Blogs from West Flanders, Belgium, Europe - page 12

So, we arrived in Bruges last night in the POURING and I mean POURING rain!! What a welcome! the flight from edinburgh was only an hour and a bit but we then had to get a bus into the city which was an hour, and then a train from the city of brussels to Bruges which was just over another hour! So even though it was a short flight it took a fair while to get into Bruges! Thankfully I have my brand spanking new amaizng kindle that just kept me engrossed the whole time - so much so it was annoying when we had to get off our current mode of transport and change cos I had to put the kindle down! What a geek! :P Anywho, we arrived into Bruges in the wet darkness ... read more

After one more night in England we drove on to a ferry in Dover, in extremely foggy conditions, crossing the Channel to Dunkirk. We then had 2 nights in a caravan at a campground near Bruges in Belgium. Bruges (or Brugge) is probably the most tourist orientated place we have ever been! At any one time on a small stretch of the narrow river you can see up to 4 tourist boats and rarely none, and there are horse drawn carriages everywhere. Emma was fascinated with the "nappies" the horses wear to keep the roads clean!... read more

It has been a little while since the last update - primarily due to the hectic pace. We walked pretty much all across Paris over seven days and are now in Ypres, Belgium for a visit to the WW1 battlefields tomorrow. Some of the highlights in Paris included fireworks on Bastille Day at the Eiffel Tower starting at 11pm, visit to the cemetry Pere Lachaisse where many famous people are buried including Chopin, Oscar Wilde and Edith Piaf; and to the Pantheon where the greats of France are interred including Victo Hugo, Voltaire, Curies, and Alexander Dumas. The tour to Versailles was good although it was incredibly crowded and felt like we were pushed through a sausage machine. However we did feel it was more interesting that in 1988 mainly due to the fact that we ... read more

Well, we finally made it to Brussels after a 8 1/2 hr coach ride - which included a ferry ride from Dover, England to Belgium. Now, I usually don't mind buses, but this bus...well, it stunk. And after several hours of restless "sleep" and stinky fumes, we were glad to be able to get out on the ferry (aka cruise ship) for about 2 hrs! We have ferries in Washington. In Europe, ferries are cruise ships. They have 6 or 7 levels for cars, buses, trucks, etc, a food court and lounge/sleep area, and a floor dedicated to a casino. Whattttt?! Why don't ferries back home have sleeping areas? Well, once we got into Brussels, we definitely had a bit of a shock trying to find where it was we needed to go. Also, at that ... read more

Photos of Bruges...... read more