Blogs from Bruges, West Flanders, Belgium, Europe - page 13

Due to popular demand, I am writing my first blog before I have actually started my travels. So the trip to Bruges was amazing, I thought I would indulge myself in luxury accommodation, fine beer, fine chocolate and the real french frie before I set off for 7 months of complete budget living. The trip to Bruges was ruined by the ever so handy UK police who decided to close the road into the port and therefore make us miss the ferry. I get the feeling that the drive into Bruges itself would have been even more painful if it wasn't for the sat nav, what a life saver. Driving round tiny one-way streets trying not to run the locals was hard enough. But Bruges itself was gorgeous. The horse and carriage ride and the boat ... read more

Getting to Bruges this morning was a challenge. I packed my bags (while everyone in my dorm room was still sleeping) and headed over to the Gare du Nord train station, about a fifteen minute walk. (Probably would have been less if I wasn't wearing 25kg of luggage, but anyway...) Bought a ticket for the train and went to the track to wait for it. I had about a half-hour wait. The train didn't arrive. It was supposedly running 13 minutes late, but it was certainly more than that. The next train going to Bruges arrived before that one did, so I jumped on. Funnily enough, I met one of my dorm roommates, Jess, on the track, so we sat together on the train. It was more like a commuter train (think GO train) as it ... read more

Today started off worst than any of the days we have had so far. Gail woke up with bites from head to toe, no idea what they were from when we woke up but as the day moved on we found out something we didn’t want to know. After an hour of debating what to do with the hotel manager we ended up at the pharmacy down the road and thank goodness after much French-English deciphering got the stuff that we needed. Some anti histamines and some cream to stop the itching. We then returned to the hotel with our sample bug, which was rather huge and ugly looking and the hotel manager had gone upstairs and had our bed removed to be replaced, to little-to late for us but any way once the bed was ... read more

Hi Everyone, Today was another fun filled day in fantasy land...I mean Bruges! This city is almost like being in Disneyland. It seems like it was created and maintained solely for the sake of the visitors. And everyone here seems to be a visitor. The streets are filled with people snapping pictures and buying postcards. Strangely enough I don't hear much English. I guess Bruges is one of those tourist places that attract, not just foreigners but people from within its own borders. This morning I walked up 366 steps to the top of the Belfry tower on the Markt square. This belfry has 47 bells and still employs a full time carillon, who does bell concerts every Monday, Wednesday, and Saturday. I have heard that 'Don't Worry Be Happy' is a favorite. The view from ... read more

Well got on the bus in Paris and met the biggest drunk in the world!!! Just my luck!!! Nah just kidding but i did meet Adam and Nicole from Adelaide who are great. We travelled to Bruges, a quaint little Medieval Town in Belguim. It took me about 4 hours to see enough and realise that the Hostel Bar was prob where i was going to stay for the next 2 nights. Dont get me wrong Bruges is really really nice, but its somewhere really to go to with a partner that you can have little picnics by the canals and stuff like that, not much else to do really. So it was with that, that i also met G and Haley from NZ, also great people who dabble in a little binge drinking!!! So basically ... read more