Arrival in Vienna

We caught our flight to Vienna from Brussels, found our accommodation with minimal difficulty (and were impressed with the size and nice decor but I forgot to take pictures), and took a look at a map to figure out what to do this afternoon. There's a large, outdoor market within walking distance so we decided to go check it out and hopefully find something to eat for supper.

The market was great! Lots of stalls, people calling out to us to try to get us to buy from them, and plenty of samples held out to us to try. Oddly enough, most of the stalls sold the same products. I was quite confused about this and I have no idea how so many of them are able to stay in business. There were the usual fruit and vegetable stands, but there were at least ten booths selling a wide variety of olives and antipasto appetizers, usually consisting of various vegetables stuffed with soft cheese. The other popular seller was sugared fruit - some of them were quite good - but being offered samples at ten different booths got a little out of hand.

There was one long seafood booth which grabbed the attention of me and Melinda - there were fish we had never seen before and a whole octopus. It was like a taste of home for us coastal girls. There was an older woman working at the booth frying fish and selling it in a bread roll. The price was great and the griddle was hot enough that I figured it should be a safe choice for supper. I asked for an extra squeeze of lemon juice and a light sprinkling of pepper flakes - a delicious choice for supper! The fish was tender and the flavourful oil soaked into the bread... tasty stuff! Reminded me of something delicious we'd eat while out camping.

Fried fish sandwich.

Last Day in Brussels

Today was our last day to explore Brussels. We've already seen the main sites, but there are still a few places to explore. We made sure to enjoy one last waffle and also stock up on chocolate, our two favourite things about Belgium.

In Grand-Place Grote Markt.

Here are some photos of a chocolate shop, just to torment those of you who enjoy the creamy goodness.

Galeries Saint-Hubert - a covered shopping area.

White squares instead of white paint are used to indicate crosswalks.

On our way to the flea market we visited a cathedral called Place de la Chapelle Kapellemarkt.

We read about the daily flea market in a tour book and decided to wander around and see if there was anything interesting. Enduring the scorching sun was rewarded with plenty of random items to amuse us, along with the usual household items, clothing, and books. We noticed a group of about six men gathered around a huge, shallow pot with some sort of stew. All of the men were eating out of the pot and it was a great photo opportunity. As we raised our cameras, one of the men covered his face with his hat while the others started calling out, "No, no, no!" and one of the guys got up and walked towards us with his hands out saying, "No photos!" Somebody's feeling a little guilty! Thankfully nobody stopped us when we took photos of the strange items for sale.

The chaos of a flea market.

I fell in love with this chair.
I've always wanted a fabulous red chair, now I just have to find one just like this at a flea market in Canada.

This filthy under-the-sea themed lamp cracked me up.

A pile of bizarre puppets.

Yes, that is a real, stuffed fox.

I think an ambitious taxidermist got in a little over his head, with this scruffy creature being the end result.

We were a bit mystified by this little treasure.
My guess was that it's for transmitting messages by Morse code.
(The storage box is tilted onto the back side.)

As we walked back into town we stopped for French fries because a couple of tour books raved about them. They were highly overrated.

Law court buildings.

Grand-Place Grote Markt.

Grand-Place Grote Markt.

Melinda - The Adorable Poser.

While Melinda shopped for chocolates (again!), I waited and fought the urge to pay €3 for a skewer of fresh strawberries dipped in chocolate.

Brussels is known for cartooning so it was fun to stumble upon this art as we walked back to the hostel in the evening.

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.