Hotel du Parc Ostende

... the bar that we had met during dinner at a local restaurant called de Hobbit.It was a tiny little place with little tables. Steve had ribs and I had lamb with feta cheese- delicious! We also met an older British couple at the bar that we sat and chatted with as well. They were very nice and had interesting stories about Europe. The man looked like he had time-warped out of the 70s or 80s and he looked so British to me, like from ...

... you can find out all you needed and wanted to know about the history of the french fry and how to properly execute the cooking of said fry. I think i took more pictures of this than of anything else in Brugge.<br><br>Fun fact: We Americans call it a French Fry because Belgian soldiers showed American soldiers how to make them in the war and they were speaking French, and it just stuck.<br><br>There is a church that I visited ...

... sister Bec! We spent the rest of the day with them, wandering around, saw the wizzing girl, ate choc strawberries (sooooo yum), had hot chocolates, visited HEAPS of chocolate shops, and then went back to their hotel room for a bit before heading out for dinner. Apparently they are famous for their mussels, so Jac, Bec and I shared a big bucket of them and then had some pasta. Turns out I had a BAAAD mussel, or my stomach just really doesn&#8217;t like them, because I ...

... propeller planes and ask them why they are flying planes from World War II! <br><br>The flight itself was actually really good. Take off and landing were very smooth and you actually ascend quicker as the plane is lighter. It is still a decent sized plane with 80 passengers, but it is a lot smaller than a jet plane. We had very slight turbulence but it was over almost as soon as it began.<br><br>In Brussels I thanked the crew and in hindsight I wish I had taken a photo with them to ...

... my feet and I needed the protein recharge. Snap, snap, snap, snap&#8230;photos done and I&#8217;m done with the Grand Place. Chocolate shops everywhere. Yes, it&#8217;s good. Yes, it&#8217;s better than See&#8217;s. But they&#8217;re in every nook and cranny and you start to feel like you&#8217;re on Mainstreet USA in Disneyland. So I struck out to find the peeing boy statue which is Brussels&#8217; other claim to fame. Through winding ...

... 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 &#8211; 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. <br><br>To cap off our evening in Bruges, we went and got ...

... run all through the city. It was gorgeous. After that we stopped in a church really fast to see Michelangelo's Madonna and Child then we went to the local brewery to take a tour and get a free beer, walked around the city then went to pick up Josh.<br><br>If anyone is ever in Bruges there is this little restaurant that has all you can eat ribs for pretty cheap and right across the ...

... the whole of the city; we are told. Yes, we did not walk up the stairs as the activities of the day caused the belfry tower to not have the steps open. This tower was originally used for lookouts to keep guard over the city and to ring the bells in case of emergencies. The town square was alive with teenagers on a holiday from school. With a large square full of teenagers, we felt the excitement of the crowds and heard the noise of hundreds teenagers being teenagers. So ...

... it. So, that's it - Holland is lovely and the people are friendly, helpful and accommodating. This was affirmed when I flew out of Schipnol airport with my bike. The airline had the exact same rules in Amsterdam as at Gatwick, but in Holland nothing is a problem and this amounted to me spending 25 hassle free and stress free minutes checking all of my goods in - a far cry from the experience that I had at Gatwick.

... that most of the locals prefer the bike over the car. Not really much else to report from Bruges, except that I highly recommend it as a stop between Paris and Amsterdam, or if you are ever anywhere near here. The pace of life is perfect for a couple days, and I imagine during the summer (or any time warmer than Feb for that matter) the bike tours out to the North Sea would be a great way to waste a couple hours. On to Amsterdam for a couple days! JDZ