Hotel Britannia Knokke-Heist

... city. Awesome architecture and canals winding around the city, as I took tons of pictures as always and just enjoyed the city.

Apparently Brugges had a movie made recently with it as a location; I'll have to check it out sometime. The main "art" piece I saw was a Madonna with Child from -the- Michaelangelo from Italy. It was quit nice, as were the countless other paintings and sculptures I saw in that ...

... riding the bus with my huge backpack. Things always seem tougher and the rides longer when I have to haul it around with me. I won't miss it that much, I'm afraid. Anyways, it was acutally only about a 10 minute bus ride to the area where Johanna lives,and I found her apartment right away.

I greeted her and we had some really nice conversation, and she made some delicious ...

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 ...

... 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 ...

... 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!!

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 ...

(Steve)
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 ...

... up this rediculously steep mountain of a hill and then back down the other side to get to the beach, but it was soooooo worth it! The water was freezing cold, but it was hot out so it felt pretty good. Alli and I explored a ways down the beach and then stopped for lunch at this little restaurant right on the water. It was amazing and quite a perfect afternoon. Eventually, the sky clouded ...

... as good of a time as the first day I stepped off the plane because Iīm not. I just feel like I am full. This experience has filled every little bit of me up and I have no more room to squeeze in any more. I know when I am, walking around some city, it could be any city, and it has absolutely no effect on me whatsoever, that I canīt keep pushing things that arenīt meant to be. I miss home, not having to truck across 2 buildings to use a toilet, dishes that still have the no stick stuff ...

... of them have gone for lunch in the park, I already have some washing to do. How I've managed to get so much in a couple of days I have no idea, but I'm clearly going to have to figure that out so I don't do it again. Especially cuz it would seem that I can't actually use a washing machine as the dye in my towel has run and my pink top is now purple. Damn. Am working out whether beer is a viable option tonight. I'm 50/50 at the moment.