Hotel Royal Astor Ostende

... have some lunch, then cycle back and see the sights we had missed the day before.

We went and hired our bikes and set off on our way. We took the outer city route to get to the road to Damme so that we could ride alongside the canal the whole way. It was really pretty with lots of trees, people walking or running or cycling and lots of dogs running around. It was nice and peaceful.

Across the canal and on the road to Damme from here! This was even more peaceful, we ...

... Little houses on tiny cobblestone streets near big beautiful churches. I stopped on the square and had dinner. What Europeans call a menu is really kind of a set price thing. One from column A, one from column B and a dessert . I started out with a big Leffe beer since I’m in the land of beer. Then the soup, then a traditional Belgian stew and chocolate mousse for desert. Oh yeah, another small Chimay beer and then coffee. The ...

... 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 ...

... us checked in and proceeded to show us the entire house and all the paintings done by her daughter and late husband. It was very personal and more than made up for the communal toilets shared by the three guest rooms. After settling in, we took a walk to find a restaurant. We found a very nice place that did traditional French fondue, and we had our first taste of true Trappist (brewed by monks) Belgian beer. It was all delightful.
Brugge, West Flanders, Belgium christineandal

... leave Brugge. We did redeem ourselves by climbing the Belfry which is a medieval tower which formerly housed a treasury and the municipal archives and served as an observation post for spotting fires and other dangers. It is 83 metres high and there are 366 steps up a narrow space-not for the faint hearted. The tower actually leans 1 metre to the east. Before we climbed, Katelyn had complained about the bells ringing constantly but we realised that that was ...

... question how fresh the chocolate could possibly be. Some of the displays did look a bit sad and to my amazement, lots of bubbles. I won’t go into detail here about them, but I visited what my lecturer said were the top 5 shops and bought some to taste. I also asked the lady at the hotel who was her favourite chocolatier and I must say Dumon who she said, were up there in the top five. The only thing was ...

... which houses what is said to be a sample of Jesus' blood. We decided to hit the chocolate museum, Choco-Story which was very informative. Greg didn’t make it past the first room because it was stuffy, but sat down in the demo room where he said he learnt a lot. Of course I was very interested in everything as it gave a great history of chocolate from the Mayans to present day in Europe. The demonstration was of making a chocolate with a praline filling which we got to sample ...

Day 4 Thursday 3rd July. With the cleaning complete decided to check out the electrics and door. Sprayed WD 40 on the electric connector , beware not to jar your wrist as it moves so easily now. Re-hung the door by adding extra screws to tighten the hinges and secure the frame. Unable to tighten the bottom hinge fully as the door itself is warped and wouldn't close once the hinge was tightened. ( See Photos ). Also pumped up the tires Went to Decuyper and a got pair of new window ...

... once! I popped by the waffle stand for a restaurant recommendation - Gwendolen suggested a cheap Italian place. I wasn't really in the mood for it but I figured I should listen to the local - I didn't want a repeat of last night's meal. They served me some ****** bread to start - zero flavour and kind of stale. I tried the Kriek cherry beer - tasted a little like cough syrup mixed with Sprite! It's the Belgian equivalent of ...

We're finally on our way. After more than 3 and a half years of living in London, Daren picked us up in his van this morning and we left our Worcester Park flat for the last time. This is a start of our in-between holiday, no annual leave worries etc., to enjoy Europe together, before we head back to South Africa for good. Daren dropped us off at Dover - the lady at the (Sea France) counter looked a bit sceptical when we checked in as foot passengers, with all that ...