I know, it's been awhile. I have a lot to catch you up on.
During the first weekend in October I took a trip to the lovely Belgian cities of Brussels and Bruges. Chris and I arrived in Brussels in the afternoon, checked into our hostel, and took the train to Bruges (about an hour) to meet Vanessa and her parents for dinner.
When we got to Bruges, it was pouring. And as Murphy would have it, I left my umbrella in Brussels. Here Chris and I are, roaming around the quaint brick streets of Bruges trying to keep our map dry as we look for the center of town. And, what do we hear but an emphatic, "NO WAY!" from across the street. Noel, who was supposed to be half way to Bordeaux at this point, is standing opposite us, soaked to bone. Apparently, he hadn't been able to get a train to Paris and decided to go to Bruges on a whim instead of returning to the Castle. Then, he found us.
Somehow (after asking at a bar), we made it Vanessa's hotel a mere seven minutes late (but don't quote me on that, my memory is a little cloudy from being so wet). Chris, Noel, Dana (who was staying with Vanessa and her parents), Vanessa and I killed a little bit of time at a bar before going out to a little Italian place for dinner. It was wonderful to be treated to a nice meal (THANKS VANESSA'S MOM AND DAD) and to sit and enjoy everyone as we continued to dry off.
Then, Noel, Chris and I wondered back to the train station (only getting a little lost) and made it back to Brussels before midnight. We decided we'd should at least try to sneak Noel into our room (we had so much valuable floor space that would have gone to waste) and found ourselves to be successful.
Saturday we explored Brussels a little more, visited a Flea Market, stopped into a wonderful children's toy store, enjoyed a Belgian waffle, stumbled upon an installation art exhibit, strolled through the Parc van Brussel, saw the Palais Royal, bought tickets for a play, ran around the coolest playground situated on an island between two major roads, had trouble (and fun) trying to understand what was going on during L'Aiglon, went to Delirium Bar with over 2000 beers on tap, and had a good late night walk back to our hostel.
Sunday was simple. Train station, train, home, homework.
Since it was raining in Bruges when we went, I'm going to try and get back during the week sometime. I hear it's perfectly picturesque.
Some PICTURES!
Soon to come: Croatia and Spain.
4 comments:
Some of the buildings are so intricate; almost like lace. Are those sticks making a big umbrella in #10 and #11? And what is does the symbol in #21 mean? Looking forward to the next installment and hoping your camera battery holds out until the new charger gets there! Enjoy each day!
Go back to Bruges!! It's beautiful!! :D miss you! anxiously awaiting Croatia and Spain!!
Mom, it's so wonderful that you noticed the buildings are like lace! That was one of the things that all of the little shops sold in Bruges. Lace and chocolate. Apparently, Bruges' two main exports.
And that stick structure was strange. I'm not really sure what it was for (probably art) but it appeared to be made of smallish pieces of wood.
And, I honestly don't quite know what that symbol is attempting to communicate...
when are you coming back??
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