parties are getting more votes in elections across those Western countries.

    • @XScythexXx
      @XScythexXx 27 дней назад +5

      The no citizenship is partially why, I know people(asians) who work in the UAE crazy high salary (I'm in the EU myself and what they earn is insane compared to our wages), but it's not enough for them and want to move to the US instead.
      I believe they won't get pension so that could be the major issue.

  • @johncollins8980
    @johncollins8980 23 дня назад +168

    Brussels was a great up until about 20 years ago........but now an Islamic rat hole, London, Paris, Berlin & Amsterdam going the same way..........terrifying & so so sad.........BLAME THE POLITICIANS.

    • @jsjssgshsusygxsbclaraxx
      @jsjssgshsusygxsbclaraxx 20 дней назад +12

      It actually looks a lot better and more vibrant than 20 years ago, but sadly there are many more homeless people these days.

    • @bilol1171
      @bilol1171 19 дней назад +12

      @@jsjssgshsusygxsbclaraxx dirt and more rubbish makes a city look better. cool story bro.

    • @thedude9014
      @thedude9014 12 дней назад +5

      More clients for you mom

    • @Chickennuggetexpress
      @Chickennuggetexpress 9 дней назад

      Ur just racist

    • @eurasianlynx
      @eurasianlynx 3 дня назад

      You sound jealous because Muslims keep european inner cities and high streets alive with small businesses and a young population xD

  • @Meow-pe2dz
    @Meow-pe2dz Месяц назад +375

    Brussels is the pioneer pilot city in Europe for countless number of new age immigrants.
    The results of this pilot are in front of you.

    • @trainsacomin2088
      @trainsacomin2088 26 дней назад +7

      As in kamakaze pilot....?

    • @johannavanklaveren66
      @johannavanklaveren66 25 дней назад +11

      It's not Kinshasa. That's where Belgians chopped off Africans' arms. See King Leopold for some ugly history.

    • @trainsacomin2088
      @trainsacomin2088 25 дней назад +15

      A city where people are lookin' for revenge as justification makes it a DWPA (double whammy place to avoid)

    • @wulfsorenson8859
      @wulfsorenson8859 24 дня назад +32

      @@johannavanklaveren66the Belgiums clearly did that for a reason. They knew what kind of trash they were dealing with. See the RECENT Congo wars for some even uglier history.

    • @John_theodore
      @John_theodore 23 дня назад +1

      Tell your elected officials to stop destabilizing their countries then. The elites in Western countries practice predatory capitalism which wrecks 3rd world countries. The Intel agencies' constant meddling in said nations doesnt help anything

  • @gatedemon1
    @gatedemon1 21 день назад +56

    im from belgium we have so many nice towns and places but brussels is just turned into a shithole with crime and garbage everywhere
    they realy need to do something drastic specialy with the crime

    • @EzeLolo86
      @EzeLolo86 5 дней назад

      Kortrijk is on the way. Antwerp too

  • @thomashotton
    @thomashotton 21 день назад +57

    As a belgian that is born in brussel, I just can confirm that
    I left the city, my dad moved to another country.
    Its like Brussel is rotting from the inside and lot of cities in Belgium are following that track, no joke

    • @MR-mw4nj
      @MR-mw4nj 15 дней назад +3

      But why? Belgium is a rich country, isn’t it? And don’t be ashamed, Berlin doesn’t look any better!

    • @noisi_tc3068
      @noisi_tc3068 15 дней назад

      ​​​@@MR-mw4njye Belgium is rich. But Brussels has nothing to do with Belgium anymore. It's infested with economic migrants, petty criminals, drug addicts.. I think more than 50 pct of the city is immigrant. So there you have it..
      Go to Gent, Brugge, Kortrijk, Leuven, Hasselt, Tongeren there you'll find true Flemish/Belgian culture(Antwerpen also I would say but this place, together with Rotterdam, is the drug capital of Europe, and lots and lots of islamists).

    • @Morrie-queens
      @Morrie-queens 12 дней назад +5

      It's happening all over Europe. All by design of course.
      A population without shared values is easier to control.

    • @Victorvondoom9159
      @Victorvondoom9159 10 дней назад +1

      ​@@MR-mw4njbecause of immigrants from Africa and the middle east

    • @hasashi38
      @hasashi38 5 дней назад

      It rots because of unemployed folks and a lot of illegals.

  • @Utubedeletescomments
    @Utubedeletescomments Месяц назад +405

    I went to that train station with my wife at 4am, biggest mistake ever . Drug addicts everywhere and many will follow you. We got followed but luckily nothing happened ,this Spanish couple wasn't so lucky , 2 guys went up to them & one guy started touching his girl , the guy was too scared to say anything. I told my wife if they touch you and they have weapons i might be dying tonight because I'm not letting it slide. Luckily they didn't try me & I think it's because they thought I was Moroccan like them ( I'm Puerto Rican ) . They eventually let the Spanish couple go. I've been to over 37 countries & I'm from Brooklyn, i would never recommend that city if you're with your wife or girlfriend.

    • @goldenretriever6261
      @goldenretriever6261 Месяц назад +89

      I knew it! ...they thought you were Moroccan...so they were Muslims.

    • @myaopan
      @myaopan Месяц назад +41

      Muslim gangsters?

    • @akl4709
      @akl4709 Месяц назад +23

      That station is a crime scene waiting to happen

    • @gunterification
      @gunterification Месяц назад

      Like in every other country in europe immigration from the middle east and africa ruins the west.

    • @fair98fair
      @fair98fair Месяц назад +18

      I would be cautious going anywhere at 4 am, glad nothing too bad happened 👍

  • @kevinmartens471
    @kevinmartens471 29 дней назад +83

    I'm Belgian. Brussels is like that place we all have in our house, the place you try to keep shiny and sterile, where you want to be left alone, where you pass time on your smartphone or reading the newspaper, and you leave as soon as you dropped your package. 😉😁

    • @ohjajohh
      @ohjajohh 29 дней назад +2

      Familie van Dries?

    • @brentisone
      @brentisone 21 день назад

      Crazy answer must come from a flemish person who "hates" Brussels a lot?

  •  28 дней назад +282

    Brussels is known as a crime-infested city all over europe though it is the bureaucratic centre of the continent.

    • @gobien
      @gobien 27 дней назад

      A lot of politicians are criminals, so that makes sense :D (just a joke)

    • @undermysaviour
      @undermysaviour 26 дней назад +12

      😂 really what kind of crime and since when is it infested?

    • @TavistockLiesBrainwashing
      @TavistockLiesBrainwashing 26 дней назад +42

      Bureaucratic crime being the worst

    • @anthonycarlisle6184
      @anthonycarlisle6184 25 дней назад +12

      Sounds like D.C.

    • @Pietervandebuurt
      @Pietervandebuurt 25 дней назад

      Yea cause the EU bureaucrats are the criminals.

  • @Islandicus
    @Islandicus Месяц назад +77

    When I was shopping in Liege 20 years ago, a police officer was having an argument on the street with some man. A group of people gathered around. There were other officers nearby. The police officer put his walkie-talkie down on the ground and he and the man went down a side street to have a fist fight. The crowd followed to watch. A young man then walked past me and grabbed the walkie-talkie and strolled off. I went over to the other officers and informed them. They chased after the young man to retrieve the walkie-talkie and arrested him. The fist fight was more verbal than physical and the crowd started to leave. I just remember thinking what a strange city Liege was and what a strange country altogether. So I went into a department store nearby and continued shopping.

    • @axeldegives3817
      @axeldegives3817 Месяц назад +6

      Toutes les villes belge sont spéciale 😂😂😂 et je suis dans le centre de liège pour l'instant 😂😂😂

    • @rosen9425
      @rosen9425 28 дней назад +6

      Sounds like the early beta version of GTA 5 🤣

    • @Ken_oh545
      @Ken_oh545 24 дня назад +1

      Keep shopping my friend!

    • @Ken_oh545
      @Ken_oh545 24 дня назад

      PS I love Luik/Liege/Luttich though it has cleaned up its act too much since the old days. It was a good laugh to visit there near the Cathedral and the Quai 20 or 30 years back.

    • @Cabbagefryer
      @Cabbagefryer 20 дней назад +8

      yep, Liege and Charleroi are way worse than Brussels. At least in Brussels you can find some nice places if you stay in the city center. Liège and Charleroi are like molenbeek extended to an entire city. The crackhead concentration in Liège is crazy.

  • @richardclegg7846
    @richardclegg7846 23 дня назад +105

    My daughter travelled Europe on her own. She said Brussels was the most terrifying place for a lone woman to walk. Migrants were the problem. Not many seen on this video. Wonder why?

    • @itsmeQue48
      @itsmeQue48 17 дней назад +5

      Maybe he didn’t want to put no one out like that but he also said it wasn’t a good place from the beginning

    • @annaf3915
      @annaf3915 17 дней назад +15

      The city center is fine but when you find yourself in the wrong part of town after dark, it gets scary really fast. I arrived at a bus station in the North of Brussels and it was full of drug addicts and aggressive drunks. Got a taxi and out of there as fast as I could.

    • @canodepvc2837
      @canodepvc2837 12 дней назад +2

      Come to Brazil and you will see dangerous

    • @globalautobahn1132
      @globalautobahn1132 12 дней назад

      10:22 $17? Holy cow! 😂

    • @W4rM4chine82
      @W4rM4chine82 11 дней назад +1

      They only come out at night 😂

  • @interceptor6893
    @interceptor6893 Месяц назад +192

    Charleroi! You must visit, it's worse than Brussels, Europe's most depressing city!

    • @Ken_oh545
      @Ken_oh545 24 дня назад +9

      When you see shit in the streets its not from a dog. Passers-by look crazed and off their heads. Went there once and that was quite enough.

    • @DelFlo
      @DelFlo 24 дня назад +32

      I was in Charleroi once, at the train station, and I needed to pee. I decided to just take a piss in the station elevator. Normally I would never dare to do just a thing, but the environment sucked so much that it just seemed fitting and perfectly okay.

