Brugge, July 2007

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From Munich we flew to Brussels and then hopped a train to Brugge. The Brussels train station was really confusing (the guidebooks had warned us and we were still surprised how bad the signage was) and we ended up chasing down a very friendly train conductor to ask him where we were supposed to go. Then we spent most of the train ride to Brugge convinced that the Dutch announcements were telling us that our train was going to split and that we were on the wrong part. But apparently we don't speak Dutch very well because we made it there with no problems.

We spent five nights in Brugge as a way to wind down from all of our traveling before heading back to the states. We stayed at Lybeer Travelers Hostel, which would have been fine for a night or two but wasn't necessarily ideal for setting up camp for a longer time. Apparently a shower had overflowed in the room above ours a few months prior and now our walls were covered in mold. The front desk staff were nice about it and changed us to a different room after a couple of nights and that was marginally better. The good thing about the hostel was its very central location and the bar that served lots of interesting Belgian beers.

We spent most of our time in Brugge just walking around, eating chocolate, and drinking beer (sometimes all three at the same time 😊). We also checked out some of the museums and rented bikes for a day to ride out to Damme. We got lost on our way out of the city and ended up riding in traffic for awhile, which was a little scary. But once we figured out where we were supposed to go, it was beautiful. We rode along a canal most of the way, stopping to hang out with some cows and look at windmills.

Another highlight was a dinner of mussels and frites. A nice woman working at a shop in town had recommended a restaurant that had just been opened by a couple of women, so we went to check it out. The mussels were great and were served with fries in typical Belgian style and we had a nice bottle of wine to go with the meal. Very memorable.

While we were in Brugge there was some sort of summer festival going on, and there were events going on every night in the square. One night was a fun concert where everyone was dancing in the square, another night was a talent show, and one was a sing-along. The organizers handed out little newspapers with the lyrics to all of the songs, and everybody stood around and sang along to the songs being played on stage. It was so cute!

We had planned to visit Brussels as a day trip from Brugge, but ended up just wanting to hang out in Brugge the whole time and take it easy after so many weeks of busy traveling. It was nice to take our time to see the city and learn our way around.

Finally, it was time to go and start our long and circuitous journey back to the states (which, believe it or not, was: Brugge-Brussels-Dublin-Frankfurt-Detroit-Minneapolis!).

- Lindsay

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Photos

Orange & Blue
Walking along one of the main canals in Brugge.

Windmills in the park
The park circles the old part of Brugge and makes for a really nice walk