Fletcher Hotel Rest Ducommerce Middelburg

(Steve)<br>Belgium was one of those places that wasn't high on our list of things to do but ended upbeing one of our favourites. Staying in Bruges rather than Brussels was probably the reasonbut we also managed to find an assortment of hidden treasures thanks to a helpful local mapmade by locals. Our hostel was called snuffel - the best one in town if you ask. They had a bar that offered 25 different Belgian beers and was a cosy ...

... I'm wrong. Who knows? (Probably historians, or doctors shh.) <br><br>That's it, I got on a train and headed back to Amsterdam for the night. It was a whirlwind trip through Belgium but so has the rest of this trip so why would this be any different. <br><br>Oh I did stop in Antwerp and had a Belgian waffle. I had three bites and threw it away it was so sweet. But I'm sure everyone else would love it. <br><br>Update soon!<br><br>Dina

... about a million chocolate shops, so we spent the rest of the day going in and out of them with watering mouths &#8211; so much yummy chocolate EVERYWHERE! I did a free walking tour in the eve with all the clothes I own on &#8211; Megg was too cold and couldn&#8217;t go outside! I&#8217;m sure I learnt lots of interesting things.. All I can remember is that Beer was invented in the middle ages because water was too dirty to drink. But I learnt that in Prague &#8211 ...

... into a chocolate store and get free samples during a chocolate-making presentation. By this point, I had introduced everyone in our group to the VanAcker family-style vacation, so we had walked basically over the entire area of Bruges and seen everything our Bible/Europe on a Budget had listed. For dinner, we were planning to eat at a place called the Hobbit (right next door to Tolkein &#8211; this place is great for nerds), but after walking around ...

... for beer and the corresponding glasses...because every beer in Belgium has a specific glass that you are supposed to drink it from. We spent as much time as we could in Bruges before we had to head back to Brussels to catch our plane and we still needed more time in Brussels to meet up with a friend from Clemson. I was sad to leave Bruges. It was definitely an amazing place to visit. <br>

They are setting up the Christmas market in the square today! They put up a huge tree and an ice skating rink! We're all planning on going skating tomorrow night! Today is Sinterklaas Day in Holland! It is basically their Christmas. Sinterklaas sails into Holland on his steamboat from Spain, which you can actually go and watch him come in, and he prepares for Sinterklaas Day. The ...

... are like huge balls of funnel cake that you can buy at booths around town during Christmas time.) We came back and he rested up for the party. It took me forever to chunk up my slab of cheese and as we were walking up to the party I realized that I forgot it. So we stopped at the grocery store to grab some more cheese and a couple bottles of wine. The party was great, all the MCTS kids showed up and some Dutch kids too. Bill and his wife ...

... There were some pretty sweet costumes, but most of us just got creative and made something cheap. I was a Christmas tree. I was supposed to be relish while two others were going to be ketchup and mustard, but we kind of nixed that at the last minute, so I found a green birthday hat at Kelly and Alli's from a previous party, added a star and some ornaments and was good to go! Drew was Peter Pan ...

Today we took a field trip to Ghent in Belgium! We had to ride the train this morning to Goes and then get on a bus that took us to Ghent. I slept the whole hour and a half on the way there. When we got there, since it was Sunday, not a whole lot was open, but we found some lunch and then started our sightseeing extravaganza. We toured an old castle that has been turned into a museum about torture and old execution ...

I wish I had a bike. But I don't, so I will walk, but a bike would be pretty convenient. Oh well. Tonight was house dinner and I ate dinner with all my house mates. We had big meatballish things, potatoes, and green beans, and it was wonderful. I met quite a few people that I live with that I didn't know I lived with, so it was nice to finally ...