Blogs from Bruges, West Flanders, Belgium, Europe - page 10

Ray: Bruges is a shithole. Ken: Bruges is not a shithole. Ray: Bruges is a shithole. Ken: Ray, we only just got off the f**king train! Could we reserve judgement on Bruges until we've seen the f**king place? That's not quite what we were thinking as Eva and I were dismounting our fourth connecting train. Unlike Ray, we made this journey of our own accord, and the lights of the town shining mysteriously though the fog of the evening filled us with excitement and anticipation. Only the rain and the bitter cold wind ruined the first impression, but only slightly - Bruges really does look majestic at night! The main tower is like a lighthouse in a sea of darkness, beckoning us towards its warm glow. And we follow this landmark, knowing that our hostel is ... read more

After a decent night's sleep to reorient ourselves to the time zone we are now in, we started the morning with a guided tour of the Museum of Fine Arts in Brussels. Admittedly, guided tour/museum first thing in the morning while still orienting to the time may sound sleepy yet the tour has made me a believer in guided tours! Our guide, an art expert who clearly knows this museum's fine works, steered us through the collection. At one point, she spent about twenty minutes describing a Bosch painting. I could have listened for another hour for the painting itself was complex with political and social themes of its time. In fact, she mentioned that she had briefed Michael Palin for two and a half hours and I'm sure the painting had some influence on Monty ... read more

Am Abend des letzten Projekttages bin ich nach Brügge gefahren. Dort konnte ich gut parken und habe ich mir in einem Supermarkt etwas zu Essen gekauft. Auch während dieses Städtetrips habe ich leider keine Fotos gemacht.... read more

Hi all Finally got a decent wi fi connection, we've been out in the countryside for a while, now we are back in the city. Well we've had quite a few days since the last blog so here's what we've been upto. We left Amsterdam and drove south to a small but very nice town called Kaatsheuval which is close to the border with Belgium. We chilled out on day one and on day 2 we went to the Efteling theme park (Monday 2nd Aug) for the day, it was a good day, plenty of rides like Alton Towers (but not as many white knuckle rides tho.......booo!), so we queued and went on everything decent before it started raining at 5 pm and as it hammered it down we decided to head back to the site ... read more

After two train cancellations on Sunday our backpacks grew heavy. Upon arrival into Brugges things started to look up. This town is GORGEOUS!! we did some exploring on foot and then jumped on a boat to tour the canals in the company of a dry humor comedian/guide. With 17 churches and more bridges than we could count we were blown away by all the 13th century medieval architecture. The oldest bridge was built in the 1200's and the newest in the 1700's...which is warmly refered to as the ugliest bridge in town. Beautiful cobblestone streets are very narrow here making walking and cycling tricky... Not as crazy as Amsterdam though! Carefully maintained ancient gothic buildings and quaint cafes rule the streets here. We came home in time to dress is our neon orange boa's, a Holland ... read more