Lido 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....

... and pasta dish with tomato sauce, mushrooms, celery, onion, garlic, etc. Fantastic and delicious. Afterwards, we met up with a few (mainly local) CSers at a bar near her house, where we played some board games and "werewolf" which wasn't too bad. Most of them were quite friendly and I had a nice time.

We came home not too late, as I was to go to Brugges the next day.

... cuisine before (nor was I really aware that they had a particular style of cooking) but I have to say it was one of the tastiest meals I've ever eaten - I was impressed! I had a glass of Sangria to go with it too, and it was sooo good!

We spent the rest of the last evening of the rally in the bar with the others, having a few drinks and a good time. It was a late night too - not getting back til gone 3am! Overall it was a great time, we met some great people and had lots of fun.

... the best way to learn about the beer produced in all of the neighboring provinces. The staff was so helpful when looking through the twenty page menu, they have seriously tried all 200 beers. The Belgian beer is also very strong, so after a couple of drink we decided it was time to try some of the local food.
There are two french fry carts sitting in the town square, the competition is steep between ...

... went for a wander around the Beguinage and the little streets of the city before stopping for lunch in a restaurant on the main square, which was really nice and served local traditional food which was really great.

We wanted to go up the clock-tower but the queue was far too long and we decided that we could go back another day during the week when there weren't so many tourists!

The Christmas market had just started in Bruges so we spent quite a while wandering ...

... has been preserved. After our nice walk through there we walked to the more modern area of the town and discovered a separate square with the most unusual statues in a fountain. It seemed to greatly contrast the medieval feel of the city and was almost shocking. We enjoyed them greatly though and took some pictures with the ducky of course!

After spending some time sitting at the steps in the market square we made our way up ...

... 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.
From Bruges we went on two day trips to Ghent and Brussels, and poked ...

... in my kitchen. Turns out we didn't do too bad. Most people even had seconds. Drew brought some homemade dip that was extra delicious, and someone else found some taco sauce that tasted like salsa! Anyway, I'd have to say it was a rather successful night filled with Dutch tacos. Sadly, I forgot to take a picture of the awesome tacos, but there's always next Tuesday!

... et envahies par de petites cabanes blanches souvent louées au mois dans lesquels les gens se mettent en maillot de bain et laissent leur matériel de plage. J'ai toujours trouvé qu'elles brisaient le paysage et à mon grand bonheur, elles ne sont pas encore mises en place en début mars. Ce qui est le plus génial d'aller à la plage en début mars, c'est de la retrouver presque déserte. Les rubans blancs de sable semblent alors s'étendre jusqu'à l ...

hello everybody, its me again, and in case you were wondering i am still alive. right now we are a city north of paris, im not sure how far, called flanders. we are waiting for our train to brugges, belgium. we will be spending four days there before heading to antwerp for two days and then off to amsterdam for the last two days of our trip ...