The Friday night before we left was pay day so we went for one drink after work.
After four pints and a couple of tequila shots later I finally left the bar and headed home.

I hadn’t packed so when I got home I pulled things out of the cupboard that I thought I needed and piled them on the floor to pack in the morning.

On Saturday morning I got up (not seedy but a little slower than I should have been) and packed the pile from the floor into my suitcase and left for the station.

Amanda and I get the same train most places so we meet in the middle of the platform at Hammersmith and when the train comes she sticks her head out the door and I jump on.
When I got to the station Amanda was already there.
She said “Geez, I thought I got the times wrong…you are usually always waiting for me”.

Anyway, we got to Waterloo International in plenty of time.
Found the guide, got the tickets and jumped on the train.

I had to get some boys to put my suitcase up in the overhead locker cause I couldn’t lift it.

The journey was fine.
The Eurostar is very smooth.

Tanya's first photos of the countryside (two photos)-- Amanda

After going through the country side of England, under the Channel and through France we were in Belgium.
The trip was about 2 hours 45 minutes all up.

Planning Amanda's 'Busabout' trip

We got planning Amanda’s Busabout of Europe - how many nights here and there etc.
Made me quite jealous!!

We got met by the bus and taken for a bit of a drive around Brussels.

Commemorative Arch (two photos)---- Area around the Arch

Tanya in front of the Arch

We went to the arch built to commemorate a war victory.
It wasn’t all that flash compared to the Arc De Triomphe but was still nice.

Tanya finishing a marathon!!!

There was a half marathon on the next day so they had the finish line all set up.
I had Amanda take a photo of me have just crossed the line.
I can guarantee you that I didn’t run it!

The Atomium (two photos) and here is Amanda and Tanya

Then we drove to the Atomium which was built for the World Fair.
It is supposed to represent an iron atom magnified about 25 million times.
It was a bit of a strange thing to be looking at but was quite cool.

The Astrid Center Hotel (six photos)

After that it was time to check into the hotel.
It was lovely.

Amanda and I shared a room and we changed and went and got some food - we were starving by this time.
We found a nice outdoor café and had a meal.

Then it was back to the hotel to meet the guide for the walking tour of Brussels.
Apparently we were quite close to the Grand Place.
It turned out that we were and the walk was quite nice.

The restaurant area-------- (two photos)

We went through the restaurant area which was fantastic…lots of shops very close together with staff standing outside trying to bribe us for our business with free deserts and free cocktails.

The Hotel de Ville in the Grand Place

The Grand Place------- (two photos)

(two photos) ---The Grand Place--- (two photos)

The Grand Place and Flower Carpet (postcard from Tanya)

We said we might come back later and headed through to the Grand Place.
The square was lovely.
The buildings were so old.
Everyone was very friendly.
We took lots of photos.

Saw a street march on the way to "The Pissing Boy" (three photos)

The Manneken Pis - dressed!!!

Then we headed down to see the Manneken Pis.
It wasn’t very far from the Square but there were so many people trying to get a photo of this little bloke - I reckon about 250 when we went there.
And he was dressed which I wasn’t happy about.
In some little chefs outfit type thing.

"Le Moulin" Restaurant (business card only)

We went and found ourselves some dinner at one of the restaurants in the strip.

(two photos) ---The Grand Place--- (two photos)

(two photos) The Grand Place---- Amanda and Tanya

We went back to the square to wait for the lights to come on the buildings.

The Hotel de Ville "and the door isn't in the middle!!" (two photos)

We were looking at the Hotel de Ville up close and two boys came up to us.
They asked us if we noticed anything about the building.
We didn’t really.
They then pointed out that the door way wasn’t in the middle.
We saw that it wasn’t.
They told us when the designer saw that he ran up to the top of the tower and jumped off and killed himself.

The Manneken Pis - "and he was nekked!!" (two photos)

Tanya and the statue "and I think he is peeing on my head!!"

We wandered back down the road to see the Manneken Pis Statue again and thought that we might be able to get a better photo of him if there was less people around.
There was basically no people and he was nekked!
We got some pretty good shots I think.

A chocolate fountain and Tanya drooling through the window!!

Amanda and an admirer!!-- Tanya, Amanda and more tourists!!

Behind the statue was a great chocolate shop with a chocolate fountain in the window.
Amanda and I got some funny shots of that too - drooling over the chocolate.

The lady making the waffles......

......and here is Tanya's......

......and Tanya and Amanda enjoying the calories!!!

We decided to get our first waffles of the trip.
They lady was really nice that served us and posed for photos…we are definitely tourists!
We ate them in the square.

(two photos) ---The Grand Place at night--- (three photos)

We were still waiting for it to get dark and the lights to come on.
It didn’t get dark until about 9.30pm.
But they were lovely when they did.

The restaurant and bar area at night (three photos)

......and Spanish ladies singing and dancing

We walked down to the area where all the bars were and as we were walking by we heard a guy singing a 'Crowded House' song so we went in.

Tanya and Amanda sitting in a pub in Brussels

We had a drink and a guy came and started talking to us.
He was American and worked for Nato.
He had been living in Brussels for a month and really liked it.
He was quite nice.

Then we were sitting there listening to the band and the American boys from our tour (who lifted my suitcase for me) came in.
We sat and drank with them for quite a while.
They were very young and I felt like "a bit of a nanna" but they were great fun too.
The funniest thing they did was ask if me and Amanda were “together” ie lesbians.
Umm…..NO!
It was pretty funny though because we are pretty close and Amanda always put her arm and me and we will talk to each other with a hand on the others knee.
Those boys were convinced of it but they were wrong!!