Hotel Thevenet Ostende

... chocolate, and fries. French Fries actually originated in Belgium, and two stalls sellthem in the middle of Bruges outside the belfry tower in the same location they have been selling them for the last century. Apparently there is a long running rivalry between the two and locals often argue who sells the best fries - we couldn't really tell the difference.<br>From Bruges we went on two day trips to Ghent and Brussels, and poked ...

... here. "A church!" you say. I know I know you would think that i got my fill of churches in Italy and Spain however I have not been to the church that boasts to be the proud owners of a vile of Christ's actual blood! Yep you read correctly, they claim that they house the DNA and blood of Christ. Now, I'm no doctor, I gave that dream up a while ago, but I'm pretty sure that 2000 year old blood would have evaporated by now. But ...

Megg and I arrived in icy Bruges in the arvo, and after finding our hostel went for a walk to see the sites. It's kind of like Cesky Krumlov in that it&#8217;s pretty small and there isn&#8217;t actually much to do apart from admire the ancient buildings and canals. We saw the 'Belfry Tower&#8217; in the main Markt square, but it was a rip-off to walk up the 300 and something stairs (I&#8217;m not paying &#8364;8 unless there is a lift!), so we just looked at it. There ...

... bikes needed to go back by now so we dropped them off then we went back to a place we had found in the restaurant book earlier that day. It was called Cambrinus, named after the &#8216;King of Beer&#8217; and home to over 400 different types of beer. We had to give this a go!<br><br>We started with a couple of very good Belgian beers while we perused the extensive menu. I had a fruit one as believe it or not I am sometimes tiring of beer after all this beer drinking in Europe ...

... came in a pot and the milk was heated as well. So my 16 Euro dinner came to about 37 Euro, or about $55.50. Oh well. Had a good conversation with a bunch of Swedes who were in town on business then made it back to the hotel. Today I got an early start and just walked the streets. There&#8217;s a canal ring as well as a canal network within the ring. Everywhere you turned there was another photo opportunity and I won&#8217;t bore ...

We got up early on Saturday morning, took advantage of the free breakfast at the hostel, and then boarded a train to Bruges, Belgium, which is about 45 minutes away from Brussels. I was really excited to go, because I've seen the movie In Bruges, and the architecture was supposed to be gorgeous. And let me tell you, that movie was not filmed on a green screen &#8211; the town was delightful. It was a quaint, quintessential European town &#8211; lots of ...

... is another cute little bar. So after we ate we went across the street and had a couple beers. We also saw our tour guide from earlier that day there.<br><br>The next day it was rainy but we walked around the city anyway. It was just too cute to not explore. We walked to the edge of town and saw the dutch windmills then walked back into town for some chocolate and went on a shopping ...

... Killian, me and Jee, while the family had left early morning to go to the fish market. I was too late and too lazy to go to such early activity so instead we had coffee on the beachside while Killian was running his bike on the bike park. They've understood it all there, because the bike park is surrounded by cafe and restaurant. So the parents are ...

... have been like back then, though, since the whole area around it now is developed with industrial areas. The trench simulation in the Imperial War Museum in London was closer to what it was like, but at least this was in the actual location. One of the best places we went to was called Hill 60 (because its elevation was 60 meters). The Germans held the hill. To take it, the British spent months tunneling out long, deep tunnels underneath the Germans ...

... into jail cos the look on my face wasn't innocent enough, plus I'd probably have failed the lie detector test if I had tried to explain that I had spotted Claudia Schiffer and badly wanted her autograph. Anyhow, upon arrival, I found my way through the old cobble streets and around the the meandering canals towards the Belfry at Mark't Square. Towering over the city (which wasn't a major feat considering most of the buildings were two storeys ...