Avenue Studiotel Ostende

... window on the way, listening to my ipod looking out the window. By the time I got out of the train at Brugges, and walked along countless other tourists (insane, and this is WINTER), the sun had peeked out a bit.

By the time I was walking into the main historical center, I had beautiful weather. Nice rays of sunshine giving me some beautiful lighting for pictures and just admiring the beauty of ...

... 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 ...

... fuel in Dijon, which (at least the parts we saw) didn't look all that great, in contrast to the rest of the country which I thought was great.

Our final stop in France was in Metz, where we grabbed lunch, had a quick walk around the markets and I bought a crepe with strawberry jam (delicious). We had a walk through St Stephens Cathedral - a massive church whose construction started in around 1220 and finished in 1520. It is a very spectacular building, incredibly tall and with ...

Brugge may be a fairy tale city, but the thing they don't tell you is that the whole place smells like french fries! The Flemish like to fry everything from meat to fries to waffles...twice. When we arrived in town, we had JUST missed the beer festival (of course) that had taken place all weekend long. So we did the next best thing, and went to a pub that serves the most Belgian beer. 't Brugge was ...

I saw the film "In Bruges" when it came out at the cinema a couple of years ago, and thought it looked like a beautiful city. So when Annabelle (the teacher in charge of me at school, and a good friend) suggested going for the day, Erin and I jumped at the chance.
The advantage of living so close to the Belgian border is that almost everywhere in Belgium is not much more than an hour away, and so we have no excuse not to see a lot of it!

We arrived in Bruges around 11.30 ...

... The museum was a in depth look at life during WWI for the soldiers on both sides and for the people who lived in the town. One of the things they discussed the most was the Christmas agreement between the Germans and the allies that stopped the fighting for over a week and allowed both sides to talk and exchange gifts. It was amazing to see that these people could go from killing one another to sharing a smoke and a drink and then back to ...

... started forming in the 12th century and although they devoted themselves to God and the Catholic Church they were not nuns and were able to marry and keep their property. They eventually changed their beliefs and became more of mystics and were eventually thought to be heretics and were condemned by the church. They have since greatly declined in numbers and the Beguinage in Brugge is no longer functional. It is beautiful though ...

... better when we tried it the next day. With a belly full of sugar and starch, we opted to head for Ostend , for a day by the sea, as the sun was shining. Free of backpacks, we opted to shun the underground in favour of a walk through the streets of Brussels . The city was much nicer than I remembered, and on the way to Gare Central we passed the royal palace and visited the first of many cathedrals. The cathedral was pretty much as you would expect ...

... the coffee machine was free, and as we only had gigantic bowl of salad for dinner, we decided to supplement it with multiple drinks. I had 3 hot chocolates over a few hours. bad move, as I cant sleep. Im fairly tired, but sleep just wasnt coming to me. + there was a few idiots who came and turned on the light of the dorm at like 1am... actually looking forward to leaving Amsterdam... funnilly enough, its full of stoners and just ********s in general. alot of ...

... Oh yea, when I was taking my shower today in the community show, I walked out to get my towel and this Chinese girl walked in and saw me but ass naked. I think it was love at first sight for her because she is only use to seeing little Chinese dudes. I let her sneak a peek, then I shooed her away back where she came from. Hopefully tonight I will get some good sleep. It's only 12:30 am and I want to wake up in the morning and enjoy a full day. I'm excited!!