Mussels/Moules/Musselens in Brussels/Bruxelles

Christine tells me that they say à tantôt! in Belgium for "see you soon!"

Taking a break in Brussels right now for a weekend visit to one of my favourite persons in the whole world, Christine.
Brussels is approximately 3.5 hours away from Lyon by direct train, and approximately 6 hours if you take the TGV into Paris and then catch a Thalys train into Brussels (the lengthier trip is slightly cheaper).

I've been told that travelling around Belgium is quite cheap and definitely more so than around France. I have little experience with this, but a trip from Brussels to Antwerp (a 1.5 hour journey) was about 6€ - return, and I do know that travelling from one cool city to another cool city in France is at least four times that.
From what I've noticed, Brussels also seems to be a centrepoint for travel and connected to many destinations by land and air.

Things that you must try in Belgium that are not overrated:
The fries, with one of those mayo dips. There's something about the mayonnaise dip that's not gross but a bit sweet and damned delicious!

Waffles. Crispy, fluffy, and warm sweetness... Waffles with nutella... Waffles with strawberries and cream... Waffles with ice cream... My sliced banana/chocolate waffle was so good, I could have made out with the guy that sold it to me.

Moules-frites. We ate a bucket of mussels, cooked in white wine, with a side of fries and mayo dip. However, if you hate mussels, this won't be any good at all.

Beer. Christine brought me to a bar in Brussels called Delirium that had over a thousand variety of beers. I don't really condone stereotyping based on gender but occasionally, coincidences happen. Christine and I happen to be female and we both happen to like flavoured beer. She had coconut flavoured beer that was extremely enjoyable. I had a banana-flavoured beer that was actually good, so not as disgusting as it might seem.

The chocolate. Even the chocolate that you buy at crappy grocery stores in the train station are melty delicious.

Things I learned:
A weekend is way too short a time to spend in Belgium... Everybody will tell you to go to Brugges, sometimes also referred to as "the northern Venice"... Belgium is an officially bilingual country, the two languages being Flemish and French. I've been told that most Flemish speak French and not so much the other way around... I've also been told that people in the Flemish parts don't really appreciate it when you speak French to them... Bruxelles (the French name for Brussels) is pronounced like brue-sell and not bruek-sell... The official type of government is a federal parliamentary representative democracy with a monarchy. But because of the historical problems between the Flemish and the French-speaking communities, along with its membership in the EU, Belgium has a very complex (some say convoluted) number of political institutions with multiple responsiblities... Brussels' red light district is right outside of Brussels Nord train station. Lingerie clad ladies hang out in the storefronts and make sexy faces and gestures so that men will come in... There are three train stations in Brussels - South/Midi/Zuid, Central/Centrale/Centraal, and North/Nord/Noord... I really liked seeing everything in two languages which reminded me of home, except Dutch is way cuter looking than English...