Hotel Le Beau Rivage Middelburg

... and an outdoor beer garden. We had nice huge meals that we struggled to finish and we enjoyed a good Aussie shiraz with it.

Day 2 – Wednesday 23rd September – We awoke to our alarms so that we would make the 8:30 breakfast, which was my only complaint about this place. The breakfast was great but the 8:30am set time was a bit annoying, but at least you were up early to start the day this way.

Our first stop was the tourist office, we had decided to ...

... and I see some people crowded around a corner and there it is. All 18" of it. Is that it? And somebody dressed him up in a little costume….snap. What now? I decided to locate Central Station first because I was leaving for Bruges from there, then walked to the "Upper Town” where the museums and palace is. One thing I can say for Brussels, and Belgium in general so far, is that they’ve got art placed everywhere in ...

... waffles really were great), and went to De Halve Mann, the only brewery still working in Bruges. After a tour of the brewery, which led me to reminisce about me being Dad’s underage basement-beer-brewing apprentice, we were entitled to a free sample of the blond beer brewed on-site.

After our tasty beverage, we continued our tour of Bruges. There are a ridiculous amount of lace and chocolate shops around, and we were lucky enough to ...

... 8217;re shown to our room by a kindly elder gentleman that spoke very poor English. The King’s room, as it was called was quite a nice place with a large bed, decorative chandeliers and a top notch bathroom with an awesome shower. It’s been the nicest room we’ve had of yet and we’ve decided that B and B’s are the way to go in Europe, because they cost about the same, or less than hotels and are usually very ...

... a carillon concert which happens every Sunday at 2pm and they play Greensleeves, Danny Boy and a Bach symphony. When we reached the top of the tower, Katelyn said, I hope the bells don't ring and in the next second they did, very loudly.

We packed our bags as we were leaving for Amsterdam the next day. I loved Bruges but because Greg hadn’t felt well, we hadn’t done anything outside of Bruges and it had been pretty relaxing compared to London.

... Kelly had my name and she got me this Zeeland calendar and note box, her poem was about all of my unlucky situations from the semester, but it was quite funny. They set up all kinds of Dutch Sinterklaas candy and foods and we got to try this hot wine cider, it was delicious. It's something new and different, but I liked it! Two days ago, my house also had a Sinterklaas party ...

... him in the afternoon! I'm planning a wine and cheese party for him at Alli and Kelly's room tomorrow night. I invited Bill and his wife, Linda, to come and they are going to bring the other teacher, Ray, also. I think it will be really fun, everyone is planning on coming. Thursday we'll leave for Germany to meet his friends in Koln ...

I have a sneaking suspision that we are being secretly filmed here in Middelburg for a survivor show. They took a bunch of Americans out into the middle of The Netherlands and stranded us here with no money, no guide, and no contact with the outside world. (Ok the last part is an exaguration, but the internet does suck.) Instead of kicking someone off each week, since it is a secret show, one person each week is driven to ...

Today was Alli's 21st birthday. A rather important birthday in America, but here it's not as important seeing as you can buy alcohol at the age of 16. Alli decided to have a white trash theme in honor of the origin of the white trash peoples; America. So, we all dressed up to represent the creepers of our country, and I must say, we did a freakishly good job at it. Not to brag, but we are pretty darn good at being trashy, as you can see from the pictures. I ...

We finally got part of our food stipend today!! Finally! After a month, we can finally eat! What a joke. It was exciting, we got almost half of our stipend, even though they told us we were getting it in a lump sum. Oh well, at least we have part of it! Anyway, today I took a long walk around Middelburg and found this awesome walking path along the canal. I'm glad I found a good place to take my ...