Day 51: Bruges and Ghent, Belgium

We both slept better last night, but were still tired this morning. Nonetheless, we had a tour to Belgium today. So we got up and ready. We had forgotten yesterday that we got free breakfast at the hostel, but we remembered today. We each got an egg, ham, and cheese sandwich and a glass of juice.

After eating quickly, we walked to the tour agency (we knew where it was because we saw it on the way to and from the library yesterday) where we exchanged our vouchers for tickets and were put on the bus with 20 minutes to spare. Our tour guide for this tour was a lot better than the one from yesterday. He was more attentive and didn't always sneak away. He talked about Amsterdam and Belgium for a while, then he stopped since it was a 2 and a half hour ride to Ghent. As we drove on the flat boring highway, we slept a little. When we got closer to Ghent, he talked about the city and told us some of the attractions we could visit there that were within walking distance. In Ghent he walked us to the historic center and pointed out attractions. We took pictures of the churches and walked down to the bridge to get a picture of the old castle. As we stood on the bridge, we had begun discussing what we should do next. We decided to walk to the town center again and branch off in another random direction. Just as we made the decision and started to walk back, a man stopped us and asked if we were tourists. We said, "yes" and he asked where we were from. We told him, "the US". He asked if we liked Belgium to which we replied, "Yes, it is beautiful". He said, "Yes, and it is also very historic". Then he proceeded to tell us about how Ghent was the city where the United States signed a Peace Treaty with England (The Treaty of Ghent in 1814). He pointed and gave very thorough directions to a plaque that commemorated the event and even offered to come with us to show us, but we declined because his diections were great so we didn't want to take up him time. On the way, another guy, younger and less professional looking, asked us where we were from. We said, "US". He asked where in the US. We responded, "New York". He then asked us how we liked the weather - referring to the weather in Ghent that day- (it was cloudy and gloomy) and we said it was better than it was in Scotland. Our conversation ended awkwardly and abruptly. We weren't really sure what his purpose was out on the streets, but we felt quite welcomed by the people in the area. We found the plaque exactly where the first man had described, read it, took a picture, then moved on.

We decided to go souvenir shopping, but got sidetracked by an ice cream shop with Belgium waffle cones, dipped in Belgium chocolate, and filled with Belgium chocolate ice cream. How could we resist?!.....We walked, shopped, and looked at more things to take pictures of. We took some time to eat our Nutella sandwiches that we made the night before. After we were done looking around, we went back to meet our group.

We then drove to Bruges and along the way our tour guide finished telling us about Ghent and then started telling us about Bruges. When we got to Bruges, we walked to the main square of the district. Then some of the group left while the rest of us continued to follow the guide through the fish market, over the "Blind Donkey" bridge, and to a canal boat trip that would take us around the canal system of the old section of town for a half hour. We saw swans and cygnets (baby swans). At the end of the tour, our guide mentioned that crocodiles up to 3 meters long lived in there. We didn't know if we should take him seriously. Of course gullible Christine thought it might be true, but Kim actually thought maybe as well because the water was murky enough but she thought that it was too cold. We google searched it later, and we determined that he was kidding. We took lots of pictures and enjoyed the ride.

After the boat ride, we stopped at Mueder Babelutte Chocolate Shop to get some chocolates. Then we visited the Church of Our Lady where we saw the Michelangelo statue of the Madonna and Child made in Italy around 1504. It was brought to Bruges by two brothers and has since been in the Church of Our Lady. We wanted to go up into the bell tower which is the tallest brick bell tower in the world, but visitors are not allowed to go up.

Then we walked to the Belfry to try to go up the tower there, but sadly it was closed right before our arrival. So, our only option was to go shopping. Belgium is well known for it's beautiful handmade lace. We saw a woman making a doily. It looked very painstaking and complicated, but it is a beautiful craft to do. While shopping we bought some crocheted lace souvenirs.

After walking around the city, we wandered back to the bus loop to eat our stale Nutella sandwich dinner with crushed orange cakes, and cheese puffs. It was not satisfying at all.

We got back on the bus and our tour guide told us a little bit more about Bruges as we left the city. He bid us all to take a nap and said he'd wake us when we were half way between Bruges and Amsterdam. We listened to our Ipods and tried to sleep. Kim did not sleep because she kept smacking her head on the window when the bus bumped on teh road, but Christine dozed a bit. We stopped at a "motorway stop". We all snuck into the bathroom without paying (.30€) because the attendant was gone then looked at the food prices. We thought both prices for the bathroom and food were ridiculous. We felt a bit malnourished from our food that we've eaten over the past few days. So Christine got some cooked veggies, mashed potatoes, and strawberries. Kim got the same minus the veggies.

From the rest stop, it took about one and a half hours to get back to Amsterdam. So we went back, went on the computer and tried to figure out if our bus was available to reserve. We have been emailing back and forth with the company for several days now. This is the only connection that was not made in stone prior to leaving home back in April. When planning our trip, April and May were too early to book this particular bus. Since the Internet is not always at our fingertips and we do not have a permanent location or phone, it has been difficult to book properly. We used the slow computer at the hostel and were frustrated to find that we cannot get the bus. Which in short means we have to spend time at the library and figure out what to do since we are currently stuck in Amsterdam, our least favorite city so far.

After we were done on the computer, we went downstairs to pack our bags since we had to check out the following day. When we got to our room, all of the lights were off. So we could not shuffle through our things without being loud. We decided to wake up early to pack and figure out what to do about having a place to sleep for tomorrow and a way to get out of the city.

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