Luxe Appartement Oostende

I slept really well last night at Johanna's place (yes, I promise to make entries -even if they're short- for past days/cities). Then this morning I took the bus under a light drizzle to the Ghent main train station. There I paid my 6.6 Euros for a round trip (weekend price) to Brugges (Brugge/Brujas), which I had heard so much about.

I had quite the positive attitude, even as the rain fell against my ...

... 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.

... at the end.
We also toured the local De Halv Maans brewery, which offered good views at the top and pretty good beer. And we found the newest idea in take out--fast food pasta! They cook fresh pasta right in front of you, add a sauce, put it in a cup and give you a fork, for 3 Euro. We think it would take off at home.
Oh, we haven't mentioned chocolate yet. Brugge also has a chocolate museum which ...

... went for a wander around the Beguinage and the little streets of the city before stopping for lunch in a restaurant on the main square, which was really nice and served local traditional food which was really great.

We wanted to go up the clock-tower but the queue was far too long and we decided that we could go back another day during the week when there weren't so many tourists!

The Christmas market had just started in Bruges so we spent quite a while wandering ...

We went to Ypres on the suggestion of my dad. Ypres is located in Flanders and was a central battle ground during WWI. The town of Ypres seemed to be right in the midst of the fight and was almost completely destroyed in bombings and fires. It is also in this area that the battles of Pashchendale took place. It was one of the most deadly and greusomome places to fight in WWI and many young Canadians lost their lives there.

We got a ...

We made our way from Gouda to Brugge. Brugge is a beautiful town that holds a lot of its older architecture and feel. With its canals and its medieval buildings it is a great town to spend the day exploring and taking pictures. Once again a drizzly day we lucked out and managed to get a few hours of sunshine to take out our cameras.

Our campsite was about 15 minutes out of town so we took a bus that took us directly to the city ...

... beer too, I promise. I need more chocolate like I need another hole in my head! But for you, dear reader, I will sacrifice. Tomorrow I will be in beautiful Freiburg Germany with Dagmar and Stephan. I am looking forward to dining with friends and having some good German fun. Oh yes, and seeing the Christmas Market! Hey wait, do you guys have Cherry Beer there? Cant' wait! Hope all of you are doing well. I will give you guys an update tomorrow. Lots of love to you! Kathryn

... trip, after here heading to Ireland, then France, Switzerland and Italy. Who knows, I might run into them again in one of the latter 3 countries (saving Ireland for a future trip). Today, I took a guided tour of the battlefields of World War I, titled "Fields of Flanders". It was a very well done tour that lasted from 9:15 AM to 5:00 PM. We drove all around the Ypres Salient, the area where the British, French, Belgians, and Canadians (and eventually ...

... Fortunately they had a luggage service and we only had to carry the smaller and more valuable items with us as hand luggage (still a lot). I don't think you see many people carrying a BBQ onto the ferry. At Calais we picked up our rental car (Europcar) - a Volkswagen Fox. This is great because we expected a Smart Car and was quite worried about room for all our luggage (tent, camping table and chairs, cooking equipment etc). It even has power steering and aircon ...