Back to finish my blog after a break...

 

The next morning we left in the morning for Bruges, which has been called the Venice of the North. It is a town set upon canals much like Venice, except Venice is essentially composed of islands with huge canals, whilst Bruges is more like being on the mainland with Canals running through the city (Amsterdam is similar, but much bigger.) We got to bruge just after lunch, and headed for our hostel- which turn out to be pretty gross! Bruges is pretty small, and we were all hungry, so we all headed into town for a walk around to soak up the atmosphere. It was a Sunday, and the town was bustling full of people- so after a lunch of Frites, we walked around the main streets for a while, browsing at some shops. After wandering for a while and grabbing some afternoon tea, we all headed back to the hostel for some rest and dinner. Along with my dinner, I had my first Belgian beer of the trip, a Leffe (first of many). I think travel was starting to catch up on all of us, so we retired pretty early.

 

The next day, David once again stayed in to complete AIESEC work, so Tim and I headed out together to explore Bruges more. We spent the morning around Grote Markt and the Burg, taking photos here and there, and hopping into places that sold beer glasses. We finally retired to a cafe that specialised in Hot Chocolates (it was run by the chocolate shop opposite), and boy were we in for a treat. My hot chocolate came in four components: a mug of milk, a plate of runny melted chocolate to put into the mug, a plate with whipped cream to put on top, and a plate of chocolates to go with my drink. Needless to say, all of this was simply delicious, and kept me going for the rest of the morning and early afternoon!

 

After our chocolate break, we headed into a church nearby which housed Michaelangelo's Madonna and the Child- one of the few of Michaelangelo's works housed outside of Italy.  A quick wander through the church was followed by a walk again down the main shopping street to look for some more cheap deals. After some wandering, we were both hungry for lunch, so we found a friterie of Grote Markt for our second helping of Belgian Frites.

 

After the late lunch, Tim suggested we go get a beer (Tim's definately a closet alchy, especailly when it comes to Belgian beers), so I looked in my guide book for a cafe. We found a little tavern called De Garre, where we promptly sample 330mls of their own brew, which was awesome tasting, but very potent (11.5%vol!) The strong beer definately left me feeling a little light headed (for a lightweight like me, I definately feel it when having 3 beers at once!), so we retired back to the hostel for a rest, before heading out to dinner.

 

After wandering a while round town for dinner, we finally settle for an Irish Pub, which served good hearty food. They also happend to be running a pub quiz that same night (in English!), which we got roped into, and nearly won (stupid music questions all happened to be from the 60s and 70s!). After downing a few more beers ( I had a Kriek- a cherry beer, whilst the others sampled several others), we retired back to hostel, ready to head to Antwerp the next day.

 

More Later...