    • @MrKalekop
      @MrKalekop 24 дня назад +1

      Very true

    • @Space.Oddity666
      @Space.Oddity666 21 день назад

      Jep... It's an actual shithole

    • @bimbeano
      @bimbeano 21 день назад +2

      I once lost direction in some depressing suburb of Charleroi … riding a Ducati. Luckily i survived and the Ducati didn’t get stolen or burned.

  • @5amEndorphins.
    @5amEndorphins. 23 дня назад +202

    Isn't Belgian.
    London Isn't English.
    Stockholm Isn't Swedish.

    • @superunknown8775
      @superunknown8775 19 дней назад

      That's multiculturalism for you....

    • @inlandindieP35
      @inlandindieP35 19 дней назад +7

      Those in davos laugh at their handiwork …

    • @nodata1385
      @nodata1385 19 дней назад +2

      and europe isn't celtic ...........latin

    • @AnnesleyPlaceDub70
      @AnnesleyPlaceDub70 18 дней назад

      Ireland, Scotland, Wales, parts of France, Cornwall in England and Vigo in Spain are Celtic. ​@@nodata1385

    • @tubester4567
      @tubester4567 17 дней назад +3

      Sabbatical is right there were a lot of wars across Europe, that killed millions, but that is dwarfed by wars that happened in India and China. Indian scholars estimate 80 million died in Indian wars from the Mughal invasion, over a couple of centuries, and theres still fighting today between the 2 biggest religious groups., Most people are totally unaware of Chinese civil wars that killed over 75% of the whole Chinese population.
      Then you had Stalin killing 20 million in the name of communism in Russia, around 40 million died under Chinese communists,
      The period from 1945 until today is still the most peaceful in recorded history. Even with trouble in the Middle East, several Sunni vs Shia wars, Israel/Palestine, Ukraine, and a worldwide unofficial jihad going on, many wars across Africa, and parts of Asia, the world is still more peaceful today than ever but there are bad signs the world is headed for major wars again. Lets hope not.

  • @rostamyazata991
    @rostamyazata991 19 дней назад +30

    Not worse than London, Paris or Marseille for all that.
    Sure insecurity and population replacement have become problematic there, benefits of multiculturalism being mostly utopian imo, in the way they’re sold to us.
    However Brussels has a lot of nice and peaceful neighbourhoods, in my experience it’s especially some downtown areas around the city centre which are to avoid at some hours, as well as some municipalities of Brussels region which can be dangerous from time to time but some other municipalities are very chill and safe, whatever the hour of the day from what I’ve seen.
    I think Paris and neighbouring districts of Parisian region such as 93 and 94 for instance are overall way more unsafe than Brussels btw

  • @dassonntagskind
    @dassonntagskind 17 дней назад +41

    If you take in half of Kalkutta you don't help Kalkutta, you become Kalkutta.

  • @andrewsturm6500
    @andrewsturm6500 Месяц назад +208

    "They put a bunch of mayonnaise on top of it" - bro that's what you ordered

    • @leesmusic1
      @leesmusic1 Месяц назад +6

      It’s mad their national dish is a side dish, an accompaniment to the main event everywhere else.

    • @josefpoukine
      @josefpoukine Месяц назад +8

      @@leesmusic1 and they cope by saying they invented fries when historical records do show they were invented as street food in Paris in the early 19th century

    • @leesmusic1
      @leesmusic1 Месяц назад +3

      @@josefpoukine I’m sorry but it’s just lame isn’t it? It’s like having mashed potatoes with butter as your national dish, it’s so lacking in invention that its kind of embarrassing

    • @josefpoukine
      @josefpoukine Месяц назад +3

      @@leesmusic1 Yes it's really lame. They go out with friends and genuinely just get a bunch of fries with some toppings and that's it... it's so boring

    • @johncopeland3826
      @johncopeland3826 Месяц назад +2

      Nah ..HP brown sauce ..now that's munching !

  • @BK_718
    @BK_718 29 дней назад +29

    I’m from Brooklyn,NY born and raised and just visited Brussels earlier this year for about 8 hours or so then jumped back on the EuroStar high speed train to Paris where I was vacationing at. Honestly I had a great time there during my short visit. I got to see the pissing mannequin and the Atomium. I like their subway system because they offer a day pass unlike Paris and you just tap and go. I didn’t find it dangerous at all of course being I was raised in the Bedford Stuyvesant and Bushwick sections of Brooklyn during the rough 90s decade. Also felt more safe there than in some housing projects I hung out with my family where they lived in Puerto Rico. It’s a nice country and I would definitely visit again if I had the time and money 💰 I really would like to visit Ghent and Bruges and Antwerp.

    • @holygooff
      @holygooff 28 дней назад +3

      Because it isn't that dangerous. This guy is just sensationalizing for clicks.

    • @BK_718
      @BK_718 28 дней назад

      @@holygooff yeah man I bet. Not once did I feel threatened out there.

    • @geertnoels3266
      @geertnoels3266 22 дня назад +3

      Antwerp, Gent and Leuven are the best cities to visit in Belgium...Bruges is kind of over touristic and mord expensive.

    • @BK_718
      @BK_718 22 дня назад

      @@geertnoels3266 Good to know. Thanks for the tips.

  • @MrJafar93
    @MrJafar93 Месяц назад +179

    it's disgusting to see what our europe is becoming

    • @jerseycatmews828
      @jerseycatmews828 22 дня назад +24

      Blame the uninvited

    • @MrJafar93
      @MrJafar93 21 день назад +42

      @@jerseycatmews828 i blame the traitors among us

    • @TheChocolatBlanc
      @TheChocolatBlanc 21 день назад +28

      “At least we don’t speak German”
      Jokes apart, I think the bad guys won WW2.

    • @asellandrofacchio7263
      @asellandrofacchio7263 21 день назад +6

      ​@@MrJafar93blame both

    • @PorkChopAChunky
      @PorkChopAChunky 21 день назад +3

      Now yall understand the United States problems yall used to mock us for. We have been letting the riff raff in for centuries 😂

  • @pothoofder
    @pothoofder Месяц назад +49

    Brussel midi is not central station, it's the Southern station, although a big transportation hub, it is located in not the prettiest of neighborhoods, Brussel central is the central station, with a much more pleasant surrounding. Not that I'm a big fan of Brussel, but didnt't feel like you gave it a fair shake :) I understand first impressions are hard to overcome.

    • @nigmane
      @nigmane 22 дня назад

      just admit your country is a poophole LOL

    • @fungo6631
      @fungo6631 21 день назад +7

      But showing the nice part doesn't give views and hurts Amerimutt egos.

    • @Kvs-vf9nt
      @Kvs-vf9nt 17 дней назад +1

      And Brussel Nord is where the ho's street is.

    • @kaiserchief9319
      @kaiserchief9319 13 дней назад +3

      Right? When I first arrived in Belgium from Norway, I landed at Gare du midi at 23h00 and was shocked at what I was seeing.
      I have now lived in the city for quite some time and this video is very misleading.
      I have lived in London, Paris, Marseille, travelled more times than I can count to Southern Italy, Slovakia, Romania, Madrid and I find it to be a joke calling Brussels the most dangerous city. Not by a stretch.
      Every city has its shady areas and ours is south station but it's being renovated and the city has gone is going great transformation. We have some of the most beautiful green spaces from Duden to Josephat to cinquantenaire to name but a few.
      I have come to love Brussels very much although I'm looking to move on soon. I have had the most wonderful time here and the Brussels crowd is one of the most wonderful, loving and welcoming crowd I have met.
      Bruxelles je t'aime. Brussel ik hou van jou❤❤❤❤❤
      We love eachother in Brussels.

  • @genericinternetmale14
    @genericinternetmale14 22 дня назад +14

    I was in Brussels in 2010, chilling and drinking beer in a park. There were two muslim guys with British accents, huge beards and those long pakistani pyjama shirt looking things, talking in English about weapons and hand-to-hand combat and self defense. I went to drink elsewhere as it was a little weird.
    When I left the park, this squad of cops with body arnour and dogs swarmed in to the park ...seemed like something was going down. Always wondered if those two were implicated or not.

    • @ernestmurphy2741
      @ernestmurphy2741 17 дней назад +1

      Could never happen over here in Trumpistan. Drinking in a park will get you arrested. Because Jesus. Better to piss on a park bench like our homeless do.

    • @orhallurdarriorsson3483
      @orhallurdarriorsson3483 9 дней назад

      @@ernestmurphy2741Trumpistan? are you serious? It has been like that in the US forever and “Biden/Kamal” are in power. Are you this fucking dense?

    • @craigs3007
      @craigs3007 5 дней назад +1

      Belgium is known in Europe for being the place to get unregistered weapons. That guys meeting the description you gave were talking about that in Brussels is concerning. You have to question why they were there in the first place. And admittedly that was 14 years ago, but how many guys like that have been there since then, and how many are going there today.

  • @Themonikamo
    @Themonikamo Месяц назад +14

    Two years ago, I stayed in Belgium for a month on business. Lived in the village and really met great people. The Belgians are the best. But as soon as we went to the town of Verviers, it was scary. More like a ghetto than a city. Two acquaintances ended up with a stolen car, and one friend had his bag stolen. Sad..

  • @215Daniel
    @215Daniel Месяц назад +177

    I visited Brussels a few years ago, I saw 3 young Arab looking men kill a bird and throw it in one of the waterways. They found it hilarious. I've also never been accosted to buy cocaine more anywhere else in the world, and I live in Philly.

    • @rv3427
      @rv3427 Месяц назад +50

      no belgians in brussels. it used to be a flemish city, now it's 90% french and the majority of those third world foreigners. Most people i know actively avoid brussels.

    • @moussetache1815
      @moussetache1815 Месяц назад +17

      Parisian here, grew up on the outskirts so I 've had my share of fucked up situations and places. Never been to Bruxelles but only Antwerp, which was pretty cool, except the main station area, as in the vide here. Some things are the same everywhere I guess. The French today hav an extra info always on the corner of their minds: most of the fuckers who slaughtered people at the Bataclan and at the Petit Cambodge, mong others, came from Molenbek, whatever the proper speling is. A Brussels hood.

    • @Mikamichae
      @Mikamichae Месяц назад +29

      That's what happens when you invite excessive amount of people from the third worl

    • @jordy786
      @jordy786 Месяц назад +23

      @@Mikamichae Invite!? They come illegally!

