Best Western Weinebrugge

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 ...

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 ...

... on the final 3 or so hours of our trip to Brugge near the coast. We were a little late arriving....we were supposed to meet up at 7:30pm for the awards ceremony at 8pm, but we didn't make it to the bar until 9:30 - oops! We received our medals and bottle of cheap wine for finishing, then went off to find some dinner.
As it was now past 10:30 we had to go for the first restaurant we could find, and we went to a place selling Argentinian food of all things! I'd never had ...

... 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!!

... some sugar to it, so the barman added some Grenadine.

I took it back to our table and had a sip and found it was about 5% better but still pretty foul. I felt bad but I just couldn’t drink it. On perusing the menu I noticed a Muscat beer, which I figured would be very sweet. For those that aren’t familiar with Muscat, it is a grape variety used to make very sweet wine and also dessert wines. I have never found a Muscat wine that I didn’t like – so far ...

... life out of us mid day. The beach looked awfully good in those pictures as we downed our luke warm bottled water.

There's a section of the canal that has had all boat access blocked and is essentially a mini lake called Lover's Lake. It's beautiful and absurdly quaint. The constant sound of church bells (there are 30 churches in this small town) is only drowned out by the constant sound ...

... only had one beer in Belgium. (Or be happy because there's more left for you?) Over lunch we sipped Lindeman's Kriek 'Cherry' Beer. Introducing Shirley Temple's big sister, Kriek! That's a compliment, in case you're wondering. Just outside of Brugge, is the countryside town of Jabbeke where we stayed two nights at a lovely B&B. ("De Passant B&B" @ hostelworld.com) It had a great atmosphere: Modern and worldly, cozy and ...

... the world. To make the town even more adorable, it is built around a system of canals, earning it the name "Venice of the North". It's a big tourist destination for Europeans, so during the day the streets are packed with people browsing the many chocolate and lace shops (this part of Belgian is known for its handmade ...

... join me too haha. It is in August and I really want to go, so we will see. I have lined up an interview in Berlin at the Circus hostel, which is a sister hostel from the Bauhaus. The managers of the hostels are chummy and it would be a fairy tale if I could get work there - it would be my well-poised gateway to Eastern Europe. Poland, Hungary, Latvia, Estonia, Ukraine and Slovenia will be at my mercy and with the cheap flights you can get out of Germany, it will be a sinch ...