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Published: November 25th 2007
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It was time to escape the hustle & bustle of London once again, and this time we were off to Brugge, Belgium!
Day 1 With packs on our backs, we had yet another early start. As the Eurostar had moved from Waterloo to St Pancras 3 days prior to our trip we had to make it across Londontown for our 8am train. Breakfast was put on hold as we raced out the door, figuring we would eat when we got there. Unfortunately that was not to be as the queue for coffee was longer than a queue for the ladies loo at a music festival.
The new Eurostar terminal at St Pancras is amazing. The huge arch construction worth 800 million GBP seems to have been worth the effort - it is incredible. The new high speed rail connection has also just been completed which means the Eurtostar can get to top speed as you leave the station. The sheer speed of the train flying in and out of the new tunnels constantly caused huge overpressure which meant we were constantly equalizing our ears to the pressure. Though the 15 minutes of minor discomfort was worth it, considering
that 1 hour and 51 minutes later we had arrived in Brussels. Here we boarded another train that would take us into Brugge in only 55 minutes. We settled comfortably into our seats and pondered as to why the carriage was almost empty. Stacy was very impressed by the comfort and pleasantness of the train and was mid way through his repeated rave about how great it was compared to trains in Australia and London, when the ticket inspector advised us that we were sitting in First Class and requested that we move immediately or pay for an upgrade. We scurried around collecting our belongings that we had strewn around the carriage and were herded into cattle class - oh now we see: that’s where all the people are! Fortunately for us, just as we were considering sitting on the floor between the 2 carriages (as there were no seats left in the plebs section), we pulled into a station and the train temporarily half emptied. We quickly scored a couple of seats for the last 20 minutes of the journey.
We arrived in Brugge and after getting our bearings, and almost being run over by a scooter on the
Our hotel room
The Sofitel Brugge was quite a treat... footpath, we were on track towards our hotel - the Sofitel Brugge. As we checked in Stacy, without thinking, thought he would ask the receptionist if the people of Brugge spoke German!!! After receiving an icy cold stare and some attitude he quickly realised that this was not a good question to ask considering that Belgium was occupied by the Germans in 1940!!!
So not a good start, but things were sure to improve. We entered our lovely quadruple executive room in the 4-star hotel only to be met with the smell of sewage! We soon found out that most of the Brugge sewerage system suffered a little due to being 6.5m below sea level. After making a coffee on the expresso machine to cover the smell we pushed our two queen size beds together to make one huge bed, and when doing so made a discovery that was too scary to even imagine…..a womans pair of shoes that were too big for Stacy!!! As they were in good condition we thought we could sell them on EBay, but some after some further thought we realised we may actually meet the largest woman on Earth and this was not on
our list of “things to do in Brugge”. So the “skis” were slid back under the bed. We are now half expecting a call from the Sofitel Brugge saying that they found our skis…
After putting on multiple layers of clothes to combat the icy temperatures, we were ready to explore. First on the agenda - find an ATM. We grabbed our Aussie credit card and headed out the door. We eventually discovered an ATM at the Markt - the centre of Brugge and 15 minutes walk from our hotel. We stood in a queue 10 people deep and as we fronted up to the machine, we realised that neither of us had any idea what the pin number was as we hadn’t used it in quite some time! So we trudged back to the hotel and got our UK card instead. Take two - time to head back to the Markt and stand in the queue again - this time it was even longer.
As it was only 2pm and we still had plenty of time to explore the town. We took the rest of the day to wander the streets, decide on a restaurant to dine that night,
Which beer shall I take a swig of next?
We tasted about 15 different beers in 3 days! look through the shops and take in the general atmosphere of Brugge. The town is absolutely beautiful. The architecture has a gothic feel and the new buildings have retained the traditional 14th century architectural characteristics. The Christmas lights were also up (but hadn't been switched on), and a outdoor ice rink was being prepared for the Christmas fair which was due to start a week later.
That night we took a recommendation from the local Brugge map and headed to a pub that served over 300 different types of Belgium beer. In order to store the beer the pub had 3 basement levels filled with stock. We ordered plenty of beers, but didn’t really finish many as we were keen to taste as many as we could without falling off our perches! Erin drank fruit beers (strawberry, apple, raspberry, blackcurrent, banana and cherry), whilst Stacy drank some bitters, some lagers and some stouts, the strongest of which was 11.3%!a(MISSING)lcohol!
Day 2 We left our hotel and headed straight to the Belfry Tower in the Markt. The stairs were so narrow only one person could go up and down which caused some serious traffic jams! We got
to the top and stuck around for about 30 minutes. In that time most people headed back down, blocking the people trying to get back up, so we eneded up being at the top of the tower on our own right on the strike of 12 - and those the bells were soooooo loud!!!! Erin and I jumped out of our skin when that giant bell was struck for the first time!
We then took a ride on a riverboat around the canals of Brugge. These canals used to be the lifeblood of Brugge as they were used for transporting goods in and out of the city. However 500 years ago the river runningh through Brugge silted over leaving the town stranded. Not much has changed since this time; the street layout remains very similar, the canals still exist, and the architectural style has been preserved.
We took a short walk, went via a chocolate shop, bought a sample of just about everything, and then ate till we couldn’t stand to even see another chocolate. But Stacy was ready to eat more within about 20 minutes…pig! Once we recovered we wandered to Begijnhof. This village was home to a 13th
11.3% of drunkeness
Most beers had more than 7% alcohol. This one had 11.3% - I drank half....it was too strong for my liking. century religious community of unmarried or widowed women. The village is completely surrounded by a 10 foot stone wall, and in its centre there is the small Church of the Beguinage which still holds services for the local community today.
In the late afternoon as the light was dropping we decided to tour the city on a horse and carriage. By this time the temperature was getting right down there, so the blanket on the carriage was more than welcomed. It was a great way to see the city, and of course, very romantic!
That night we returned to the same pub as the night before to continue tasting the beers of Belgium.
Day 3 Our final day was dedicated to strolling around, absorbing the atmosphere and enjoying the amazing shopping that Brugge has on offer. So it was a great 3 days that were pretty chilled out - it was just what we needed. We would have to say this was one of the most gorgeous places that we have visited on our travels so far. Well worth a visit.
So now we are looking forward to our next trip which is to Vancouver Island
The gothic skyline of Brugge
This is The Church of Our Lady. It features a 122-metre bell tower and a fantastic art collection that includes Michelangelo's 'Madonna and Child' and Whistler in Canada.
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David
non-member comment
Your description of Brugge brings back memories of our trip there last year. It really is a wonderful town. Somehow, though, your trip appears to be much less conventional than that enjoyed by the Sydney Welsh Choir!! Yours seems so much more like an adventure. I got a good laugh from both your experiences and the way that you described them. Keep the blogs coming!!