Kempinski Hotel Dukes Palace Bruge Belgium Brugge

... for the day.Ghent is a nice place with an amazing central area full of churches and imposing buildings.Unfortunately the entire area was under construction so it didn't have the same effect.<br>Brussels was larger than the other cities, and we picked up a similar local map to visit thehidden gems on offer.<br>(Whitney)<br>Bruges is a really lovely city, enclosed by a river that runs around and through it which results in ...

... 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 ...

... about a million chocolate shops, so we spent the rest of the day going in and out of them with watering mouths &#8211; so much yummy chocolate EVERYWHERE! I did a free walking tour in the eve with all the clothes I own on &#8211; Megg was too cold and couldn&#8217;t go outside! I&#8217;m sure I learnt lots of interesting things.. All I can remember is that Beer was invented in the middle ages because water was too dirty to drink. But I learnt that in Prague &#8211 ...

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 ...

... actually have a "Fries" museum. Every restaurant sells fries as a separate menu item. And they prefer to serve them with mayonnaise, not ketchup. Very delicious.<br><br>Shelby and Mike climbed the clock tower in the main plaza and we all did lots and lots of walking, shopping, and eating.<br><br>Of course Belgium is famous for their chocolates and there were plenty of beautiful chocoloate shops.<br><br>We also saw the ...

... have I been so excited about a shirt.<br><br>I only ended up seeing probably 4 acts at the festival, but it was a fun time.<br><br>On my last night, the 16 year olds had checked out, which meant that rowdier beer times were back at the hostel. There was a beer tasting being held, and I felt like a cheater since I had tried them all already. But it was still fun, and we ended up going out on the town after with a few members of the hostel staff ...

... such heroic things and I have such a massive respect for soldiers as their bravery and sacrifices are unbelievable. That night, we went out for ribs, and they were more dry than Canadian ribs but tasty none the less. Today, Damien left to go back home and I went and toured Brugge town. I went on a cute canal tour, checked out the chocolate shoppes and chatted with some locals as the waffle and cheese shops. Love you, Miss you! Mallory

... beauty of the place remains and the chocolate and waffles have not diminished in their capacity to delight. Hotel Leopold was comfy but after 22 years service the proprietors need a holiday - they were efficient but not overly friendly. Then again, I would not like to have to put up with the likes of us every day.

... going to wander a little off the Brugge topic here so bear with me -- Wednesday night, almost our entire program decided to hit up the American bar, The Highlander, in Maastricht and it turns out Wednesday night is Karaoke night, so we hit up the book of tunes and nearly all the music was American, but 95% of it was frun the year 1991 or earlier. Ashley and I of course got called up to the stage first and belted out Pretty Woman, then Ryan, myself, and the rest of ...