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My parents had made the long trip across the world for an extended holiday in Europe and for our first trip outside of the UK Hannah and I were taking them to Bruges for the day. It was still dark outside when we had to get up and get ready for the drive down to Dover to make our 8AM ferry crossing. We were at Dover port in good time and had a short wait before driving onto the ferry and setting of towards Calais. My parents were excited to be heading over to mainland Europe, they had never been anywhere besides Britain before. As we approached Calais we headed back down to the car and got ourselves ready for the hour and a half drive to Bruges. When we turned on the radio Mum was shocked and surprised to hear French radio, we were after now in France.

The drive into Bruges was relatively smooth, apart from us having to make a huge detour thanks to roadworks. We arrived around noon, parked the car and began walking around the cobbled streets of the city. My parents were blown away by this place, especially as we came to the main square and the impressive Belfry. After a few photos we stopped to have a light lunch at one of the cafes lining the square. Next we decided to take a boat trip through the old canals of Bruges. Hannah and I had done this last time we came to Bruges and thoroughly enjoyed it, my parents were no different. Coming from Australia, Bruges was just so different from anything else they had ever seen before, they were taking more photos than I was.

Afterwards we explored the streets of Bruges going in and out of the many chocolate shops which were famous in Bruges. I was keen on climbing the stairs up to the top of the Belfry as we didn’t get a chance to do it last time. So while Hannah and I headed up, my parents continued browsing each and every chocolate shop they could find. It was a tiring climb to the top, but the views were worth it. The ancient and complex clock and bell system were also fascinating, watching how it all works from the inside. While we admired the views across Bruges the huge and deafening bells rang for 2:30PM, it was unbelievably loud. We headed back downstairs through the extremely cramped stairwell and met my parents out the front of the Belfry. We stopped at a pub to try some fruit beer, famous in these parts of Belgium, Mum wasn’t keen, but Dad and I tried some cherry beer which was incredibly good.

The rest of the afternoon was spent purely on buying chocolate. We went to so many different chocolate shops all around the city, stocking up on all kinds of amazing Belgium chocolate. By the time we made our way back to the car we had spent well over €60 on Belgium chocolate, money well spent. Hannah drove us back into France and towards Calais, the rest of us fell asleep after a tiring day out. We arrived back at Calais port and eventually boarded the ferry across the English Channel and back to Dover. By the time we arrived back in England it was dark and we still had a good hour and a half drive before we were finally home, with enough chocolate to last a few months.

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