    • @upendasana7857
      @upendasana7857 Месяц назад

      @@Mikamichae Thats what happens when you go to parts of the world and colonise them,strip them of resources and extract what you want and treat them like slaves !!! Did you not listen to him talk about King Leopold who ruled Congo as his own fiefdom and slaughtered millions of Congolese and chopped off peoples hands and tied them to trees.They were there for the rubber plantations and probably a sizable chick of Belgiums wealth was built on the backs of Africans...the chocolate as well as if I am right hcocolate doesn't grow in Belgium !!!!
      Also maybe check your iphone and other tec see how your consumer goods are still fuelled by exploiting coltan mines and fuelling wars still today in Congo before you talk 3rd world and exploitation !!!
      Look at the shit going on in your name and by the companies you buy from and how your governments allow it !!!! before you talk about "excessive amounts"

  • @syntric
    @syntric 21 день назад +16

    That's weird I'm belgian, not from Brussels, but I always loved the city, it has lots of green spaces and you obviously don't know the place, there's lots of good things too

  • @CCI1946
    @CCI1946 Месяц назад +113

    I visited Belgium for summer vacation from Abu Dhabi back in 2014. As an American, I’ve seen much worse in some of our inner cities (I grew up 15 minutes outside Baltimore). I’ve travelled throughout Europe and Asia, and lived in Abu Dhabi for nearly 20 years. Ironically, my wife and I enjoyed Belgium, including Brussels, so much we considered moving there.

    • @StuVideff
      @StuVideff Месяц назад +21

      Moving here....😂😂😂😂 I am here for 20 years. Can't wait to move to Bulgaria or Greece!

    • @ButteredPecan17
      @ButteredPecan17 Месяц назад +9

      @@StuVideff Some people aren't too bright

    • @fair98fair
      @fair98fair Месяц назад +21

      To be fair, 2014 was 10 years ago, which is a long time. Especially now as things move rapidly. I would trust this vlog more as it's more recent

    • @Emppu_T.
      @Emppu_T. Месяц назад +13

      Notice this was before the 2016 invasion incident

    • @LeanBeanLou
      @LeanBeanLou Месяц назад

      ​@@fair98fairtotally agree...OP is irrelevant to this video and current situation across most of Europe

  • @jabetsgi
    @jabetsgi Месяц назад +26

    You've gotten better and better at making video Tommy, keep up the great work, always a treat to see educational travelling videos!

  • @rafaelkutby3846
    @rafaelkutby3846 25 дней назад +23

    "it's a divided country they speak many languages" me watching as a Swiss 😅

    • @user-tm8jt2py3d
      @user-tm8jt2py3d 19 дней назад +1

      you're talking about Euro languages among neighbors though. You know what he means, or you will soon.

    • @trukeis856
      @trukeis856 16 дней назад

      70% of switzerland speaks German or Swiss German. It's different

  • @ageoflove1980
    @ageoflove1980 Месяц назад +147

    When I read the title and assuming you were still in France, I really thought this video would be about Marseille, haha!

    • @SabbaticalTommy
      @SabbaticalTommy  Месяц назад +56

      Marseille is def wild too, I can’t lie

    • @aur.c
      @aur.c Месяц назад +13

      There are very pretty parts in Marseille, the city gets a bad reputation for a few neighbourhoods quite far from the city centre. Exactly like in Paris or other large cities, you should not go in neighbourhoods that are far from everything, especially social housing estates, in the far north or north east

    • @Dimetiltriptamin134
      @Dimetiltriptamin134 Месяц назад +7

      I loved Marseille. Looks great and the most important thing, people carrying joints like cigaretters

    • @jordy786
      @jordy786 Месяц назад +27

      Marseille, another ☪️ancer city

    • @peterbushby9009
      @peterbushby9009 Месяц назад +1

      Same here

  • @chrislesse1395
    @chrislesse1395 Месяц назад +67

    Trump: "Brussels? It's like living in a hell hole!"
    As a Belgian I completely agree!

    • @LaraCroft36
      @LaraCroft36 Месяц назад +10

      Most native Belgians who don't hate themselves and their people agree

    • @WilhelmTell-fb8hk
      @WilhelmTell-fb8hk Месяц назад +11

      Don't like Trump , but here he's right .

    • @rumfordc
      @rumfordc Месяц назад +1

      @@LaraCroft36 If your belgian I can forgive your poor english but what you've said does not contradict what OP said in anyway. Plenty of people live in bad areas without hating themselves.

    • @johnsmith-cw3wo
      @johnsmith-cw3wo Месяц назад

      @@WilhelmTell-fb8hk you can always move to redneck central... can I recommend West Virginia is +90% WHITE

    • @kdebaerdemaeker
      @kdebaerdemaeker Месяц назад

      The solution is simple: emigrate and/or change your nationality. We'll manage perfectly without you.

  • @stinni407
    @stinni407 22 дня назад +10

    I’m so happy this channel popped up on my algorithm. No nonsense: without fancy drones and music like everyone else, bravery, history lessons and jokes! My new favorite channel!!

  • @AlTarif
    @AlTarif Месяц назад +280

    Thought it would be Birmingham at first lol. Brussels is a close second though.

    • @Marc.Martain
      @Marc.Martain Месяц назад +11

      England is not Europe anymore éh brother

    • @damez27
      @damez27 Месяц назад +50

      ⁠@@Marc.Martainwhat continent is England in now? 😅

    • @Alexwut1
      @Alexwut1 Месяц назад +50

      @@Marc.Martain Europe and European Union are two very different things...

    • @daco9971
      @daco9971 Месяц назад +10

      ​@@Marc.Martain it is 😂 its just not in the EU (Europian Union) anymore

    • @AlTarif
      @AlTarif Месяц назад +23

      @@Marc.Martain I didn't realize the European Union was a continent. I guess Switzerland and Norway aren't in Europe as well. My bad 🤣

  • @dljr60
    @dljr60 Месяц назад +28

    i lived in Brussels from 1984-1999 - i loved Brussels. Gare du Midi was beginning to be a dangerous area during that time. The immigration issue has eroded Brussels and the nation. The Gran Place is still an amazing experience. The Palace of Justice has been under construction since, at the least, the 1980s

    • @thatoneguy7191
      @thatoneguy7191 Месяц назад +8

      The lengthy renovation works of the justice palace symbolize the effort it will take to fix our broken justice system, it's almost poetic

    • @Ken_oh545
      @Ken_oh545 24 дня назад +1

      ​@thatoneguy7191 you're not the first I have heard to express that very point.

    • @dieterdesmet8615
      @dieterdesmet8615 18 дней назад

      It’s about time to start fixing what was renovated in the 80’s again

  • @BokkieUB
    @BokkieUB Месяц назад +20

    Important note !
    Belgium was founded because we fought a war of independence against the dutch king (1830). What is now the netherlands, was the protestant north and what is now Belgium, was the catholic south, there's a whole history to it but, it partly the reason to it.
    Because britain sided us against the dutch, we won and Belgium was founded.

    • @verttijineu2776
      @verttijineu2776 Месяц назад +5

      You're wrong: it weren't UK but France. On 2 August 1831 the Dutch army invaded Belgium and defeated Belgian forces in several battles. On 4 August the Dutch took control of Antwerp and moved deeper into Belgium. The Belgian army was defeated in the battle of Hasselt. On 8 August Leopold called for support from the French. As a result French Marshal Étienne Maurice Gérard crossed the border with 70,000 French troops under his command on 9 August. The battle of Leuven began on 12 August. In order to avoid war with the approaching French the Dutch agreed an armistice with Belgium and withdrew. The Dutch continued to hold the Antwerp Citadel and occasionally bombarded the city from it. French Marshal Gérard returned to Belgium in November 1832 with the Armée du Nord and besieged the citadel taking it on 23 December 1832. Without the French, Belgians would be Dutch today.

    • @seneca175
      @seneca175 23 дня назад +3

      @@verttijineu2776We always learned that the dutch fled out of what became Belgium out of fear. The Belgians (having no army at that time) were just too strong for the dutch army. It al started with a theatric play ‘The mute from Portici’ wich triggered the people to have some fun by chasing the scary dutch soldiers.🧐

    • @flopunkt3665
      @flopunkt3665 19 дней назад +1

      ​@@seneca175weren't the Austrians also involved in all of that somehow?

    • @martinfurtner2136
      @martinfurtner2136 18 дней назад

      ​Nope. There were the Austrian Netherlands, simply speaking, from 1556 till 1794. Then it became French, then Dutch in 1815, then independent in 1831. No Austria around to blame for anything, sorry.

    • @fanaticist
      @fanaticist 2 дня назад

      and then you lost WWII, and now you're here.

  • @chelovek500
    @chelovek500 Месяц назад +141

    I lived in Brussels in the late 2000s and it was beautiful, clean, peaceful, safe. I literally did not recognize it in this video.

    • @reflectingPastChoices
      @reflectingPastChoices Месяц назад +21

      because it's right-wing propaganda

    • @UncleAndrewsAdventures
      @UncleAndrewsAdventures Месяц назад

      that's what happens when the communist leftists take control

    • @Toto8opus
      @Toto8opus Месяц назад +23

      The city center is cra.ppy, dirty, not safe these days. Drug Trafficking is on the rise, loads of homeless migrants. And if you read the news, you know that Hungary is bringing in some more by bus. Restaurants and commerces are shutting down and leaving due to the blatant lack of security. Women get harassed by frustrated young men with values alien to liberal sexuality. And the overall impression is just one of very ugly filthy mess. The 18 other municipalities surrounding the center are not that bad though and are even thriving in comparison.

    • @reflectingPastChoices
      @reflectingPastChoices Месяц назад

      @@Toto8opus crmies rates have been decreasing decade by decade, steadily. But sure, keep lying ♥

    • @chelovek500
      @chelovek500 Месяц назад +26

      @@reflectingPastChoices No, I meant that the city literally looks so shitty now vs. how nice it used to be.

  • @GaiusPompeius
    @GaiusPompeius Месяц назад +94

    Brussels is the kind of city where people cling to that 10% that’s halfway decent, pretending the rest doesn’t exist. It’s almost admirable how some can overlook the obvious and convince themselves it’s charming, but hey, everyone has their coping mechanisms.

