Mmm CHOCOLATE!!

6^th October 2011 – 10.20am

We are so awesome! Slept in till 9, free breakfast at our stupidly cheap hotel, 5 minute speed walk to the station, train pulls up and we are now on our way to AMSTERDAM!! Although I should mention the trains run twice every hour… Our Eurail tickets are paying off, we just flash our tickets and on we’re off to anywhere we want! 

LOTS OF BIKES NEAR BRUSSELS

Anyway, yesterday we arrived in Belgium. We skipped Brussels and went straight to Bruges. Or Brugge. Still not sure how to pronounce it, but regardless it’s my new favourite place!

Brugge is a small city that you can easily do by foot. All of the streets are cobblestone and every second store is a chocolatier. No joke! We actually counted 5 in a row! There were very few cars, plenty of push bikes and the odd horse and cart. Lace is also another big thing in Brugge, there are heaps of stores selling doilies. You all like doilies right? Because I got plenty for everyone!* (To go with your Wills and Kate plates from London of course!)

You can also see Brugge from the water, with the canals winding all through the city. We jumped on a small tour boat, and the guide gave us a tour of his city in 3 different languages. He was so funny and translated all of his little jokes so no one missed out. That guy really loves his job. We enjoyed the canal tour so much, it was absolutely beautiful. One of the buildings we passed was the town hospital. It is the oldest hospital on the continent and dates back to the 13^th Century. A few of the other buildings have a bit of a lean to them, which is not surprising seeing as the bottoms of the buildings just disappear into the water. Another highlight of the tour was one of the bridges we went under – 700 years old and never repaired.

BRUGGE

NO WONDER THEY ARE BLOODY CROOKED. WHO'S IDEA WAS THAT?

We continued on foot after that passing countless chocolatiers and lace makers (do they have a name?), but what we were really looking for were WAFFLES! Well I was looking for waffles and Matt was looking for… you guessed it… Belgian Beer! These Belgians have picked good things to be good at!

WAFFLES AND BEER!

LOOK FAMILIAR TO ANYONE? MIKE?

After walking around the Town Square (which was beautiful the way) we found our waffles and beer, and what a feast it was! We spent hours just wandering around the streets and alleys, just soaking up the atmosphere. After a few drinks at the pub next door to our hotel we called it a night. It would have been easy to spend a few more days in Brugge, but we’ve had a taste and now ready to move on to the next stop.

TOWN SQUARE

Five and a bit weeks in, we are both having a wonderful time, and still enjoying each other’s company believe it or not! It’s lucky too I guess, because there’s a ring on my finger! Speaking of which, I’ve used our time in transit to do a bit of research for our wedding. I’ve bought a couple of magazines but everything in them is so over the top and wanky! We’ve already agreed on a whole heap of stuff which isn’t really too difficult when Matt just nods and says “As long as I get to drink!”

Not far from our stop in Antwerpe so that be all for now!

Amy