Hotel Chalet Tinel Knokke-Heist

... other Churches.

I did have a couple of moments with brief drizzles, but overall I had some beautiful, sunny weather and I enjoyed a few hours of walking around Brugges (while eating a delicious waffle for part of it), before returning on the 25 minute train back to Ghent.

Which is where I am now, and I'll go eat at a friend of Johanna's house for dinner tonight. It is, by the way, definitely ...

... 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 ...

... 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 ...

... went to as well (hey, it was raining the whole time). This was considerably better than the fry museum (although not as funny) and we got a demonstration on how they make the famous Belgian Prailines.
Other than that, our 3 days in Brugge were filled with more choclate, beer, and fries (and one waffle) and admiring what the cute little town has to offer. Now we're off to Amsterdam... wish us luck!

... 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 ...

... The Grote Markt (Big Town Square) was huge and surrounded by cafes and gorgeous buildings such as the city hall. Many cities we've been to have similar squares with some being much more exceptional then others, Brugge included. We walked around the city, passing over the canals and peering into the churches. We went into the Beguinage in the city which was once owned by the Benguines who you could say were the first feminists. Their ...

... sauce, both delicious). Yes, we really fit in well there and enjoyed our time. We used the map to discover really cute little pubs, including one that is the oldest in Bruges. You enter through a door off a tiny street and go up some internal stairs until you reach, what I presume, was someone's living room at one point. People have been coming to this place to drink beer since 1515. We met up with a young couple from Texas ...

... euro;6.47, and got there around 3pm. We shopped around and tried out the local pizza place, which was delicious, and then I bought a shirt that was 70% off. We found this beautiful church there as well. It's huge and cathedral-like, we stepped inside for a moment and it was gorgeous! I think I might go there sometime, even though the service will be in Dutch, just to ...

... was terrible, but her charm and beauty, and sassy sense of humor were more than enough to offset it =P We hit it off, saw the city together, drank loads of beer together, did...other things together. All I have to say is that Brazilians offer a totally new sense of adventure and style that I've never before seen. Her stories of Carnival, of pints of beer for $0.40 US, and girls who are obsessed with foreigners were more than enough to ...

... to be shocked when my money runs out. I can easily see that some people have spent over $600 or $700 already just in the first two weeks. It is ridiculous! I think a lot of people have not internalized the fact that Euros do not equate to dollars (which is very easy to do) and are just spending away. I literally think that Heather and I are the only ones who are really careful about what we spend and where. Oh well....enough complaining about that. Enjoy the pictures!!!!!