Beautiful Bruges

To kick off the Easter hols (aka holiday aka vacation) my mom and dad and I headed over to Bruges for a few days before embarking on our whirlwind river cruise down the Rhine. I was so excited to see Bruges because I'd heard so many great things about how beautiful the city is and how great Belgium is in general. Plus, Belgium is famous for beer and chocolate--two of my favorite things! It couldn't possibly disappoint.

We got up bright and early Easter Sunday and caught the Eurostar train from St. Pancras station over to Belgium. I'd been on the Eurostar before when we went to Paris in September, but my parents hadn't, and my mom was really excited to "ride the chunnel" under the water to Europe. I was also very excited because we had first class tickets--how posh!!!

Coming up into St. Pancras station 

My mom and I on the Eurostar

Pops getting all high tech with his iPod and apps

The trip over was easy and fun, and it actually felt a little like a vacation in itself. We even got to eat a neat little breakfast on the train! I've taken lots of trains during my year here in England, and now that I've been in first class I think it's going to be a little tough to go back to coach! :)

Once we arrived in Brussels, we had to catch a connection to Bruges. We got slightly confused for a few minutes--we actually should have listened to my mom who actually knew what was what but we didn't...isn't that always how it is? :)

It was SOOOO cold!!

 But we made it onto our train and finally arrived in Bruges. Our hotel was really neat! Originally it was two large houses but it was redesigned and repurposed to make the more unique hotel! We loved the exposed wood beams in our room.

There's my bed. Mind your head!

View out our window. Love those gabled roofs.

After settling in, we got a recommendation from the woman at the front desk of a good beer house and headed over straight away to try some good Belgium beer and get a bite. We loved this restaurant called Cambrinus and ended up going there twice during our stay.

I have to admit that I ordered this beer just because it came
in a horn-shaped glass with a cool wooden holder.  

Belgium is also famous for it's fries (called frites) and when you order
a meal at this restaurant, they bring you a giant bowl of frites. They
also eat their frites with mayo, not ketchup. Sounds gross but was quite
tasty really. 

We spent three days in Bruges and during our time in the city we walked around, shopped, ate great food and drank great beer, took a mini bus tour and canal cruise, toured a brewery and checked out some of the local tourist attractions. I took about 10 million photos, but don't worry I won't post them all. But here's a little photographic rundown of some of my favorite moments.

Burges is full of the most amazingly beautiful buildings! It's like a
real-life theme park of fairy castles and gorgeous old homes.
This is the Provincial Palace

A view through the Market Square with the Belfrey
in the background. It's not a church or a town hall,
but rather a symbol of freedom and wealth, and
a common feature in Flemish towns that sprang
up in the Middle Ages.

The other side of Market Square 

There are canals running all throughout Bruges. It really makes the
city even more beautiful and fairy-tale like. 

Gabled roofs like this are common in Bruges. Love them! 

Cute views of the canals. See the white duckies on the left?

Chocolate shops will all sorts of treats

Who needs a ruby slipper when you can have a chocolate one?

The Basilica of the Holy Blood. This church dates back to the 12th century
and is the oldest building in Bruges. The church holds a relic of the holy
blood--a piece of cloth supposedly with a few drops of Jesus Christ's
blood. Whether or not it's true is hard to say, but we were lucky to visit
the church during the time of day when the relic is out and we were able
to go up to the alter and pray over it. Incredible.
. 

Inside the church

Sampling more local flavors 

The fish market--which unfortunately wasn't running during our visit.

My dad and some random statue

Time for a canal tour

The three of us on the canal cruise 

We actually had to duck going under some of these bridges.

Watch the beer brew during the brewery tour

The guy monitoring the brewery 

The tour took us up and through multiple levels
of the brewery. We just kept climbing up these stairs
that gradually became so steep they were ladders. 

One of the best parts of the tour was when we got to go on the roof
of the brewery and take in the incredible views of Bruges.

Is that supposed to be a staircase or a ladder?

The other best part of the brewery tour was the tasting at the end...naturally. 

Bruges is surrounded by a moat. Here's the moat. 

And Bruges also has a few very pretty windmills

We didn't take a carriage ride, but they are very popular in Bruges.

Giant beers...they were like meals!

More giant beers

I forgot what this was called but it was my last meal in Bruges. Some
kind of amazing beef stew made with beer, of course!

On Wednesday morning we had to say goodbye to beautiful Bruges. Even though it was freezing cold, we all really loved our visit to this gorgeous city. Moving on was made a little easier though by the thought of the 8-day cruise waiting for us in Amsterdam. So off to the train station we went to catch our fast train to Holland and begin part two of this great trip.

 It is difficult to leave Belgium without at least one beer in your backpack. :)

Off to Amsterdam!

Bye bye Bruges!  You certainly didn't disappoint us!