    • @backintimealwyn5736
      @backintimealwyn5736 Месяц назад +4

      Brussels is very pretty , but they don't take good care of it. I think it's because it does'nt "belong" to anyone, noone actualy cares about it unlike Paris where if you try to touch one stone the inhabitant throw a law suit at you. My sister lives in Brussels first day in her appartment I look through the window and see a guy holding a gun in the street... I go to hide and keep the kids in the back of the appartment, my sister looks at me with blank eyes "why are you doing such a fuss?"

    • @Zedem0n
      @Zedem0n Месяц назад +5

      More than 10% is halfway decent, some parts are gorgeous. It's got it's ugly sides to it like pretty much every other capital city in Europe or the US. You just gotta know your way around it. A few months ago I visited Paris again after probably 12 years and there are definitely a lot of desolate, poor and ugly sides to it as well. You'll simply find that everywhere.

    • @jsb7975
      @jsb7975 29 дней назад

      ​@@Zedem0n
      It should be multi-cultural but it is *NOT*

    • @deanmadnut2614
      @deanmadnut2614 28 дней назад +1

      ​​@@backintimealwyn5736hasn't majority of the medieval and ancient architecture in Paris been destroyed there isn't much left to touch 😂. Bastion gone le temple keep gone la Louvre castle gone and few others etc. shame because they were stunning from what I could see from old sketches

    • @carlo583
      @carlo583 20 дней назад +1

      This is kinda true but the 10% is nonsense. It is more like 50%.
      Brussels is pretty rich and there are many good neighbourhoods.The city for people living there is more than decent, it is really good. Besides, real estate prices are still pretty low compared to the average income so you dont need to have a top job to live in a good neighbourhood. I now live in France, income is at least 20% lower, rent is higher and insecurity is a lot worse

  • @SamiNami
    @SamiNami 28 дней назад +34

    You did not listen to the lady, she said mostly good, but you forced a "EH" on her, when she did not say that at all. Man you travel to all these places and you just have a weird hate on and don't acutally experience what is in front of your eyes.

  • @bleromafia
    @bleromafia Месяц назад +118

    13:00 the first Belgian king (1831) , was actually of German descent and did not speak any Dutch at all. The Belgian Royal family are all native french speakers. It is also not true that he forced the city to become french speaking.
    The reality is that Belgian nobility/clergy and bourgeoisie were all french-speakers, due to French being the language of higher education, as well as all official positions troughout the 18th century.
    So the native Dutch-speaking bourgeoisie, who had recently risen up to become richer and of higher social status, all had learnt French at this point to integrate themselves into high society.
    What followed, was the passing down of French as second language, or even as the first language which led to the French assimilation of Brussels.

    • @Toto8opus
      @Toto8opus Месяц назад +7

      Accurate rectification. Also, Dutch is a modern import. It even was the only official language of Belgium in the short period when the territory was under Dutch rule (1815-1830) after the Napoleon wars and before Independence. But it never made it to the population up until it was adopted as the second official language decades later.

    • @bleromafia
      @bleromafia Месяц назад +8

      ​@@Toto8opus I can't entirely agree, as the majority of the population in Brabant spoke their local (dutch) dialects well before the 18th century. They were followed by a slightly smaller group in the south, who spoke various Walloon (French) dialects. Which is mostly portrayed in the current division of the provinces.
      The Dutch king's attempt to make Dutch the only official language, was never really that successful, as the language of politics in the southern Netherlands had been French for over a century at that point.
      What really happened, is that during this period of 1815-1830, the high officials and politicians kept using French as their sole language in their administration, even at the States General of the Netherlands. The rising tensions caused by the policies of King William I ultimately led to the Belgian revolution.

    • @TheInfidel_SlavaUA
      @TheInfidel_SlavaUA Месяц назад +3

      and lets be honest here guys :) Dutch sounds like someone has a broom stuck in their throat ^^ while french is pure music :p

    • @istoppedcaring6209
      @istoppedcaring6209 Месяц назад +3

      half right, brussels remained a majority dutch speaking city until it was forced to change, bureaucrats were forced to speak fluent french even postmen had to be fluent in french, dutch was disregarded and in fact the civil code was only officially translated to dutch in 1960.
      poor flemings were forced out and francophones moved in alongside the french educated elite. eventually the city was left devoid of a soul, you can't kill the domminant language and then think you'l retain social cohesion and harmony, francification destroyed brussels as much as dutchification would destroy any succesfull french city

    • @jessebrettjames
      @jessebrettjames Месяц назад +5

      Leopold I, Prince of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, took the constitutional oath on 21 July 1831 to become the first King of the Belgians. That is the family Saxe (as in saxon) Coburg and Gotha/ Windsor

  • @Robo1
    @Robo1 Месяц назад +27

    I live in Belgium, the Flamish part, and Brussels is a city by itself. Imigrants around the world keep coming here and they only can check if they legal or not if they arrive in Brussels, but the justice system makes hard to send illegals out of Belgium, so that´s why you have so much homeless on the streets, you couldn´t imagine how many immigrants do get help, but if you are legal, you get more help money wise by the system then people who worked 50 years in Belgium, the system is broken, young people can´t affort buying a house without big help of parents, but legal immigrants get cheap housing, and so on. Looks like it´s in all west europe countries, but it also looks everything is now changing because they are starting to shut borders in Germany, so probably the other west europe countries will follow

    • @whathappenedtofreethinking6902
      @whathappenedtofreethinking6902 26 дней назад +2

      This is what is happening here in the US. It just takes more time to fill us up since we are a larger country.

    • @imuzdalo
      @imuzdalo 24 дня назад +2

      ⁠Canada as well 😢

  • @JackNicholson26__
    @JackNicholson26__ 9 дней назад +52

    Brussels is neither the most dangerous nor the most hated city in Europe

    • @mizulightblue
      @mizulightblue 3 дня назад +2

      Right? If Brussels is already bad, try Chișinău for example xD Or Bukarest, Skopje, Pristina,...

    • @MoonayMultipliar
      @MoonayMultipliar 3 дня назад +2

      @@mizulightbluefor western european standards then
      Suffice it to say: it has gotten worse
      Not better

    • @Edmund-of9rd
      @Edmund-of9rd 3 дня назад +4

      ​@@mizulightblueAll od these are safer than Brussel

    • @MrKAmsterdam
      @MrKAmsterdam 3 дня назад

      Actually I like Brussels quite a lot. It's a big city no village of course.

    • @JackNicholson26__
      @JackNicholson26__ 3 дня назад

      @@MoonayMultipliar Even on the scale of Western Europe Brussels isn’t the worst city

  • @Jacmac1
    @Jacmac1 Месяц назад +145

    First day I arrived in Brussels, my wife and I were walking to the city center next to a large park. Some guy was throwing fire crackers into the traffic, scaring the Hell out of all of the tourists walking down the street and confusing the drivers who couldn't figure out where the bangs were coming from. The city center was so packed with people that it was hard to move around. Bruges, Dinant, Bastogne, all nice, but Brussels is a shithole.

    • @bimmjim
      @bimmjim Месяц назад +2

      Why?

    • @Tromdubs
      @Tromdubs Месяц назад +11

      @@bimmjim Because of all the corrupt EU policitians.

    • @codeman9145
      @codeman9145 Месяц назад

      @@WCC-ps8jtBecause EU floods their countries with people who don’t assimilate, want handouts. Also these “migrants” whatever TF you want to call them are the worst of the worst from these other countries that come in to the EU. They aren’t getting schooling educated or skilled craftsman that’s for sure lmao

    • @asabovesobelow1362
      @asabovesobelow1362 Месяц назад +18

      @@Tromdubs and brownoids.

    • @BeastMode-oc8wt
      @BeastMode-oc8wt Месяц назад +1

      I worked in literally every city in Belgium but Brussels was definitely the worst. Go to Molenbeek or Schaarbeek those areas are something else xD. The Flaams City´s were a lot cleaner and better.

  • @laundurette2419
    @laundurette2419 Месяц назад +92

    Nobody ever said Brussels is boring. Its not a great city. But it certainly aint boring.

    • @tobias193
      @tobias193 Месяц назад +20

      Pretty boring to me

    • @EdgarBoogarde
      @EdgarBoogarde Месяц назад +3

      😂😎🗣️💯

    • @Tsekalare
      @Tsekalare Месяц назад

      It can't be boring cause it's a massive shithole and there's always some shit going on

    • @ad.6472
      @ad.6472 Месяц назад +11

      Looks dirty as hell!

    • @WatchTowersReviews
      @WatchTowersReviews Месяц назад +7

      It is SHIT everybody knows that shit (and yes i live in Belgium)

  • @Fumetsujo
    @Fumetsujo 29 дней назад +57

    Belgian here. You really should visit Bruges, the nicest place in the country (humble opinion).

    • @petergerritgroen3157
      @petergerritgroen3157 22 дня назад +1

      Stimmt. klopt.

    • @suzycorp
      @suzycorp 20 дней назад +1

      Ghent/Gent for me

    • @jezwaters2773
      @jezwaters2773 20 дней назад +2

      It's a beautiful city. My favourite. My wife was in a procession 33 years ago (a long time) as Margaret of York. Procession of the golden tree. I think. We have been back many times.

  • @pjelias_
    @pjelias_ Месяц назад +12

    Great video! Brussels is done! Its very bad, a shame what our so called leaders did to Europe… greets from Aalst, 15mins out of Brussels!

  • @jonathandebolster8089
    @jonathandebolster8089 Месяц назад +242

    Flemish speaking Belgian here 🖐 living near Ghent, working in Brussels. Although there's also very beautiful spots in our capital, you've nailed some painful truths about our present and history. I always say to people who want to visit my country: don't just go to Brussels and pretend you've seen Belgium, but don't skip it either. If you'd gone to Charleroi, you'd have seen apocalyptic scenes of abandoned industrial facilities from the above-ground rollercoaster-like metro train, being part of a "failed" project of building a full metro network in the neighborhood. Does that mean that I dislike Charleroi? No, I actually kind of appreciate its steampunk vibes, and it's beautiful for photography purposes, the same goes for Liege. Do I want to live there? No, but I still visit it from time to time, and I'd advise travelers to choose a few cities on the other end of the spectrum, in contrast to Bruges, Antwerp and Ghent. It shows a more complete picture. I love traveling to the outskirts and extreme locations across the world as well. When people ask me if I'm not afraid walking in dodgy areas at night, I say that I'm from Belgium and that I work in Brussels. Now I can refer them to your video. Still, I'm a proud Belgian and I believe Brussels is diverse, has lots to offer, and will get better over time.

