Aragon House Brugge

... drizzling quite a bit here in Gent, but that's ok...

Tomorrow I'll try and brave the weather (here's hoping for some more sunshine) around Gent. My last full day in Belgium, since on Monday I take a train out to Dusseldorf, to spend my last night in Germany and Europe with my first hosts. Then, I leave around noon from the Dusseldorf airport to Fort Myers, back in the states. Last 3 days....

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 ...

After a bit of a hard night, we were all up at about 9am to check out of our hotel and go for a quick wander around Brugge, another UNESCO World Heritage Site. Often described as the 'Venice of the North', there are quite a few canals in Brugge, but as we discovered, there's even more chocolate shops - they're everywhere!
We walked down a stretch of road, only about 1km long, and saw about 7-8 chocolate shops, including ...

Today was a many miles day - around 500 in fact, or about 800km! We all met up in a carpark on the outskirts of Macon, then travelled in convoy north. As we were travelling such a long way today, we all decided to use the motorways, as despite being toll roads and meaning we'd see a bit less scenery, it was well worth it as we'd get to stop for longer on the way and get there earlier. The tolls were quite expensive compared to what I'm used to (it cost us about 21 Euros/NZ$42 for the ...

... 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 ...

... that we let them know our arrival time a month before – whoops! Hadn’t done that! We were staying in another B&B so I hoped they were going to be home.

Our walk from the station was really pretty along a tree lined canal. We found our accommodation on a dead end street on it’s own opposite the canal. It was a really pretty spot.

We rang the bell and there was no answer – whoops! I started going through my phone trying to find their ...

... and they served their own brew accompanied by cheese cubes.

Our visit to the Memling Museum inside the St. Janshospitaal made it worthwhile to purchase a Brugge Museum Card which admits you to several museums and monuments for 15 Euro. Memling is a famous early Flemish painter; some of his works are on display in the 800 year old hospital. There was an interactive audiovisual display to teach visitors about hospital life. Prior to the C19, hygiene was not a ...

... beautiful displays of their craftsmanship. Carved easter eggs, chicks made of marizpan, countless assortments of the most exquisite types of chocolate lined the streets. If it wasn't overwhelming enough to see all the chocolate shops, there was the canal ways full of guide boats, the Flemish step architeture, the small, cobbled streets, the ornate market square.....comprende? Its was so beautiful. We happened to be there on a market day and the square was ...

... money then Gent got all this money and made big wide streets and big buildings... and when Brugge got their money they decided that they actually LIKE the little cobble stone streets and the amsll buildings all over the place so they kept the money adn changed NOTHING and that is why it is so perfect today! WOW is all I can say it was amazing AND I found BOOTS!!!! And they werent THAT expensive only 140 euro! And I LOVE them! So i am very happy!!! So I went to Brugge for ...

... Bruge at a tiny little pub which had a brochure with over 300 beers to choose from. Got a bit drunk and fell asleep pretty easy on our bunk beds (not so classy but getting used to being a backpacker). Don't know if it was just because it was a hostel but for breakfast there were so many chocolate things to choose from, 3 different types of nutella, hot chocolate, and coco-pops. Not a healthy start to the day, had a sugar crash around lunch ...