Bruges

Overheard during breakfast at the hostel:
Guy – “Where are you girls off to next? Holland?”
Girl #1 – “No, we're going to Amsterdam.”
Guy – “Um, that's in Holland.”
Girl #1 and #2 – (giggling madly)
Girl #3 – “That's why I planned the trip.”

Today we spent the day in Bruges, an easy day trip from Brussels by train.

We followed advice in a tour book and checked out a few shops and sites. Sadly, these were all away from the canals, the truly beautiful part of Bruges. Definitely a waste of time, except for an amazing chocolate shop! That was well worth the side-trip!

Bruges is supposed to be a hot tourist destination but it was surprisingly empty – I was expecting it to be crowded with people but it wasn't at all. Maybe we went there on an off day or something. It was a beautiful town, but if I ever go back I'll ignore the side streets (except for that chocolate shop!) and focus on just walking along the canals.

A windmill surrounded by a fence made to look like Brussels lace.

Found this sticker on a post on a side-street and it reminded me of my brothers. Not exactly sure why, but something about the combination of random sticker, lego man, and pirate.

One of the churches is quite proud to display one of the few Michaelangelo sculptures outside Italy.

Imagine the pressure of preaching your first sermon.
Now imagine preaching that sermon from this pulpit.

This shop was supposed to have the best gelato in Bruges, but the place was packed with sweaty, sticky bodies clamouring to be served. It was nasty, but I stuck it out and managed to get a few scoops of the cold, sugary, creamy goodness!

Along one of the canals we discovered a swan with two adorable little cygnets.

We stumbled upon this bike and trailer with a few bumper stickers.
My favourite was on the back:

"Belly Dancer on Board - Vehicle May Shimmy Without Warning"

When we returned to Brussels we needed to pick up something for supper but we were too tired to walk any further than necessary. Near our hostel was a McDonald's so we stopped there. The salad I wanted was out of stock so I settled for this disgusting-looking seafood salad. It didn't smell very good, but didn't smell "off" so I decided to take a chance and eat it. I couldn't look at the shrimp while I ate as they looked more like maggots than seafood. Oh well, at least it was food.

My nasty-looking supper.