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Here is how our decision was made to go to Brugge....
Friend from hostel in Amsterdam: "Hey, where are you girls going next?"
Kim & Katie: "We're not sure, but we were thinking about going to Brussels"
Friend: "You should go to Brugge instead"
Kim & Katie: "Ok!"
So, yea it was a pretty random plan. We literally packed up our stuff in Amsterdam, and headed to the train station to buy a one-way ticket to Brugge. We are glad we made this decision though. The train ride was short in comparison to what we have grown accustomed to, we arrived in about 3 1/2 hours. Our train ride was especially good for Kim, as on our way to the city we met an older couple who had traveled an hour from their home to buy some fresh, smoked mackerel and were more than enthused to share their fish with Kim (in the middle of the train). Kim says it was the best smoked fish she has ever had. The random friendliness of the people in the city was really comforting for us. We had heard that the city of Brugge was a lot smaller than Brussels, and was
completely intact as far as the up keep of the buildings that were centuries old. Kim found out this was one of the places in Belgium that was never touched by any wars, and the city definitely reflected that. All of the streets were still cobblestone, the buildings look like they were newly built, and the city just had a positive vibe; so we knew we made the right decision and we were going to enjoy our stay here. We found a hostel called Charlie Rockets which had a full-on bar/restaurant attached to it. We got a shared dorm room and ended up rooming with 2 French-Canadians from Montreal. They were VERY messy and definitely portrayed a snobby attitude towards us and the fact that we weren't bilingual so we were happy to hear they were leaving the next morning. Our first night in Brugge we took it easy and went to bed early. The next day we got up and did laundry, went to the internets, and had a really easy relaxing day. The laundry was the most exciting event of our day and we were so happy to have so many options of clothes when we were finished!
During the night, we met the receptionist/bartender named Tommy and hung out with him and his friends. We also met a guy from Chile named Christian who had become our new friendly roomie and hung out with him all night also. On our second full day in Brugge, we decided to rent bicycles and see the town. We went to a church that houses a vile of blood that Catholics believe to be the blood of Christ so we got to go see that. We both agreed that this was the most spiritual experience we had so far on this trip. It may have been the no cameras allowed rule or the simple architecture of the church, but it was just the experience we needed. After that, we went to a museum and learned about the history of Brugges, their government, and the detailed murals on the walls of the city center. As soon as we left the museum, it started downpouring which was less than fun to deal with on our bikes so we took shelter, got something to eat, and waited it out. When the rain subsided, we went to a church where we saw Michaelangelo's statue of
"Madonna and Child". It is one of his only pieces of art that is outside of Italy. When we left the church, it started downpouring again so we went to use the internets and attempted to plan our trip to Ireland. We weren't really sure what to do because we had found plane tickets that left from Brussels the next morning at 7am, were half the price of the other days, but we didn't have a way to get to Brussels that early. We decided to risk it and buy the tickets, leave the same night, and spend the night in Brussels, and somehow find a way to the airport that was a 45 min away from the city. Needless to say, it was another spur of the moment random plan. When we got back to our hostel, our bartender friend was there and told us about a bus that left at 3:00am and could take us directly to the airport in Brussels. It could not have been more perfect as we would arrive right before our flight to Ireland. So instead of going to bed and getting up at 2:30 to catch the bus, we decided (with our track
record thus far) to stay up all night and not risk over-sleeping and missing the bus. We ended up hanging out at the hostel all night and met some new friends who were locals. We we were explained the intricate system of "bike borrowing" as their mode of transportation. It basically involves the "borrowing" of bikes at their own leisure as long as the bikes do not have locks. Tommy informed us that he can ride home on a bike somewhere and come out the next day and it would be "borrowed" by someone else. It was quite amusing to hear. We waited out the night, and caught our bus to the airport. After we left we realized that they forgot to charge us our 2nd night of our stay at the hostel...but hey, we were on the plane and it saved us some money so there were no complaints from us 😉
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Tracie
non-member comment
Hi
Hi. Love the decision on going to Brugge and seeing the city via bicycle. I still don't get these damn blog notifications even though I've signed up twice. Oh well I have the website and am checking on you. Keep having fun. Miss ya