Hotel Melinda Ostende

... to be accessible and still functioning. On our arrival at the windmills we found this to be untrue, but they were still pretty to look at so we decided that the pub opposite was a good place to stop for lunch.

After lunch it was back into town and time for the brewery tour! There is only one brewery left in Brugge and they run regular tours, you can smell the place before you see it too!

The lady who ran the tour was funny, she had a dry wit and at first you ...

... 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 ...

... more (what else would we do?) we sat down at Bocca, an Italian restaurant that serves pasta in takeout Chinese container lookalikes. I admit, I was skeptical at first, but it was some of the best 5 euros I have ever spent – the homemade sauce was absolutely delicious! We liked it so much that we are planning to write to Europe on a Budget and recommend it. Seriously, it was that good.

To cap off our evening in Bruges, we went and got ...

... end they add up your dishes to total the bill. At first, we got a little grab happy and chose a few dishes that weren’t spectacular, but towards the end we were a little more selective and had some very good plates. The next day we got up a bit late and had a wonderful Belgian style breakfast of fruit, yogurt, meats and cheeses and lots of bread/pastries accompanied by an assortment of chocolate and fruit spreads. It is true; the ...

... 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.

... what was a very touristy shopping street and again had a quick look in the chocolate shops which were all starting to look the same or had the same products. One looked a bit different, with modern packaging and small quantities of chocolates, but again, no flavours were labelled! The guy said that the flavours were traditional flavours with the exception of chilli.

Greg was feeling a bit better when we got home.

... though they have a price per gram and the shopkeeper (she was scary!) insisted that after we had chosen a few that we really needed to taste what she recommended. She also insisted that these chocolates were not for eating, but enjoying. Many of the flavours were similar to what I make but some were much stronger flavours and everyone agreed that they were too strong. We had chosen some different ones like basil, coriander, olive and some other different flavours (yuck,yuck,yuck!).

03 August Sunday. Arrived at Bills at about 1230 and loaded Bill's bike onto the car, then set off to pickup Phil. Got to Dover early , so got put on the 1410 but left at 1445, so by the time we arrived at the caravan it was about 1800 local time. After we had unloaded all the gear and had our first cup of tea it was 1930, so decided to go into Poperinge to eat instead of cooking in the caravan. We got there at 2000 , went into the first restaurant , got some ...

... holes, and bunkers today. They're covered with grass now, but it's still obvious how much the area was devastated. The last place we went was the infirmary where Canadian Lieutenant Colonel John McCrea tended the wounded. He penned the famous haunting poem "In Flanders Field": "In Flanders fields the poppies blow Between the crosses, row on row, That mark our place; and in the sky The larks, still bravely singing, fly Scarce heard amid the guns ...

Hi folks So my final day was spent looking round Brussels itself. Had a stroll round the 'Grand place' (main square)which had a stunning gothic town hall. Also saw the mannekin-pis,coudenburg palace, palais de la nation (parliament) and st michaels cathedral. So im back in England now. Got back thursday night. Back to my own bed, tap water, cups of tea,free toilet and coronation ...