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Published: March 11th 2010
Brugge
One of many canals with a view of the Bell TowerHey everyone!
I'm back from Belgium and I'm so glad I was able to catch the early train back to relax before I fly out tomorrow to a new country and continent. No doubt, I'm gonna be beat when I head back to the states.
What can I say about Belgium? It was awesome! Like much of Europe there is still so much to explore. I ventured out to the Flanders region of the country. I headed to Brugge, Monday and was there for 2 days. It was quite an experience to get there since the original train ended up getting cancelled, so after leaving Lisa's apartment at 7am expecting the train to leave at 7:35, it turned out that it was cancelled... boo!! I had to then take 4 trains to get to Brugge - Den Haag HS to Gauda (How-da), Rotterdam Central to Brussels Midi and then finally to Brugge! Phew!! Once I finally arrived I headed to my place to stay. It was a B&B that is run by a great couple name Koen and Annemie, they've been living in Brugge since 1976 and were very hospitable and served a great breakfast. Annemie was really helpful
Bell Tower
It's actually crooked about 4 feet leaning to right in this pic. in marking the places to see and providing a bit of history of the town she so dearly loves. I was also fortunate to meet some new people, a couple from France (Lyon to be exact) and a psychiatrist from Moll, also in the Flanders region. After settling in, it was a short walk into the main square and unlike the Colin Farrel movie where he continually says, "F-ing Brugge!" I walked into the main square and said, "This is f-ing amazing!!" LOL It was a stunning site and breath-taking even with it being really cold. The town is pretty small but the streets are so confusing. No grid streets people but twists and turns, where you say, "hey where the hell am I?" to "now wait, I was just on this street... wha!?" But by the end of the day, I figured things out and had a good idea of my whereabouts. I did a canal tour too along with just venturing thru the city and taking pics. Oh and I can't forget that I did climb the Belfry, 366 steps up. Thanks goodness I climbed the 1500! 😊 But anyone who is claustrophobic should pass on this because
it is narrow!! But the reward up top was pretty cool.
I love Rick Steve's travel guides, he has great descriptions of what to see and do and before Monday night's end I went to a local pub to immerse myself with locals and with some great Belgian beer. It was crazy but in the end I met some awesome people. The pub's name is 't Brugs Beertje and it's well-known to the locals and to many beer connoisseurs. I met a few Americans, many Brits and several Belgians. One Belgian actually bought everyone sitting at the bar several rounds of beers, which was where I was and these beers people aren't 2% alcohol more like 4 to 9%. And how many did Leilani have? 5 maybe 6 :P (took pics from beers 2 and on) They were delicious but I had to make sure I didn't fall off the stool. Great times were had and new friends were made, it was shocking that I made it back to the B&B. Soon after, my new found friend Tony and I headed over to get some mussels as we were starving.
Day two in Brugge turned out to be
Belgian waffle
I didn't get the full fixings but this was delicious as is, so light and yummy! a sunny day and also a day where the museums were open. I went to the Groeninge Museum which houses paintings from famous Dutch painters. I then ventured to a beer tour at the De Halve Maan Brewery Tour, I ended up meeting up with 3 of my new bar buddies, Marlene (who works at the Brewery) and Mike and his friend (totally blanked on his name - damn Belgium beer!) 😊 It was a sunny day, so I headed back to the square and took more photos and then made it an early night before I then took the train to Brussels. There's no doubt that this is a place I want to come back to and will probably want to stay for a week as there are areas outside of it that are worth exploring too. Brugge is one of those towns where you wish there weren't modern day vehicles but was left for boats, pedestrians, bicyclists and horse drawn carriages. Oh Brugge, you'll always hold a special place in my heart that I shall return to.
Up next, Brussels...
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lanimoo
lanimoo
I'm pretty sure I floated
Thankfully I didn't stumble on my way there with the many cobble stone streets. You'll definitely enjoy it there and let me know when you head on over as I'll join you guys. mmm... beer! One thing is for sure, the Belgians know their beers. None of their beers are placed in cans, everyone of them are in bottles. Pretty amazing stuff.