Bruges And Breakfast Brugge

... city. Awesome architecture and canals winding around the city, as I took tons of pictures as always and just enjoyed the city.

Apparently Brugges had a movie made recently with it as a location; I'll have to check it out sometime. The main "art" piece I saw was a Madonna with Child from -the- Michaelangelo from Italy. It was quit nice, as were the countless other paintings and sculptures I saw in that ...

Today I said goodbye to rainy, rainy Bruxelles, and took the half hour train (8 euros) to Gent/Ghent, where I met up with my first host ever, Johanna. She was the first couchsurfer to welcome me into her home back in 2007, after I had finished my year in South Korea, in Beijing.

- Before going to Ghent, I actually made a stop in the Musical Instruments Museum in Bruxelles ...

... part where there was 3 in a row! They all sold some amazingly presented food and after making some purchases we went for a quick walk around another church (I'm not religious, but I love looking through all the old, well built and presented buildings!).

On the way back to Calais, we went via Ypres, a city which was completely demolished during World War 1. The two main buildings in the centre of the city both ...

... cuisine before (nor was I really aware that they had a particular style of cooking) but I have to say it was one of the tastiest meals I've ever eaten - I was impressed! I had a glass of Sangria to go with it too, and it was sooo good!

We spent the rest of the last evening of the rally in the bar with the others, having a few drinks and a good time. It was a late night too - not getting back til gone 3am! Overall it was a great time, we met some great people and had lots of fun.

... the market and the shops and then went on a boat ride which was fantastic, after which we went to a tea-room which claimed to have the best hot chocolate in town, and it was really good! It was incredibly sickly though and gave both Erin and I a headache for the ride home!

Altogether a really fun day out in Bruges, truffles bought, Belgian food eaten and Belgian alcohol drunk, and Belgian chocolate drunk! This is another place where we will definitely be returning!!

... years so it was great to see the city again. We visited areas I hadn’t been to yet like the Belfort tower. Everyone wanted to climb a total of 665 steps to the top of the bell tower. I really didn’t think I’d make it to the top but after some convincing from Marc and Jimmy, I finally caved. We had to pay to climb the steps of course and the lady behind the counter charged me ...

... and we had lunch there.  Rack of lamb with vegies oh it was so nice and of course a bottle of wine.  I must have been good because after walking around a little more I went back to the hotel and slept for two hours.  Later that night had chips with mayonnaise all over it. Yum, yum.  Visit to Brugge is over and we are very glad we came here.  What a beautiful place.  Tomorrow we are off to visit our friends at Southend on Sea in England.

... probably the best waffles that i willl ever eat in my whole entire life! They were to die for. They make them fresh from dough, and i had mine covered in fresh strawberries and vanilla icecream, and dusted with icing suger. If there is one thing i will ever come back here for, it will be to get some more waffles! I was ready to take the lady home, the poor thing she works 7 days a week (its her own shop) from around 10am till late, hardly ever goes on holidays. Me and ...

... It was quite a somber day and the tour guide described conditions in the area, many people died simply drowning in the mud. While we were here in Belgium we also tried many Belgian Beers, including most of the 7 Trappist Abbey Beers, they were quite nice (most of them). We also saw a vial supposedly containing christs blood in one of the churches in town.

... got to the station a bit early and thought we might be able to get a slightly earlier train to Brussels, however this being the continent they leave on time which meant we missed the train. Not a problem as it was an earlier train than we planned so we waited for the next one and then headed to Brussels to check into the Eurostar for the return. After a coffee in ...