Ostend Hotel Ostende

... place where we enjoyed relaxing at night.<br>The highlights for me were the pubs and beer cafes we found thanks to the map where I attempted to try as many different beers as possible. After 3 days I had managed quite a few.The pubs included tiny local bars hidden in alleyways and pubs boasting the number of beersthey had available. One in particular held the guinness record a few years ago at around 2000 types but today ...

... who take them! This city was similar to Ghent but far more touristy.<br><br>So, I have waited until now, this very moment to discuss my own personal highlight from Holland. To some its the pot in Amsterdam, to others it is the Red Light Districts in the city, to me it is the french fry stands strewn about all the cities here. This is the culmination of all of the fry stands. In Brugge there is an actual fry museum. Yes for 5 ...

... 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 ...

... on an Italian restaurant overlooking the canal. It had a really pretty view and the food wasn&#8217;t too bad. We did manage to get hold of a nice glass of white wine each too, so that was a relief after all of the horrible beer!<br><br>Day 3 &#8211; Thursday 24th September &#8211; Today we had decided to hire the bikes again and cycle out to Damme, a little town a few kilometres from Brugge. We had been told that the ride out there is very beautiful, so the plan was to cycle out ...

... places. So went to a museum, saw a palace where the king and queen never lived, got lost a little trying to get back and went looking for something to eat. Since I blew the wad on breakfast I thought I&#8217;d eat cheap so I went to Quick, the Euro equivalent of McDonalds. Got a &#8220;Big Bacon&#8221;(not that big), a coke, some Cheesy Balls and a coffee for less than 10 Euro. Then headed back to the hotel and crashed so I could get a ...

... cobbled streets, red shingled roofs, canals, and historic buildings. <br><br>We first walked to Bruge's cathedral, which was still great to see despite all the cathedrals that I&#8217;ve been to already. We then headed toward the main plaza along with the bunches of other tourists flocking around Bruges. On the way, we had our first truly Belgian experience: waffles. Needless to say, I was ridiculously excited, and my waffle-chocolate sauce ...

... person we had met. He was very helpful, told us where all the important things were and told us where to get the best fries and with the best sauce. Stoofvlees. Like a beef stew on top of fries. It was delicious! Great recommendation! We at these a couple times while we were in bruges. <br><br>So, off to explore this beautiful city. We first took a canal tour. There are canals ...

Day 4 Thursday 3rd July. With the cleaning complete decided to check out the electrics and door. Sprayed WD 40 on the electric connector , beware not to jar your wrist as it moves so easily now. Re-hung the door by adding extra screws to tighten the hinges and secure the frame. Unable to tighten the bottom hinge fully as the door itself is warped and wouldn't close once the hinge was tightened. ( See Photos ). Also pumped up the tires Went to Decuyper and a got pair of new window ...

... closed yesterday. Both the Town Hall and the Basilica of the Holy Blood were nothing terribly exciting for me, but I could see the Basilica being a pretty important pilgrimage for many, because it holds a supposed vial of Christ's blood. The Dumon chocolate shop - a bit of a pilgrimage for me because it supposedly has incredible chocolate ganache and chocophiles flock there for it. It was good, but no better than the other ...

... and chocolate shops. Swans swim through all the canals and horses with carriages trot down the streets- its so cute! We only had enough time to walk around the city and visit the major monuments. It was a beautiful fall day though (with NO rain!) and we had a wonderful time. In the late afternoon we hopped back on the train and headed to the city of Antwerp. Since Nate and Andrea had been there before we were able to speed walk ...