    • @nowthatsfunny1
      @nowthatsfunny1 Месяц назад +53

      You said diverse...no it won't get better.

    • @tchek1980
      @tchek1980 Месяц назад +12

      >steampunk vibe
      I wish they would literally turn Charleroi into a steampunk theme park to attract tourists.

    • @jonathandebolster8089
      @jonathandebolster8089 Месяц назад +1

      @@tchek1980 Actually, if they'd use the profit to help the people living there, and offer them a job in the theme park, I'd be happy to visit. They do offer some kind of tours though, but I've got no idea what they offer and if they're legit. Buy hey, steampunk all the way!

    • @TheWanderingPlayer
      @TheWanderingPlayer Месяц назад +20

      'Proud Belgian' 😂. Stop pretending bro. We can absolutely be proud of some parts of our country, but definitely not of our state as a whole. Hell, nobody even really feels themselves to be Belgian.

    • @markobekcic3320
      @markobekcic3320 Месяц назад +11

      Its complete trash

  • @pluggednoize
    @pluggednoize 26 дней назад +61

    I was born and raised in Brussels and I can tell you that this city has nothing to envy of London, Paris or any other major European city.
    To fully enjoy Brussels you need a local to guide you and take you to the right places. There are so many nice spots but they’re not in plain sight as they are in London or Paris.
    Till I die I will love Brussels

    • @Ken_oh545
      @Ken_oh545 24 дня назад +4

      100% agree. I have been to Brussels many times every year since the early 90s and it has got so many charming spots - also 'not-so-charming' locations!
      Our hotels usually were up near Rogier so easy access to Place de Brouckère and some nice things, turn the other way and you got the steeetwalkers and grimy strip/hostess bars.
      Then we moved to Ave Louise.
      Once at Hotel President Nord I saw the concierge pull out a 9mm pistol following a street disturbance. (It was then the Mercure, now is an NH). Halpoort near Brussel-Z was such a hole in the old days, in one of the cafes there was a 'no syringe' sign in the toilet.
      It's a good town for Night Shops and boozing, also the weird upmarket antiques around Rue des Minimes and Sablons, and a great town to stride through on a bright day.
      I now write stories about adventures there, generally omitting forays up Rue d-Aarschot 😂 (wearing steel-toed safety boots just in case).
      Walking through Noord at night to catch a Eurolines coach was pretty weird, with groups of migrants sleeping all around, eyeing you up, but it's one of these situations where they are as afraid of you as you are of them, maybe they think one is some kind of agent or enforcer.
      When you go somewhere regularly you work out the favourite spots so we always ate and drank well.
      The double-language is fun to learn too with the Metro station Kunst-Wet always our favourite.
      Brussels has some of the ugliest buildings in the world eg Basilique and Palais de Justice, now under scaffolding for 40 years.
      Sorry I didn't mean to write an essay!

    • @richardclegg7846
      @richardclegg7846 23 дня назад +10

      So do the migrants

    • @pieterbalk-ht7kq
      @pieterbalk-ht7kq 23 дня назад

      Brussels is a dump

    • @ramsay9073
      @ramsay9073 23 дня назад +3

      Where do the native Europeans hang out?

    • @BxPanda7
      @BxPanda7 23 дня назад +2

      @@ramsay9073 at home or in bars/clubs, we stay away from the places where there are immigrants for the most part, too many bad experiences

  • @Just_another_Euro_dude
    @Just_another_Euro_dude Месяц назад +15

    Clint Dempsey gets depressed after the end of his football career.

  • @super8nacho
    @super8nacho Месяц назад +283

    This is a certified HOOD classic

    • @ritishify
      @ritishify Месяц назад

      lmao he had to capitalize on it, too.

    • @TuckerWilson-u2x
      @TuckerWilson-u2x Месяц назад +8

      DAMN son, where'd ya find this?

    • @frequentiis
      @frequentiis Месяц назад

      @@TuckerWilson-u2x damn, you beat me to it lol

    • @laoch5658
      @laoch5658 Месяц назад

      Nothing to be proud of

    • @w花b
      @w花b 22 дня назад

      ​@@TuckerWilson-u2x Baby, that's a triple!

  • @ebichu5908
    @ebichu5908 29 дней назад +9

    Brussels is certainly one of the scetchier areas in Belgium. There are definitely others to avoid even more like the old wallonian industrial cities like Charleroi where the situation is arguably worse. But there are defenitively beautiful cities in Belgium too like Leuven, Ghent, Tournai, Bruges, Dinant, ... The thing to wrap your head around as a tourist is that when you want to go visit Belgium, the capital isn't really your number one priority, except maybe for some monuments like the main square, royal palace or the musea around. Oh and when you visited Ypres, what you saw in the main square isn't a tourist trap but actually part of an tradition called "kermis" which is an annual social event which finds its roots in the 'year-fares' where towns would organize a feast every year where traders would come in, people would gather and buy items that would otherwise not be available, celebrate and play games. The games you saw, like shooting galleries, kids rides, lotteries, duck fishing, etc, are the present day continuation of this tradition that you can find anually in a lot of towns and villages, even small ones. They only run for a short period of time then move to another town.

  • @interceptor6893
    @interceptor6893 Месяц назад +67

    A lot of European city councils leave public lawn areas grow wild in the summer to help bees and insects, plus it saves money on weed killers and having to pay people to mow them.

    • @JeffMartin1
      @JeffMartin1 Месяц назад +11

      This is true! My american friend complained the lawns were not mowed in the parks (in Canada). It's for insects and flowers, not because of lack of money

    • @gerardlenormand5581
      @gerardlenormand5581 Месяц назад +3

      I think that's also related to late COP on biodiversity. Our governments try to release green area to local life! In Brussels, you can walk close to foxes in some of the garden parks he visited (e.g. just behind the EU parlement)!

    • @SabbaticalTommy
      @SabbaticalTommy  Месяц назад +14

      Didn't think of that angle. I didn't see this with other monuments though

    • @jordanhtiffirg1990
      @jordanhtiffirg1990 Месяц назад +3

      ​@@SabbaticalTommyThe fact that the statue is still there is very questionable

    • @raclark2730
      @raclark2730 Месяц назад +2

      Huh, that's a very enlightened idea, more should do the same. Though it may not be the best for areas with significant snake populations.

  • @yannickhonedebrouwer8481
    @yannickhonedebrouwer8481 Месяц назад +78

    Unsafe: a bit sadly
    Dirty: yes
    Ugly & Boring: you don’t know what you are talking about!

    • @woklam342
      @woklam342 26 дней назад

      antwerp is more attractive boy. go to bosuil

    • @woklam342
      @woklam342 26 дней назад +3

      brussel noord is pas erg . brussel centraal is chill

    • @heinmolenaar6750
      @heinmolenaar6750 25 дней назад

      Brussels looks like a tird world city

    • @cedric7261
      @cedric7261 24 дня назад +1

      @@heinmolenaar6750 U hoofd ook

    • @jsjssgshsusygxsbclaraxx
      @jsjssgshsusygxsbclaraxx 20 дней назад

      @@cedric7261 that's because his nose looks like the Eifel tower

  • @Adornments4U
    @Adornments4U 29 дней назад +4

    WW! was a horrific torturous war. My Great Grandmother fled from Lithuania with 2 young children to Ellis Island. She was part of a Lthuanian-Swedish resettlement in NY. She remarried a wealthy Forest Park Ill. lumber Co. She becamse a affluent Chicago Womens Right to Vote suffrage movement Coordinator. Thank you for teaching, sharing all your history, and knowlege. it helps me understand our world.

  • @honeyimhome1000
    @honeyimhome1000 Месяц назад +24

    There is a lot to say about Brussels. The city center and some areas/neighbourhoods around it are actually very cozy and you can definitely have a great time there. I know many people who absolutely loved Brussels, and as someone who comes there still monthly, I must say Brussels definitely has a certain charm. You started off in Brussels Midi (the south station), which has had a terrible reputation for decades. Belgians also try to avoid that station. It's in a district where there ain't too much to do, and with a lot of criminality. If you go to Brussels as a tourist, it's actually an area where you won't spend any time as there ain't anything to see, except for some poverty and homeless people. I think every city has those places. I wouldn't call it boring either. There are several squares and streets, with plenty of bars all around the center where you find lots of people partying. There are also a few very good nightclubs. However, immigration destroyed this city, just like it is happening in many other European countries. You must know where you can go in Brussels and where not at night, or you'll get mugged, stabbed or robbed for sure.

    • @klapsigaarenbasgitaar1931
      @klapsigaarenbasgitaar1931 19 дней назад

      Brussels has a lot of nice parts where you can live really well and safely. Where I live people ring your door to tell you you forgot to lock your bike. I know quite a lot of people that hate Brussels, but I know a lot of people that love it as well. I have a friend born and bred in Amsterdam and he loved here for 2 months for work and he loved it. Canadians and Americans like it too. French and Indians like it. Germans, British and Nordics hate it. Eastern Europeans don't care but like the opportunities, and don't like the immigration part (they see it and think: that's what we don't want at home).

  • @beebeer
    @beebeer Месяц назад +32

    It's possible that the grass was left over grown on purpose to encourage wild flowers, bees and other vital pollinators. This is done in the UK. It also reduces the costs to the local council not having to continualy maintain it.

    • @davee2056
      @davee2056 Месяц назад

      Because saving the money to mow the lawn lets the government spend billions on the war in Ukraine

    • @jeffbrunswick5511
      @jeffbrunswick5511 Месяц назад

      You can't be serious.....they blew the budget for maintenance on asylum seekers (virtue signaling with public money) and giving themselves an above inflation pay rise. They also wrecked the private economy (source of taxation) with their idiotic lockdown policies.

