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Published: December 12th 2011
WAFFLE
nutella and whipped creamGreetings! (of the Merry kind)
This time our travels took us on a day trip to Bruges (Brugge), Belgium. Craig won a day trip at a travel expo that we went to, so off we went!
Bright and early. Departure time was 6:30am from London, by coach. Ferried to France, then continued onto Belgium. When we got to Bruges, we had about 5hrs to explore the town.
We started with the traditional Belgium Waffle. AMAZING! (I should note here that a lot of what we did was eat + drink) Nutella and whipped cream waffle to share = great start to the trip!
The town was beautiful. So festive, with every store getting into the Christmas Spirit. There were horse drawn carriages transporting people through the town, toy stores, lace shops, chocolate stores (every 3rd shop!!) and other local businesses. We didn't take long before we bought (and demolished!) a block of chocolate. Belgium chocolate is as amazing as they say. We bought you some, but we ate it. too bad!
After taking a few wrong streets and asking numerous friendly locals for directions, we made it to the market square, where the ice rink was
set up, and a few market stalls selling various goods (winter woollies, xmas decorations, food and drink). First thing we did was hit the ice rink. For about 6 euros you got skate hire and admission to the rink. It wasn't until I was putting on my skates that I remembered that I don't really like ice skating... I got caught up in the festivites, and suddenly I was slipping around on the ice, clinging to the barriers like the uncoordinated person I am. Craig, on the other hand, took one lap of the rink, and was back to being good at every sport he does... grr! He was spinning round, going backward, on one foot and looking very nice, while i was going REALLY slow and being over taken by kiddies... onthe plus side, I never fell over, and only screamed like a girl a few times when I was "encouraged" to go faster by Craig with a gentle push... Thankfully we were on a tight time schedule so we didn't skate for too long!
After skating we checked out the stalls. Bought a few xmas souvenirs, and more food. We tried the local mulled wine (wine served
hot) and a local beer. I found the BEST hot chocolate in the world! well, at least that was their claim, and I'd have to agree! soooo good! We bought some chocolate supplies, then headed off to find the bus (because Craig heard the time wrong and the timezones confused him, turns out I was right- so we had another hour to explore!)
We decided to go check out the Disney Winterwonderland. This is basically a giant freezer with ice sculptures of Disney characters. It was really cool! pun intended. Very cold, but so good! Ice sculptures of all your favourite Disney characters. I can't pic a favourite, but some were really incredible. There was even a palace, which you could climb to the top of, glab a sled, and go down the ice slide to the bottom. You could go behind ice walls, or have a drink at the Ice Bar.
After that, we had to race back to the bus, so we didnt miss our transport back to london. We caught the EuroTunnel back to London - which is awesome! saves so much time!! For those of you who don't know what it is, is a
train which you drive your car into... so you sit in your car/bus/etc inside the train and entertain yourself for 40mins, cos thats all it takes to cross the water back to England! (rather than the 1.5hrs it takes by ferry)
Got back to London about 11pm, exhausted and ready for bed! Chocolate overload! But a day well spent!
Recommend it to all!
And if we don't write another blog before Christmas/New Years, we wish you a very Happy Christmas and New Year! Hopefully we see some of you in 2012!
We'll be spending Christmas in Paris, the onto Switzerland, Germany, Netherlands - Amsterdam New Years, back through Belgium on route to London!
Keep safe everyone!
over and out xox
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