Day 64: Roadtrip to Bruges (Take Two!)

Remember reading about Bruges earlier in February....that's where I went again today! This experience in Bruges was a bit different than the last though, and I enjoyed Bruges just as much as last time.

Last night, Bali's uncle came into town for business. She invited him, as well as several friends and flatmates, over for dinner at her flat. She cooked us some yummy pineapple rice and I made the crescent dough cinnamon rolls again that I made for the breakfast for dinner night. All eleven of us enjoyed a tasty supper, coffee and dessert. I really enjoyed meeting her uncle and hearing all about his travel tales. He lives in Canada and works to develop gadgets that have to do with roadways (don't ask me exactly what!). He is a really interesting person, and it was incredible to hear all about his experiences in the traveling he has done. Plus he is super fun and so young at heart, so it was great to talk with him over dinner.

After cleaning up and departing, Mathea and Bali and I decided to bake the cinnamon muffins that they had given me for my birthday to take with us on our trip to Belgium. We attempted to do it on my flat, but as usual, the kitchen was packed with Italians and Spanish :) So we went back to Bali's and baked the muffins and did manicures...girl's night!

This morning, we got up bright and early to have breakfast together before heading to Belgium. After waking up Bali, we fixed toasti's and coffee for breakfast. Then we headed downstairs to meet her uncle in the parking lot. He has a rental car since he has to drive alot for business, so he had offered to take the three of us to Bruges for the day. I was super-excited not to be going via train (although the trains are lovely!). It was so nice to ride in a car for a bit! I was surprised to learn that the Belgium border is only 10 km from Tilburg, and Bruges is a total of two hours by car. So we left at 9:00am and arrived around eleven. During the car ride, I sat shotgun, as I was attempting to "learn how to drive on European highways". I think I picked up a bit, but its quite different than America. We also had fun picking Bali's uncle's brain. He knows so many interesting things and loves learning languages, so we spent most of the ride exchanging words in other tongues!

Arriving in Bruges, we were so happy to see the sun come out! The weather forecast had predicted rain for the whole day, but it turned out to be warm (16 C) and semi-sunny! We parked at the train station and took the bus into the city centre. I was having deja vu, as I had just been to Bruges about a month ago. But it was great to be back! We were dropped off in the square, where the officer on the bus warned us about all the police in the city who were watching out for pick-pocketers, as its supposed to be really bad there. Sure enough, we saw loads of "politie" on bikes and walking around watching for pick-pocketers. If anything, it made me feel even safer!

We walked around and headed back towards the area that Ashley and I had stayed in when we were there last. I showed them the Choco-story museum, the canals and the hostel we stayed in. We enjoyed taking it at a leisurely pace and stopping to enjoy the scenery and check out some shops. After awhile, we got hungry and went to find some lunch. Before doing so, we stopped in a quaint little park off a side street. It was really nice! We headed back towards the Centre and found a small Eet Cafe where we bought sandwiches and smoothies from the woman working there. I had a worstenbroodje, which is like a long sausage wrapped in croissant dough (kind of like a massive pig-in-blanket) and a strawberry-kiwi smoothie. It was delicious. We took our food over to the markt square to watch the people (and dogs) go by and enjoy the remaining sunshine. Afterwards, we shared a container of Belgian fries with curry sauce on top....so good! I was super excited to be eating Belgian fries!

After lunch, we headed back through town, stumbling upon some more amazing architecture and cute shoppes. We looked about for some time, before taking a break for coffee and pastries. We stopped in a cute bakery and I ordered an eclair. Let me tell you, the Flemish know how to make eclairs! It put Dunkin Donuts to shame :) We chatted and enjoyed our afternoon snack before heading back out into the city to roam some more. I bought some cute spring clothes at the massive H&M in the Centre. Around 5:00pm, we decided to head back to the train station, as we were all exhausted from walking all day! We wandered back through this beautiful little park and made our way to the train station. We were home by 7:00pm, back in the Netherlands!

I really enjoyed getting a second look at Bruges. Ashley and I did more touristy things while we were there (which I really liked and were totally fun), where as this trip was more of a leisurely look at the city. I really enjoyed soaking in the culture and observing the people. Plus, we got in some good shopping and had really great company. All in all, another wonderful trip to Belgium!