    • @jeffbrunswick5511
      @jeffbrunswick5511 26 дней назад +5

      @aheroyaheroyalproductions7631 They also don't collect the garbage so that the rats have some food to eat. Such nice people.

    • @cpstr828
      @cpstr828 20 дней назад +4

      yes, don't know for Brussels but in Leuven, a Flemish university town near Brussels, they don't mow before end of June.

  • @jimcornish22
    @jimcornish22 20 дней назад +9

    Totally unfair view of a wonderful city. Living in Gent, I often visit Brussels for work and pleasure. Yes 'Gare deuMidi' is pretty messy outside, and not somewhere you would want to walk around between midnight and 6, but there are so many highlights in Burssels. Fantastic beer bars, cool jazz/music venues, lovely parks with great outside bars, the vibrant Saint-Gilles and Saint Gery, numerous great museums. This guy has shown the worst, and followed tourist traps. There is not really a language battle in Brussels (in surrounding Flemish villages where French incomers are endangering the survival of Flemish, is an issue). Brussels has been for a long time 85% French speaking, but speaking Dutch has become somewhat cool, and many of the hipper bars and venues are dutch speaking.

    • @Freeze-ut2jl
      @Freeze-ut2jl 20 дней назад +2

      You couldn't be further from the truth, I've been living in Brussels for more than 10 years now and it's literally the opposite of everything you said, not to be antagonizing. I dream of living in Gent but we live here for the money and nothing else.

  • @ourladyofguadalupebotanica6732
    @ourladyofguadalupebotanica6732 Месяц назад +49

    "In Flanders fields, the poppies blow; Between the crosses, row on row; That mark our place, and the sky; The larks, still bravely singing, fly; Scarce heard amid the guns below." The first half of the video, I did not care for. The second part was pure gold. Thank you.

    • @Lambdaofficiel
      @Lambdaofficiel Месяц назад +1

      🤣🤣🤣

    • @reggie933
      @reggie933 Месяц назад

      Who did that poem?? It's on the tip of my tongue

    • @xpanislav
      @xpanislav Месяц назад

      When was the last time you take a look a Belgian sky? Geo-engeneerd weather, camtrails...

    • @gullyfoyle3915
      @gullyfoyle3915 Месяц назад +1

      @@reggie933 Lieutenant-Colonel John McCrae (Canadian military doctor)

  • @gagamba9198
    @gagamba9198 Месяц назад +30

    My favourite part was the Palace of Graffiti, Rubble, and Urine Puddles at the start of the video. The Palace of Obedience ensures it thrives and spreads.

  • @bryannagels9612
    @bryannagels9612 Месяц назад +44

    For breakfast we drink 4 Chimay bleues

  • @StephenPatrick-z5h
    @StephenPatrick-z5h Месяц назад +25

    Well, he's done something I've never done, went into a shop and bought only one beer.

  • @TubeBazzDaBazz
    @TubeBazzDaBazz Месяц назад +11

    Brussels is a fine place, had a lot of fun there on multiple occasions. My grandma has lived there no problems for about 40 years. I will actually watch this vlog later but the title triggered me bigtime, not gonna lie 😅

  • @Juttekatoo
    @Juttekatoo Месяц назад +7

    This guy is really the most depressed I 've seen making a video about Belgium. 😂

  • @freddy19985
    @freddy19985 Месяц назад +42

    Worse here in Norway, especially in Oslo. Beggars, drug dealers, and immigrants are everywhere.

    • @ohjajohh
      @ohjajohh Месяц назад +4

      Really? In Norway? I didn't know that. I was surprised when I saw the 'youths' of Norway in a clip of an annoying American streamer a couple of months ago though..

    • @ellav5387
      @ellav5387 Месяц назад +2

      @@ohjajohh Norway and Sweden has really high immigration. The difference is that Sweden is rich while Norway is filthy rich.

    • @colakarim
      @colakarim Месяц назад +2

      you're tripping man, Norway is literally the richest European country and you can see it in the capital too. Its very clean and I don't recall seeing a single beggar or drug dealer when I visited Oslo.

    • @VampireGranny
      @VampireGranny Месяц назад +3

      @@colakarim Are you forealz telling someone living in Norway that they don't have the problems they claim to see in their own country? lmao

    • @ellav5387
      @ellav5387 Месяц назад

      @@colakarim I honestly dont believe you went to Oslo. Not only is there a ton of graffiti in the central parts, its not like the touristy areas have people run up and stab you. There are poor neighborhoods nobody goes to, because the money Norway has isnt distributed evenly amongst the entire population (and this is the case for every country except the ones that has like 10k people living in it).

  • @laurentsalomonoriginals3438
    @laurentsalomonoriginals3438 Месяц назад +10

    I am French. I love Brussels, always did. I visited many times, never felt insecure. Also I never heard about Brussels having such a bad reputation. I wonder where you got this information from. Yes, as in all big cities in Europe, there are graffiti and some ugly areas, but it is mostly very friendly and has amazing neighbourhoods and monuments. ❤ Bruxelles.

  • @find2hard
    @find2hard 25 дней назад +3

    Absurdism isn't just an art style. In Belgium it's also government policy.

  • @dpwt
    @dpwt Месяц назад +7

    If this is the "garden" the Josep Borrel was talking about, I'll take the jungle anyday.

  • @shaneharrison8648
    @shaneharrison8648 Месяц назад +25

    Did Brussels last year. First thing I saw when I got off the train was a fight breaking out. After that I tried to get a Taxi into town and the taxi drivers started fighting, was not confident in the place at all. But after all that, I loved the place. Had a great time.

    • @fran1514
      @fran1514 25 дней назад +3

      Midi is the worst place to begin your journey lol but that’s how most of the train stations in Europe are now, always a mild red area to be in

    • @EphemeralProductions
      @EphemeralProductions 9 дней назад

      How did you go from seeing all that then loving the place??? That’s a BIG jump! I’d like to hear about how that happened. lol

    • @mcarlsson74
      @mcarlsson74 День назад

      @@fran1514 Funny thing is, most of the main railway stations in the UK are nowhere near this dangerous. I bet people will tell me I'm wrong though, which shows the level of cope among both Americans and continental Europeans.

  • @LNixon-d2r
    @LNixon-d2r 25 дней назад +4

    If you want danger, visit Marseilles! Although it does have some beautiful architecture and great food, it's also full of gangsters!

  • @walterblack3651
    @walterblack3651 Месяц назад +8

    A guy was just murdered In Brussels while watching this video. Just got the notification

  • @eddo2001
    @eddo2001 25 дней назад +10

    When I lived in Mexico a Belgian couple actually opened a waffle stand in the middle of the mall. They seemed to be happy to have escaped from Europe.

    • @brentisone
      @brentisone 21 день назад +6

      Yes Mexico, the most safe country in the world, with no "crime rates" at all?!

  • @kaydesign
    @kaydesign 25 дней назад +5

    I have good memories on my strip to Brussels. Love the classic buildings combined with the strange brutalists architecture.

  • @creekyknee
    @creekyknee Месяц назад +32

    The reason that they are now called French Fries is because during the second World War, those highly educated and Geographically astute American GIs liked them. Because they thought they were in France when they were obviously in Belgium, they chose to refer to them as French fries. They could just as easily have called them Kenyan fries or Australian fries. Not the brightest, bless them.

    • @markmeenaghan934
      @markmeenaghan934 Месяц назад +6

      Smart enough to get out of these dump countries

    • @creekyknee
      @creekyknee Месяц назад +1

      @@markmeenaghan934 Dump countries ? Please do elaborate ?

    • @georgelebreton3177
      @georgelebreton3177 Месяц назад +5

      ​​ @markmeenaghan934 You'd probably do good to watch what you call "dump" countries! Western Europe and Belgium in particular is NO "dump"; higher and better living standards, education levels, efficient economy, social security, more evolved cultured living, etc. than the whole of the US, Canada, Oceania and even the UK, and probably Ireland for instance too! Now, (mass-)immigration and conflicts that spring from it and eg. growing homelessness are a huge problem ANYwhere in the present Western world (and btw those issues weren't even around when after WW2 the (North-)Americans amongst others 'liberated' (and in part also impregnated) Western Europe)! Please, think for just a second before you (easily and bluntly) judge...
      from a Belgian American living on Long Island, NY

    • @fa5234
      @fa5234 Месяц назад +1

      @@georgelebreton3177 Merci d'avoir remis les points sur les I! Les anglo-saxons ne se rendent même pas compte de l'état dans lequel vivent leurs pauvres ils oublient que chez eux les sans abris se comptent par millions et que seuls les riches peuvent se soigner ou aller dans un logement décent ! Ils font une fixette sur nos problèmes pour mieux oublier les leurs !

    • @rumfordc
      @rumfordc Месяц назад

      @@georgelebreton3177 If you have to compare it to other dump countries, that means its a dump country. I thought about it for a second and have concluded you are bad at picking places to live.

  • @xavierchavee
    @xavierchavee 22 дня назад +5

    If you find yourself in some of the larger cities in Europe, avoid taking a hotel in the vicinity of train stations, which are typically the most sketchy areas of the city… Brussels is a collection of villages, that each have their own vibes and positives and negatives, but they’re clearly better than the station neighborhoods. Brussels, like for instance San Francisco, is also dealing with the usual challenges of well meaning but poorly designed policies for homelessness and immigration - it takes time and effort and adjustments to sort those out. In short, use your brain and some preliminary research and planning before you visit, unless your focus is to find the most screwed up areas. 🤷🏻‍♂️

    • @nikolavojnovic6552
      @nikolavojnovic6552 22 дня назад

      How come China doesn't have that problem?
      And why are you taking pride in being so well-meaning?

  • @Outabreath
    @Outabreath 3 дня назад

    Not watched in a while, Forgot how good your channel is. Love how you can go anywhere and know some lingo and can share some facts.

  • @Dtchmastrkilla7
    @Dtchmastrkilla7 26 дней назад +8

    Ah come on man. I live here. Relax. It's not that bad. This is pure alarmism. Right where you are at Midi station at the beginning of the video is a glorious market on Sundays, with loads of food and you can get fresh baked snacks and tea. It's not for everyone, but Brussels has its charm.

  • @frostysfreeway2320
    @frostysfreeway2320 29 дней назад +30

    Europe has fallen…some of the scenes looked like you were walking in Darfur, not Brussels.

