In Bruges with Stu and Les

So....Weeks later, officially one week late with this post. I have been very busy with work, and Leslie's visit.

Brugge in English, Bruges in Flemish, was amazing. When I came to Europe I had this idea of what I thought it should look like, and Brugge fit that mold perfectly. The city has been completely restored in many sections to what it looked like in the 17th century. In fact, many buildings had the date written on the building and most were around 1650...Absolutely amazing.

This was Leslie's trip to plan, and she did such a good job. Since we have been together we have never taken a proper vacation, and for people that know us well, know that its been a long time for no vacation time. We spent our days walking around the city, but it was nice to cool off and relax in this little bed and breakfast in the heart of town. The price of the room for 2 nights was a bit heavy, but worth every penny. Our host was great, good breakfast and food recommendations. So kudos Leslie!

We left right after work on Friday and hopped on the train around 6pm. We changed trains twice, once in bumfuck Holland, and once in Antwerpen, BE. The trip went really quick and we got about 400km in 4 hours. We arrived at the B&B at 10pm and our host suggested a bar to enjoy some tasty Belgium Beers. I was in heaven. If you find yourself in Brugge for some reason, please go to De Gaar. It was this little bar, and every beer was around 3 euro, we are talking Golden Draak, and Chimay...not cheap stuff in the US! The place was small and crowded so we had to share a table with a couple from where else, San Francisco. It was nice to talk to Americans, lord knows I have had enough of the American stereotyping and bullshit. After several good beers and cigarettes we parted ways to go to another bar with some good jazz. When we got there the bar unfortunately didn't have any music (it was around 3am) but we did get some Absynth, proper. The guy lit it on fire and we poured water over sugar. The stuff is gross, and well made the rest of the night a little blurry...

The next day we walked around and did the sites, I ran out of money and the ATMs here are touch and go so we had to find one that would work, we found one thank god. After a few sites, the Belfry, chocolate stores, and Lace museum we found some food at an Italian place, we needed the energy. The night was short for us and we tried to recreate the magic at De Gaar, but we were tired and a bit hungover from the night before.

Our last day there we finally rode bikes around the city and got a good feeling of what Brugge is actually like...and it is awesome. We went into a windmill, and made our way home. The trip back wasnt so nice we left at 1 and got back at 7 :( Definately worth the money and the time though!