Hotel Villa Verdi Knokke-Heist

... drizzling quite a bit here in Gent, but that's ok...

Tomorrow I'll try and brave the weather (here's hoping for some more sunshine) around Gent. My last full day in Belgium, since on Monday I take a train out to Dusseldorf, to spend my last night in Germany and Europe with my first hosts. Then, I leave around noon from the Dusseldorf airport to Fort Myers, back in the states. Last 3 days....

... 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 ...

Today was a many miles day - around 500 in fact, or about 800km! We all met up in a carpark on the outskirts of Macon, then travelled in convoy north. As we were travelling such a long way today, we all decided to use the motorways, as despite being toll roads and meaning we'd see a bit less scenery, it was well worth it as we'd get to stop for longer on the way and get there earlier. The tolls were quite expensive compared to what I'm used to (it cost us about 21 Euros/NZ$42 for the ...

Brugge may be a fairy tale city, but the thing they don't tell you is that the whole place smells like french fries! The Flemish like to fry everything from meat to fries to waffles...twice. When we arrived in town, we had JUST missed the beer festival (of course) that had taken place all weekend long. So we did the next best thing, and went to a pub that serves the most Belgian beer. 't Brugge was ...

... the market and the shops and then went on a boat ride which was fantastic, after which we went to a tea-room which claimed to have the best hot chocolate in town, and it was really good! It was incredibly sickly though and gave both Erin and I a headache for the ride home!

Altogether a really fun day out in Bruges, truffles bought, Belgian food eaten and Belgian alcohol drunk, and Belgian chocolate drunk! This is another place where we will definitely be returning!!

... started forming in the 12th century and although they devoted themselves to God and the Catholic Church they were not nuns and were able to marry and keep their property. They eventually changed their beliefs and became more of mystics and were eventually thought to be heretics and were condemned by the church. They have since greatly declined in numbers and the Beguinage in Brugge is no longer functional. It is beautiful though ...

... more like 2500. My favourite beers were de Garre (local speciality sold exclusively at the pub of the same name - Dark flavourful and quite strong), Leffe, Westmalle Trappist, Bruges zot and bok. Whitney even gave in and sipped a few of my beers until we found one she liked!! It was a Raspberry fruity beer that was quite sweet.
Other than beer, we had to indulge in the other Belgian standards: Waffles, chocolate ...

... Grande and we ended up with flour tortillas and some mystery burrito sauce. We bought some "ground beef" (who really knows what it was) at the Agrimart and settled for some expensive shredded cheese that was definitely not made for Mexican food. Anyway, we invited the whole MCTS crew over and there were at least 10 of us chopping onions and cooking our mystery ...

On my own in Brugge. Think that really all there is to do here is drink beer, eat waffles, and sample the chocolate. With that in mind I tried to find running shoes today, I don't think they like running here because I didn't find any. I found a waffle instead, puts the waffles to ...

... afternoon watching kids play basketball in a big tournament in the town square in Ghent and last night listening to a big band play as we supped on Belgian beer at an outdoor café - I'm not a beer drinker but they have berry-flavoured ones here and it was yum! And we are in Belgium after all... So we're enjoying not only the cuisine but the quaintness and beauty of Belgium itself, next stop is Antwerp en-route to Amsterdam. Hope everything is good with you all....until next time!