    • @ashraf7242
      @ashraf7242 26 дней назад +11

      Europe has not fallen

    • @promithefs
      @promithefs 25 дней назад +4

      It's sound like propaganda to me.....

    • @Pietervandebuurt
      @Pietervandebuurt 25 дней назад +5

      Belgium has always looked trash. Go to The Netherlands, totally different streetview.

    • @Jordi_Llopis_i_Torregrosa96
      @Jordi_Llopis_i_Torregrosa96 25 дней назад

      @@Pietervandebuurt Ahhhh the "has always" shit argument, no, it hasn't. The Netherlands literally look the same if not worse, and it's because of the same problem, 3rd world immigrants

    • @Jordi_Llopis_i_Torregrosa96
      @Jordi_Llopis_i_Torregrosa96 25 дней назад +3

      @@ashraf7242 Ok "Ashraf"

  • @PAppMundo
    @PAppMundo 15 дней назад +2

    I’ve traveled the world, I’ve been to every continent and I’ve honestly never felt so unsafe and uncomfortable than I did when I was in Brussels.

  • @Celticcross688
    @Celticcross688 Месяц назад +15

    My Great Uncle is named on the Menin Gate YPRES A.R.Richardson English 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Blessings dear Uncle xx Fought & survived the Battle of Loos ❤ died fighting at Lebrique.

    • @jordy786
      @jordy786 Месяц назад +2

      I visited the monument with school. May your great uncle rest in peace! 🙏🏻

    • @Celticcross688
      @Celticcross688 Месяц назад +1

      @@jordy786 Thank you x

    • @chrisodebeek787
      @chrisodebeek787 Месяц назад +1

      My grandfather was from the 7eme de ligne at Ypres.

  • @spoenk7448
    @spoenk7448 Месяц назад +36

    The great thing about Brussels is the express train to the Netherlands.
    Just kidding of course, I love Belgium. The Ardennes are amazing for a nature deprived Dutchman.
    Can't say Bruxelles is my favorite city though.

  • @zabaanshenaas
    @zabaanshenaas 22 дня назад +3

    Don't forget German. It is one of the three official languages of Belgium. Theoretically everyone in Belgium can be a triglot.

  • @thecollector5243
    @thecollector5243 26 дней назад +4

    To be fair, Gare Midi will be renovated soon-ish.
    I sure hope it's faster than the renovation of the Palais de Justice 😂
    Edit: But Brussels has a lot more to offer - recently, we also had some gang related shootings all over the city. And you guessed it, those guys were imported 😉

  • @stevemcelmy9354
    @stevemcelmy9354 23 дня назад +24

    Context; 'Unsafe' for Europe isn't on the same level as unsafe for the US. Some American cities I wouldn't drive through without a gun.

    • @nutmeg5
      @nutmeg5 23 дня назад +1

      Absolutely

    • @w花b
      @w花b 22 дня назад +6

      I mean you're not wrong but some EU cities (like Marseille)have very specific areas that have shootings all the time between teenage gang members and unfortunately, innocents also get hurt in the process.

    • @timothyrday1390
      @timothyrday1390 22 дня назад +5

      ​@@w花bIt's only certain parts of American cities. Chicago is a good example. It's a massive city and most of it is safe and clean, but there are definitely neighborhoods you wouldn't want to go in.

    • @CryptidBuddy
      @CryptidBuddy 20 дней назад

      Would you go through Ukraine

    • @ernestmurphy2741
      @ernestmurphy2741 17 дней назад

      We Americans have a superior civilization. European thugs only have knives and fists, and are dangerous only within half a meter of you. Ours can randomly kill you from much farther away because in most U.S. states anybody can buy a gun small enough to conceal. We have two words for this: MAGA (Trump's motto "Make America Great Again") and .. of course, Jesus.

  • @symboleyes
    @symboleyes Месяц назад +25

    Good work man.
    I've been all over the world and all over RUclips and I can say you're truly an inspiration.

  • @kenosubtitles8686
    @kenosubtitles8686 25 дней назад +3

    we actually have 3 main languages, dutch , french and german. and the building if you were asking around 7 -8mins was city hall of brussels.

  • @Tobi-ln9xr
    @Tobi-ln9xr 8 дней назад +2

    Belgium has an unfair image.
    Belgium has quite a big global cultural impact with products which are known around the globe (for example: Belgian fries, Belgian chocolate, Belgian beer or Belgian waffles).
    The country also has a history of being a major imperial power which is also quite remarkable for its size.
    Belgium punches way above its weight and also has a way bigger right to exist than "countries“ which are former British settler colonies and literally don’t have their own language, culture or history like Australia, Canada or New Zealand for example…
    (I am from 🇩🇪)

  • @GiGaSzS
    @GiGaSzS Месяц назад +7

    I was here last week! It was scary as hell at the north station, but I have survived :)
    Thank you for the indepth history lesson!
    Although you have missed very important things about Belgium. It is definitely worth to visit for a week or more.
    The uncut grass is not left because of the laziness but because of the bees and view when it flowers. They leave the grass the same way in Switzerland, and they are very tidy nation!
    They are also very easy going, but still like to preserve things. There are whole buildings converted to museums with Art noveau style and are being constantly preserved and tourists are actually allowed to walk inside!
    They are also very unamericanized nation, which I really love about. Also, would you walk in New York at outskirt at night, probably not, so in a way these cities are not that much different.
    But there is a huge contradiction that I have felt, in a way they are very conservative nation (at least dutch part), but there are rainbow and multi gender flags everywhere. Maybe the government is artificially pushing this to people.
    Also I have heard government is trying to discourage people from drinking BEER! In Belgium where there are so many microbreweries. Imagine that. That is why a lot of youngsters are not drinking it. But instead they use much worse things to get high.

    • @sp4st1337
      @sp4st1337 Месяц назад

      Scary? You must be shitting your pants on the daily

  • @leonwerne9501
    @leonwerne9501 Месяц назад +7

    I always get the same feeling in Brussels as you, but when I go to Antwerp I fall in love every time. If I go to a city other than mine (The Hague, Holland) for a nice day, it is Antwerp. What nice people there. .I love them

    • @axeldegives3817
      @axeldegives3817 Месяц назад +3

      Anvers est magnifique ma ville de naissance. Et la ville des mafia et Bruxelles la ville où je vis , la ville des gangs. A Bruxelles il n'y a pas de loi pour ainsi dire et à Anvers il faut respecter la loi .

    • @leonwerne9501
      @leonwerne9501 29 дней назад +1

      @@axeldegives3817
      Oui,je pense que tu as raison .
      Mais tu me parles la plus belle langue du monde.
      C'est aussi quelquechose,et on trouve des gens sympas partout dans le monde ,y compris à Bruxeless.

    • @axeldegives3817
      @axeldegives3817 28 дней назад +2

      ​@@leonwerne9501merci ❤

    • @holygooff
      @holygooff 28 дней назад +1

      But we don't love the Dutch...

    • @leonwerne9501
      @leonwerne9501 27 дней назад

      @@holygooff I can imagine.
      I don't need half of that shouting either.

  • @hiddenself
    @hiddenself 3 дня назад +1

    45:40 Haha, actually the three bottom shelves in the fridge are acually filled with Polish brand beer cans :) I can see Tyskie, Perła, Żubr, Dębowe, Warka, Żywiec :) I bet those Carlsberg cans are made in Poland too :D Don't be fooled! Poland is the second, if not the first beer kingdom in Europe!

  • @wp70
    @wp70 Месяц назад +39

    went there for football in the late 80`s and one of the friends got his throat cut, seemingly it was an illegal migrant. we were in the wrong part of the city the police said

    • @gunterification
      @gunterification Месяц назад

      The 80's are nothing compared to now. over 70% of the city is from the middle east or africa. We (the flemish) keep pumping money into the city to keep it alive. I wish we didn't and just let it rot. All the leftists and greens.

    • @TheKATON132
      @TheKATON132 Месяц назад +2

      damn even back in the 80's?

    • @otaku9004
      @otaku9004 Месяц назад

      Last year two swedish football supporters going there for a game between Belgium and Sweden were brutally excecuted by islamic terrorists while on their way to the stadium.
      It's the european capital of islamic terrorism. Absolutely horrific. This video represent the shithole very well.

    • @LeanBeanLou
      @LeanBeanLou Месяц назад +5

      Not sure if it played any part...but football violence was BAD during the 80s!!

    • @wp70
      @wp70 Месяц назад +7

      @@LeanBeanLou it’s a long time ago. There was something happed in a shop and a guy ran out and slashed the friends throat as he was passing him. I am sure the police blamed Moroccans but so much goes on these days I might be getting mixed up. Friend survived but was over there in hospital for weeks after the incident. Scar on his throat is all the way and about an inch wide. He was lucky

  • @Markovnikov90
    @Markovnikov90 29 дней назад +5

    Visited in 2019 it's quite nice but indeed too dangerous at night. I've seen at least 10 people getting robbed in the metro stations at night and you could feel the tension while walking at 2 am going back to the hotel. Brugges best city in the world though❤❤

    • @davidlopez-pc7nv
      @davidlopez-pc7nv 27 дней назад

      Matter of time until Bruges too becomes inundated with Third World immigrants and u cant walk safely at night there too !

  • @makanmata
    @makanmata Месяц назад +13

    If you think Gare du Midi is awful . . . wait until you see Gare du Nord!
    I lived in Brussels several decades ago when it was still a lovely city. But you can see from the grafitti all over the place that Belgium is no longer the land of the Belgians, or even the land of the Waloons and Vlaamse, but is now over half North African and Middle Eastern and the City has succumbed to their preferences.
    Incidentally, to answer your question about food, it is not that Belgium influenced France, and even less that France influenced Belgium. In actual fact what is now Belgium was part of the Duchy of Burgundy.which stretched from Dijon to the North Sea, well before there was a unified France. It is this Burgundian food tradition that forms the framework of the cuisine of places like Brussels and Lyon, and not in any way shared by Paris, which is a food backwater in comparison.
    Lastly, while Leopold was no angel, he was certainly no Hitler, and it does the Nazis a great service to suggest so - there were no Auschwitzs in Congo. It should be considered that most of the worst views of Leopold come exclusively from British interlocutors who were Belgium's rival in Africa, who spread anecdotes and rumors that are now repeated as historical fact but aren't.

