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Not going out! Our top 5 indoor summer activities

17:08 03/07/2013

When it comes to good weather, summer in Brussels can be a bit of a hit-and-miss affair.  But fear not: there is at least as much to do indoors in this city as there is out. "Staying in for the summer"? You read it here first!

 

For music lovers who feel like broadening their horizons

Summer is synonymous with music, usually in the shape of criminally overpriced rock festivals (I won’t mention the toilets). But in Brussels lies a cruelly underrated shrine to music: the Musical Instruments Museum. It comprises two sections devoted to early and modern music, and features such unheard-of delights as a glass harmonica and a barrel organ known as ‘the dentist’. After your visit, come rain or shine, make sure you visit the top ‑ floor restaurant for a terrace lunch or Sunday brunch with stunning panoramic views of the capital.

MIM, 2 Montagne de la Cour, Brussels. Tel 02.545.01.30. www.mim.be

For the sports-minded who like to keep cool

The football season is over, and playing frisbee in the park doesn’t appeal to you, partly because of how seriously some people take it. Why not keep fit by going to a municipal swimming pool? It’s cheap and it’s fun, not to mention the fact that swimming is one of the best sports out there from a health perspective. And when, in the case of Piscine Victor Boin in Saint-Gilles, it is situated in a listed Art Deco building, what’s not to like? One piece of advice though: remember to wear swimming trunks, and not baggy shorts (for reasons of hygiene).

Piscine Victor Boin, 38 Rue de la Perche, Saint-Gilles. Tel 02.539.06.15 

For culture vultures

Fun though it may be, Kung Fu Panda 2 is not everyone’s idea of silver screen brilliance. Cinematek, located in the Bozar complex, is the perfect antidote (or companion) to the summer blockbuster season. Most appetising of all is the Michelangelo Antonioni retrospective, running from July 4, until August 30. Less challenging, but equally laudable, is the 80s American Movies restrospective, which takes in, among many others, Naked Gun, Back To The Future, Evil Dead II and - oh yes - Ghostbusters.

Cinematek, 9 Rue Baron Horta, Brussels. Tel 02.551.19.19. www.cinematek.be

For those who fancy having a drink using a love of tradition as a pretext

Yes, Belgium is famous throughout the world for its beers, but why? Because of the craftsmanship involved, and the traditional equipment, that’s why. Nowhere is this more obvious than at the Musée Bruxellois de la Gueuze. Run lovingly by the Van Roy-Cantillon family, this brewery has hardly changed since it opened in 1900. A visit costs only €6 and the fee includes a glass of what is possibly the finest beer known to man. At any rate, it is unlike anything you have ever visited – or tasted. Don’t let Charles Baudelaire’s infamous quip about the disagreeable a­ftertaste of faro (“beer that you drink twice”) put you off.

Cantillon Brewery, 56 Rue Gheude, Anderlecht. Tel 02.521.49.28. www.cantillon.be

For shopaholics on a budget 

Like vinegar on chips, UK-style charity shops have never really caught on in mainland Europe. More’s the pity, for few activities are as exhilarating and full of unexpected surprises as a trek to the local Cancer Research shop. Brussels does, however, boast several ‘charity supermarkets’ in the shape of Les Petits Riens/Spullenhulp. A set of golf clubs? A three-piece suit? That elusive Inspector Gadget cofee mug? A Perry Como album? It’s all there (probably), on one of the three ‑ floors in the main store on Rue Américaine in Ixelles.

Les Petits Riens/Spullenhulp, various addresses in Brussels, www.lespetitsriens.be

Written by PM Doutreligne