Beer, war memorials and wooden escilators

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Our first stop in Belgium was the city of Antwerp. We arrived on a Sunday and expected the city to be pretty quiet; with most shops closed. But after our walk under the canal into the city we disocvered there was some kind of beer and food festival! So obviously we were obliged to sample some of the local goods. The handmade chocolate ended up being really cheap, and a highlight. Oh, it was in Belgium, and not the Netherlands that we saw close up our first old style windmill as well. There was one right next to our campsite.

From Antwerp we drove to Ieper. We managed to stumble across one of the largest war memorials/cemetires for the allies of WW1. It was staggering to see all the little white headstones, and then if you looked closer, how many were from NZ and Australia. This first memorial we found, was erected for the fighting in that particular area of Belgium, and there were over 2000 kiwis known to be buried there. A little further away we found a larger cemetry/memorial, and in this area over 5000 kiwis. It was pretty moving wandering around the site, and the nearby mueseum. Every night in the town of Ieper at 8pm the town centre stops for the last post to be played.

From Ieper we headed across to Brugge. We wandered round the city centre, stoped for pastries and coffee, then disocvered there was a Dali exhibition on, so were lucky enough to see that too.

Another highlight in Belgium was visiting the Sint Sixtus Restaurant. The restaurant just happens to be located next to a monastrey where the monks make some of the best beer in the world. So we ordered a glass of all three beers. Varing from 6% right through to 12%, we had to order lunch, dessert, coffees, and then go for a long walk before getting back in the car to drive!

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Comments

[sam]

cmon already
hurry up and go to a new country already, I'm getting bored reading these same blogs over and over again, noticing all the spelling mistakes...