Belgium!

---

Yesterday morning Emily and I got on the train from London to Brussels. I felt like I was in Harry Potter because it was at King's Cross station! It was a great train ride, and I would much prefer trains to flying. After we arrived in Brussels, we took a train to Bruges. Our hostel owner picked us up and took us to the bed and breakfast, which was just a little bit out of the city center. It was the cutest place with just three rooms. It was nice to have our own room, unlike most of the other hostels that we stay in. Emily and I decided to walk into town, which was about a 20 min walk. Once we got there we found a resturant that looked out onto a square to eat at. It was alright, but it had a great view. We finnished eating around 4:30, but found that most places were closed on Sundays, and if they wern't they closed at 6pm. We ended up exploring the town for a bit, and then taking a boat tour along the canal. It was very interesting, but more than anything, beautiful. Then, we got some choclate from a nearby shop, which was by far the best chocolate that I have ever had.

After that, Emily and I walked to Astrid Park, which the ticket seller in Brussels had told us to visit. It was gorgeous with a foutain and loads of ducks. They also had a play ground with swings, which Emily and I spent about an hour at. The funny thing was that we were not nearly the oldest people playing there. After that we stopped at a tea room for coffee. After the battle of Waterloo many British people passed through Brugges and fell in love with it. They opened many tea rooms that just serve tea and Belgian waffles. Then we went to a bar, which we fell in love with. We tried a Belgian beer, which was the best beer that I had ever had. We spent a few hours there talking to locals and just hanging out. We then tried a rock and roll bar, which we also liked a lot. It had great atmosphere, but we had to leave early to catch the bus home.

This morning we got up early and had breakfast at the hostel. They had fresh orange juice, tea, and home made jelly. Then we dropped our bags at a locker at the train station and rented bikes for a few hours. We visited a nunnery, which was very beautiful. It was a big square with small white houses surrounding it and flowers all throughout the middle. We rode bikes around for a few hours only to stop for lunch at a cute restaurant. Once we got tired, we headed for the train station to catch a train to Brussels.

Once we arrived in Brussels we took the metro into the city. Their metro system was very different from London’s. It reminded me more of an airport tram system. It was very easy to navigate, and was pretty nice on the inside. It was small though, and I could see how it would be very crowded at rush hour. We went into the city center and saw the main square. It was very beautiful and the buildings were so interesting to look at. We ate in a tea room overlooking the square and had Belgian waffles. They were SO GOOD! At one of their museums they had a Stanley Kubrick exhibition of his photography. I really wanted to go, so I made Emily hike up this long walk, just to find the museum closed. The walk was very pretty though, and we ended up getting a great view of the city. We wandered back down the hill, stopping at a few really good vintage shops. We finally made it back to the train station and headed for the airport. We checked into our hotel, which we got an upgrade for. Now, we have a jr suite and it is literally a 2 min walk from the airport. That will be very nice because we leave at 8am tomorrow morning. I am in the lounge right now, where they have free food. I am very excited for Berlin tomorrow!

---

Comments

[Aunt Pat]

Lovely
Bruges should hire you to write their visitor brochure. I'm definately ready to pack my bag and go for a visit!! The entire trip sounds lovely! SO happy you are seeing such lovely things. hugs

[Jennifer]

Looks like great trip
I think you are starting to look like me in pictures!