Brussels

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After arriving in Brussels the previous night, we headed out to Bruges for the day. We caught the train out (along with nearly eveyone else in Europe it seemed!) and after about an hour made it to our destination. Bruges is a very touristy, crowded and expensive city - but beautiful nonetheless. It is apparently one of Europe's best preserved examples of a medieval city. Again, it is a city with a big square (grote markt) overlooked by the town hall and guildhouses. It seems like lots of European cities have large pedestrianised squares with adjacent cafes that place tables and chairs all over them.

We climbed the 366 narrow and widing steps to the top of the Belfry tower for a spectacular view of the city and surrounds (people must of been shorter and had smaller feet back then!). Back on the ground, we walked around and found the Church of the Holy Blood which supposedly has a few drops of Jesus's blood somewhere - we couldn't find them though. After lunch we made our way slowly back to the train station and back to Brussels.

In the late afternoon we caught the train back to Brussels and spent a bit of time looking around is seeing as though we were staying there. Whilst our hotel was in the boring financial district full of modern glass skyscrapers, Brussels also has a historical centre located near the main train station. When we arrived back in Brussels, we walked around the Grand Place (Brussels main square) and found the Mannekin Pis - a small statue of a boy peeing in the street! Very popular photo spot for the tourists. Kerrie had her first Belgian waffle (and then her second!), and went looking for relatively inexpensive chocolate.

One thing that Ross found exciting about Brussels is that as well as having a subway metro system and street level trams, they also have the main tram lines through the city centre go underground. (The RACV actually proposed this for Melbourne for Swanston Street back in the 1960s but it never caught on!)

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