Like any major city, Brussels has a lot of small but interesting places worth a visit. I stayed in the central city area and didn’t figure out mass transit, so I didn’t get out to see the Atomium. Perhaps next time.

Anyway, you might want to check out the Museum of Illusions. They’ve got a lot of the usual “these lines are really parallel” illusions, an Ames Room, and a few other “fun house” rooms where the visual cues screw up your orientation and induce vertigo.

What’s nice is that they give all of them their proper technical names (usually that of the person who discovered / identified them). Though I think they could have easily added a few tactile illusions, like the Thermal Grill Illusion or the Aristotle Illusion, and maybe an auditory illusion or two. Surely they could have set up something about “impossible colors”….

I gather that the Musuem of Illusions has locations in other cities around the world. Maybe they cover those other illusions in those places.

I can also recommend a visit to the Museum of Infinite Realities. It’s not really a museum; just a light and sound show that guides you through some of what I’m going to call “New Wave Psychology”. I haven’t spent much time looking into it, so this is going to be an extremely simple and probably incorrect interpretation.

You know all those silly little online “personality’ quizzes like “What ice cream flavor are you?” Seems that some recent psychological studies have found that there are actually certain archetypes that you can classify people by. Not so much well-defined “boxes” as loose “piles” that can blend into each other. And these archetypes can be used to help understand how and why people behave the way they do. The number and type of these “archetypes” depends on what sort of questions you’re asking, and what you’re hoping to learn about the person.

Anyway, once you check in, you get a lanyard with a fob on it. The fob is a transponder that you use to “check in” at the various rooms in the place, so that their computer knows where you are – and what choices you make. The first room asks you eight questions about yourself and your behavior; each one has four choices.

If memory is correct, they were something like this:

Well, so much for that party! What do you do now?

1. Clean up, since I hosted the party.

2. Follow people to the afterparty!

3. Get some rest.

4. Make plans for the next one!

I’ve a feeling that the whole thing at the “museum” might just be hogwash. The six “archetypes” are all positive “apex predators” – Eagle, Lion, Bear, Wolf, Tiger, Fox – that people would naturally like to be (right?). Nothing like a turtle or mouse in there. But I’m willing to allow that there just might be some good science in there.

Whatever you think, it’s still a fun and cool light and sound show. I wonder if I’d get the same results if I went there again.

One place I would definitely go again (I went there twice during my stay) is the Cup Cats cat cafe.

Tipped off by this article, I actually did seek it out. Even with the place being cooled (for the health of the cats), it was still on the warm side. So all the cats were being lethargic and preferred to nap rather than play. The coffee, by the way, isn’t bad. Neither is the food. Not gourmet stuff by any means, but you get your money’s worth.

This is Vroum Vroum, judging me for my lunch choice:

Or maybe just because I was sitting next to their food bowl.

Speaking of food, I’ll get into that a bit more when I wrap this series up in the next post.