Visiting Brussels 29th Oct 2008

[andrewrunagall]

As it is my 25th Birthday coming up, myself and two other friends have booked tickets to ride on the Eurostar going to and coming back from Brussels on Wednesday 29th October, I've booked an earlyish departure (8:25AM) and will be coming back at around 9PM on the same day. My friends and I have both never been on the Eurostar and have never been to Brussels before, so I hope a few people could answer a few questions of mine.

Question 1) I'll be travelling from my local station to Fenchurch St and then walking down the road to Tower Hill to get on the Circle Line to St Pancreas Int. which I'll find easy as I know the Underground quite well, but will it be an alright place to get some breakfast from and to wait around in?

Question 2) I've read on the Eurostar website that as we're all under 26 years of age we qualify for something called the Manneken Pass, which is supposed to get us loads of free goodies as tourists, has anyone bought one of these? How exactally does it work?

Question 3) Generally for those who've ever been to Brussels, I'm afraid I don't know any other languages apart from English but my friends know some useful phrases in French, what I'd like to know, can I get by speaking English alone?

Question 4) And finally, I have a rough idea of what I'd like to see, like the Atomium, the Grand Palace and the peeing boy (I don't know if I can get away with using his real name on this forum) because I want to fill up a 2Gb SD Card using my 7 MegPix camera, could anyone offer me any advice, bearing in mind I've gotta fit it all into one day, of anywhere else that I should look at before I leave for home again?

Hopefully, there'll be a few people out there that's been there, done that.

Many thanks,

AndyR.

[mjn]

The peeing cherub? He's in the middle of town. Enjoy the great food and beer.

[xit2050]

Originally Posted by andrewrunagall

Question 3) Generally for those who've ever been to Brussels, I'm afraid I don't know any other languages apart from English but my friends know some useful phrases in French, what I'd like to know, can I get by speaking English alone?

You'll be just fine speaking English.

Originally Posted by andrewrunagall

Question 4) And finally, I have a rough idea of what I'd like to see, like the Atomium, the Grand Palace and the peeing boy (I don't know if I can get away with using his real name on this forum) because I want to fill up a 2Gb SD Card using my 7 MegPix camera, could anyone offer me any advice, bearing in mind I've gotta fit it all into one day, of anywhere else that I should look at before I leave for home again?

The Chinese pavilion and the Japanese Tower are interesting (the latter just received a fresh lick op paint a few months ago).
Belgian Science Policy - Scientific institutes - Museums for Art and History : Chinese Pavilion and the Japanese Tower
Tourism Wallonia - Brussels (Belgium) - The Official Website of the South of Belgium : MUSEUMS OF THE FAR EAST - ROYAL MUSEUMS FOR ART AND HISTORY