    • @Stuntmandouble08
      @Stuntmandouble08 Месяц назад +4

      You sound like a holocaust denier, but only with the dark colonial past under Leopold II. in Kongo. This part of history is also well documented. Many atrocities were commited. Cutting off hands was established as popular way of punishment.

    • @makanmata
      @makanmata Месяц назад

      @@Stuntmandouble08 It is well documented that people had their hands cut off, and villages burned down, and all manner of atrocities committed. Whether or not you believe any amount of this was political grandstanding by the English - who committed their own atrocities - it is not the planned and coordinated extermination of 6 million people in industrialized death camps. To consider these things the same is in fact fact Holocaust minimization at best, and denial at worst, and to conflate Leopold with Hitler is risible but would go along with the modern fashion of calling all bad things "genocide." Of course, Congo has thrived and become a liberal wonderland since the Belgians were kicked out . . . right? Right!?!?

    • @immortalituss
      @immortalituss Месяц назад +3

      ​@Stuntmantdouble08 that is incorrect. The cutting of hands as a punishment did not happen. During fights when people were shot, a hand was cut to prove how the bullet was used. But some of those people turned out not to be dead, just severely wounded

    • @SonnyDS_24
      @SonnyDS_24 Месяц назад +4

      Finally another Belgian like me that know Congo history!
      By the way people don't understand context of the time.
      At this time Leopold risks all his fortune for this colony, he almost lost it all until it was slightly profitable.
      About the exactions, as you said many things were exaggerated by the British and the traitor called Morel that was shitting on Belgium colony's for British interest.
      Moreover at this time there was no phone not telegraph between Congo and Belgium, Leopold never saw Congo. He was taking decisions only from letters he receive from people there.
      And as every human in Congo there was bad and good manager, some were abusive and some were good towards local people.
      Also people that didn't read about Congo doesn't know that this place is the most hostile on earth (sickness, bacteria, cannibals, toxic plants, crocodile, ...)
      Congo is hardcore and so it is also violent by nature.
      So if you want to know more about this absolutely fascinating history about Congo and Africa explorateurs read some books about it.
      French, British, Belgians were absolute genius that build wonderful countries that will be destroyed by local people when independence will came.
      Good authors about Africa:
      Bernard Lugan
      Jean Stengers
      Vive le roi vive la Belgique
      Et j'enc*l3 la RTBF cette bande d'ord*res, ce sont des sales traitres

    • @SonnyDS_24
      @SonnyDS_24 Месяц назад +3

      ​@@Stuntmandouble08lol you don't know what your talking about
      The cutting hands was not a punishment.
      It was a rule for soldier, there were issued ammunition. Very few ammunition and they have to manage it.
      So when they shot someone, 1 bullet should equal to two hands. So they cut hands to report a dead not as a punishment that is written like a law.

  • @-zulutchaing-6063
    @-zulutchaing-6063 25 дней назад +10

    Trust me i lived there for 22 years never felt unsafe lmao

    • @Jordi_Llopis_i_Torregrosa96
      @Jordi_Llopis_i_Torregrosa96 25 дней назад

      If you don't feel unsafe in a city with an evergrowing muslim population, then that's your issue, guess not everyone has survival instincts.

  • @stevefurlong79
    @stevefurlong79 29 дней назад +64

    Still nicer than most of the UK.

    • @daneelolivaw602
      @daneelolivaw602 25 дней назад

      @stevefurlong79
      Stop talking a load of old pony, what a stupid comment.

    • @georgejohnson5904
      @georgejohnson5904 22 дня назад +2

      It really isn’t. Get out of the cities.

    • @jamesanthony3072
      @jamesanthony3072 22 дня назад +2

      What are you talking about? I don’t know any uk city that is in this state and worst of all as he said as boring too

    • @daneelolivaw602
      @daneelolivaw602 22 дня назад

      @stevefurlong79
      Stop talking a load of old pony, Muppet.

    • @farric1
      @farric1 20 дней назад

      What? - most UK cities, if not all of them look worse than this. The UK is one helluva depressing dump in 2024.​@@jamesanthony3072

  • @codeman9145
    @codeman9145 Месяц назад +20

    I always assumed Brussels Belgium to be one of the cleanest finest cities in all of Europe. Boy was I wrong. Also busier

    • @fa5234
      @fa5234 Месяц назад +14

      He showed all the worst part of Brussel !

    • @IGMD80
      @IGMD80 Месяц назад +6

      @@fa5234 the city sucks lol. Even the central area are a disaster. Never felt so unsafe in Europe, and I am italian. Much worse than any southern italian large city. But like much much worse.

    • @octopuz9999
      @octopuz9999 Месяц назад +3

      City is not beautiful but it's true he showed all the worst :D

    • @WatchTowersReviews
      @WatchTowersReviews Месяц назад

      He did show Brussels one of the worst cities in Belgium xD There are so many other cities that are nicer and better. Even me as a Belgium citizen would not even set foot in that shit hole unless needed.

    • @carystevensky
      @carystevensky 23 дня назад

      Are Bruges, Antwerp, and Ghent a lot nicer?

  • @mariosphere
    @mariosphere Месяц назад +6

    I was in Brussels two weeks ago with Belgian friends from Ghent. Of course, the city is not Disneyworld, but I really liked it's diverse faces. My friends are even thinking about moving to Brussels because Ghent gets more and more boring and everything is increasingly catering to tourists. Brussels is a city for everyone - of course it's not entirely peaceful there, but at least it's alive.

  • @gabriellakadar
    @gabriellakadar Месяц назад +1

    Brussels was somewhat grubby in 1990. It got grubbier in 2001. Those are the times when I was there. I didn't notice Muslim slums in 1990 but there were plenty by 2001. I'm sure it's worse now.
    Other than that, there are some very nice places to visit in Brussels. What I really appreciated was they don't have stop signs at smaller street intersections. It is up to the drivers and pedestrians to be aware of what's going on. Traffic flows much better. I don't know why this is not applied elsewhere.

  • @hawaiingirlbeth
    @hawaiingirlbeth Месяц назад +19

    My cousin has been there with the army for 3 1/2 years. He's enjoyed it. He's not said anything negative except for how expensive it is.
    There food doesnt have all the bullshit in it our American food does.
    Ha's done a lot of traveling during his time there since countries are so close.

    • @SabbaticalTommy
      @SabbaticalTommy  Месяц назад +16

      It's all relative. Anywhere in Europe is gonna be better than the average US city in terms of food and safety

    • @UnbelievableEricthegiraffe
      @UnbelievableEricthegiraffe Месяц назад +4

      I'm guessing he was based at the NATO Headquarters in Brussels. The cafés and restaurants there are of high quality and reasonably priced. I assume it's NATO HQ, as there are no other bases apart from NATO SHAPE HQ in Mons where he would be stationed. To be honest, fries and mayonnaise are slightly healthier and more appetizing than grits or boloney.

    • @hawaiingirlbeth
      @hawaiingirlbeth Месяц назад

      ​@@UnbelievableEricthegiraffe He's working as a contractor. Been in the military for 23 years.
      Comes back in November to do the same job as he's doing there in Pennsylvania at the Tobyhanna Army Depot

    • @hawaiingirlbeth
      @hawaiingirlbeth Месяц назад +2

      He's working at the Zutendaal Army Depot

    • @IMP3TIGO
      @IMP3TIGO Месяц назад +1

      @@hawaiingirlbeth cool story

  • @brendanjoseph558
    @brendanjoseph558 Месяц назад +7

    Belgium, Brussels, Antwerp, Ghent...is fantastic and brilliant people too

  • @joronedelchev
    @joronedelchev 20 дней назад +1

    Brilliant insight, it couldn't be said or shown better. Thank you for this vlog.

  • @dotaclubDiculesti
    @dotaclubDiculesti Месяц назад +26

    I ve been living in Brussels and London.I think London is way more dangerous.

    • @taratantara
      @taratantara Месяц назад +4

      True. I went out alone at nights at 16 in Brussels back in 2000-2004 with no issues. One year living in London I had murder scenes outside my window (Haggerston/Dalston), bike was stolen 3 times and found 3 times on Bricklane market where I had to confront drugged drug dealers and coke
      addicts, almost died countless times during daily bike commute.

    • @tomlevitt4133
      @tomlevitt4133 Месяц назад +3

      @@taratantara yeah man having your bike stolen, wow you're lucky to be alive.

    • @taratantara
      @taratantara Месяц назад +9

      @@tomlevitt4133 sarcasm or not, I wouldn't want to confront 7 feet black dudes with knifes in this shady "market" and say "yo bro, that's my bike, give it back", even when I'm 6.2". I had to call the police and it took 3 officers to hold him down while they screamed at me to pick up my bike and leave. Then I was tailed by another one of the black dude's colleagues, so instead of going home, I went to a touristy area in a cafe, waited for nearly 2 hours and waited for friends so I could go back home. I would love to see you experience this and see the trail of pee you leave behind. Sound good to you? Tom Takeit or Levitt.

    • @axeldegives3817
      @axeldegives3817 Месяц назад +4

      Ou as tu vécu à Bruxelles ? Schaerbeek , Molembeek , Anderlecht , St josse . Il y a beaucoup de coin très dangereux mais où les touristes ne vont pas . Maintenant Londres aussi est dangereux.

    • @KeanuBeeken-w9x
      @KeanuBeeken-w9x 29 дней назад +4

      @@taratantara 2000-2004 are the safest years from brussels

  • @michaellong6002
    @michaellong6002 22 дня назад +4

    Love when Americans go to Europe and have fun at European expense about the language, food and unfamiliar culture....especially a New Yorker..I went to Germany at 18 in the US Army in 73 and experienced similar feelings and times in Brussels....finally lived in Bavaria for 4 years...loved it...Brussels is a very uninteresting place - does not feel like other Europeans capitols....now it looks like LA today....and it is boring...My theory is that they have abandon region - God if you will - for empty urban European living lifestyle ....and they have lost their humanity..and given it to aliens - Muslims who hate it...and hate them too