Bruges: Fairytales and Beer

So on Lis's recommendation, we spent a portion of our last day in Belgium in Bruges, a small, historic city northwest of Brussels closer to the water, and on our way to Zeebruges where our ferry for the UK was leaving. Ummmmm... WOW! As soon as we got there, I recognized our mistake in not coming to visit here earlier. Unfortunately, it was a pretty cold, rainy day, so spending a bunch of time walking around with our packs was less than ideal. However, following the flow of other tourists to the center of town (marked by a huge church, as it is with most towns), we were lead through narrow, cobblestone streets divided by walls, overlooked by castle-like towers, and dotted with boutiques and salons. Images below...

Castle bits and charm...



Fairytale Bruges... TOOOOOOOOO CUTE!!!



As soon as it started raining, we started looking for shelter. There was a nice shopping district off one of the side-roads leading to the main square that contained a convenient pub with one of the largest beer displays I've seen thus far (see below). Our cash station woes continued, and I had to wander around the main square trying to find a cash station that would work with our bank. But it all worked out, and Sean and I enjoyed our first brew in Belgium on our way out of town ;) We didn't really have all that much time, so we ran out, grabbed some chocolate for my Aunt Terry, and headed back for the train station. This is harder than one might think, as probably 1/2 the stores in Bruges sell chocolate or tea treats of some variety. We bought 3 small bags of tea biscuits, and a nice variety of truffles wrapped in a silver bow. The only thing that made it to the UK were the truffles ;)

The wall of beer! Many of them had a matching cup from which they were supposed to be drank from... and they were served that way as well. Imagine the dishes...

My Waterloo in the rain...

The train out of town was amazing... probably circa 1950-something, 2 cars long, delightfully noisy, and the most beautiful, super-pimp upholstery ever!!

The train ride didn't take all that long (maybe 30 min), but this was the easiest part of the trip. Getting TO the ferry was another issue. There were all kinds of truck routes and highways that could take you down to the docks, but walking around with all your belongings on your back in the rain didn't lend itself to skipping down said routes. As we made our way down to the water, you can see that Zeebruges is normally a seaside vacation spot with several hotels and restaurants lining the beach. As we've been making our way around the last few months, my tolerance for carrying both my backpack and the laptop bag has been decreasing, and there is a spot in my mid-back that becomes sore after about 30 minutes, so my drive to get to the boat far outweighed my desire to see anything else of the town. It all worked out... we found a bike route that runs along the highway to the docks that we could walk, and we made it there just in time to check it, get some tea, and get on the boat.

There was a huge group of Brits on the boat as a part of some kind of vacation cruise... and the ACCENTS!! Holy cow! And the kids were positively wild! It felt like home ;) It is amazing how apparently well-mannered the kids we were encountering on mainland Europe were, and so to be suddenly back amongst the heathens made it even more apparent ;) The cruise ship was great, similar to the one we had on our way to Barcelona but with a few less bonuses... no gym, and less places to walk about on deck. Sean and I spent most of the time in our room (it was an overnight ferry) save for a few hours for dinner, and for Sean to go out and make some fans by playing in the lounge somewhere.

Getting off the boat is more time consuming than one might think. For reasons only known to the crew, there is a whole bunch of stuff that has to be done before you let the people and their luggage off the boat. We were docked a good hour and a half before we could get off. But Terry was waiting for us, and so we headed off to beautiful Scarborough!!