Prado Ostende

... wouldn’t leave me alone! He actually buzzed about my ear and I launched out of my chair and did a little dance around the place! We moved back out the front after that!

When the waiter came to bring our bill I asked him where the main square and the main part of town was and he looked at me strangely and said ‘this is it’. Whoops!

We cycled around town and explored a bit more but there really wasn’t much at all! So we went back to Brugge via a ...

... and Child by Leonardo Da Vinci is housed – the “pointy church” from the movie. I may get lost again. In this town, that’s not so bad.

Off the wall observations: It seems that the Italians make the American look like seasoned, sophisticated tourists. They’re everywhere, they’re loud, and you definitely don’t want them in line in front of you. They’ll take a half hour arguing with ...

... cobbled streets, red shingled roofs, canals, and historic buildings.

We first walked to Bruge's cathedral, which was still great to see despite all the cathedrals that I’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 ...

... the center of town where the government building is alongside the provincial courthouse and the large Belfry tower. Inside part of the tower was a Salvador Dali expo that we went and saw. It was very interesting and gave us a new perspective of Dali. Afterwards, we simply wandered the streets and stopped in a t all the chocolate shops that caught Christine’s eye. Then we went to a small beer garden that had some very good and ...

... leave Brugge. We did redeem ourselves by climbing the Belfry which is a medieval tower which formerly housed a treasury and the municipal archives and served as an observation post for spotting fires and other dangers. It is 83 metres high and there are 366 steps up a narrow space-not for the faint hearted. The tower actually leans 1 metre to the east. Before we climbed, Katelyn had complained about the bells ringing constantly but we realised that that was ...

... We walked to the Church of our Lady which was built in the 13th century and is completely built in brick, in fact, it is the second highest brick building in the world. Its other claim to fame is that it contains a statue of Madonna and child by Michelangelo. In 1506 it was given to the church by a Brugge merchant. It is the only work by Michelangelo that was exported during his lifetime.

We then strolled ...

... had skulls decorating it. A couple of the women finally went back to work and it is amazing how complicated the patterns were. Tara was a bit disappointed though, but it did make her more aware of how much work goes into the hand- made lace.

Greg was fading a bit so we went home and had take-away pasta that night and an early night. Tara talked me into going to one of the chocolate shops to buy some chocolates. Apparently, they don’t sell anything less than 250g ...

Day 2 Tuesday 1st July. Due to the repeat of the 30 degree heat and the soreness of my sunburn from the previous day ( again see Photo 2 ), decided to have a day off and go for a ride to Diksmuide. Travelled up alongside the canal. At one point we managed to tuck in behind a farm tractor that had passed us on the canal road so spent a short time travelling at about 48K/hr, GREAT FUN. Had lunch ...

... eating out of conical takeout containers - I thought it was frites but it turns out that it was from this pasta place. Dessert was an excellent tiramisu. It tasted even better because of the great atmosphere on this street. Lots of pedestrian traffic (complete with Belgian eye candy) and music blaring from a nearby restaurant. Though the restaurant was closed, a bunch of friends and neighbours were having a little get-together ...

... thought it a good opportunity to practice my Dutch, but it was obviously inferior or too Afrikaans, and got the reply in English. So much for mingling with the locals! The campsite is fine, a bit functional but then again sometimes that's all you need. Internet, laundry and orange bathrooms. It was pretty crowded, but we managed to find a spot by the fence (woody park on the other side) and still had time for a relaxed sundowner, watching some hot air balloons glide by.