When I was a kid in the 1960s, my boyfriend Bill's grandparents were Flemish, from Belgium -- his big brother Mike used to
sing Flemish songs for us --so I thought of Belgium
as a "good place."As an adult, I thought of it mostly as a one-night stopover on the road from Paris to Amsterdam: drop by the Belgian Comic Center, get hot chocolate in the Grand Place in Brussells,
find the Manneken Pis-- a urinating child that's the town symbol. Maybe hang out at Le Baroque, and then head on.
But if you're under 40 and don't mind mixed gay-straight venues, you might want to spend more time there.
Tomorrowland is one of the biggest music festivals in the world, with over 180,000 people attending from all over Europe and elsewhere (bring a flag from your country to wave). It's been held every year since 2005 in Boom, about 1 1/2 hours north of Brussels by train.
Originally advertising electro music, it now features every type of dance and club music on 15 stages.
They haven't set their groups for 2014 yet, but past performers have included international gay favorites Armin van Buuren, Steve Aoki, and Mauro Picotto.
Very gay-positive, with lots of beefcake of the young, hip sort.
This year the festival will be held on two weekends, July 18th-20th and 25th-27th. I suggest going between Fetish Week in London and
Christopher Street Days in Munich.
