Monday, September 6, 2010

Belgium: Ardennes, Brussels, and Bruges

We covered some serious ground this weekend.  Our trip started on friday afternoon as we loaded buses to head to the Belgium region Ardennes.  There, we went on a two hour tour of the caves.  They were amazing (and a little creepy).  That was the second time in a week I has gone underground, and I think I'm done for a while.  After that we headed to the train station to go to Brussels.  We arrived around 9:00 PM, and immediately headed to The Hotel Queen Ann to change for a night out.  Our hotel, even though inexpensive, was super nice and clean.  Our group consisted of Meghan and Lauren (my roommates), Shelby, and I.  However, about 30 other Miami kids were touring the same cities, and so we met up with them later.  We grabbed dinner at Subway (I know) and then went to a pub called Delirium where 90% of the beers has an alcohol content of 10%.  It was a really fun night, and we got to know a group of people from Canada.

The next morning, we got up bright and early and ate the continental breakfast provided by our hotel.  Then we headed out to tour the city, and headed to the Grand Place first.  The buildings are stunning and there is so much history there.  It was actually Belgium Beer week while we were there, so there were dozens of white tents in the center.  We kept walking through the streets and found Manneken Pis (the little peeing boy).  The first time we saw him, he was wearing a military outfit, but then had a wardrobe change into a navy suit.  Our little group covered the entire city in three hours, all the while toting our huge hiking backpacks.  After we tired ourselves out, we decided to try a belgium waffle.  I got mine with whipped cream, strawberries and chocolate.  It may have been the best thing I've ever had (next to my mom's cooking :)) Once we were full, we headed to the train station to go to our next destination.

In Bruges, we checked into our hostel Charlie Rockets.  And it was definitely a hostel.   Although it was clean, the beds were precarious and the rooms super loud (it's above a bar).  We got what we paid for though, so it wasn't too bad.  Once we were settled, we headed to grab some dinner.  Lauren and I got a glass of wine and some fajitas.  They were delicious! After that, we met up with some other Miami kids to bar hop for the evening (one happy hour to the next!)

We got up early again the next morning, and headed out to breakfast where we got waffles again.  This time with powdered sugar.  And again, they were AMAZING! Our feet were hurting from the day before and we still has a lot of ground to cover, so we rented bikes.  I forgot how long it had been since I had been on one, and they were high off the ground so getting on and off was quite an experience.  But we were able to ride to the outskirts of the city along the canals where we found a flock of swans.  It was  beautiful.  We made a point to walk up the 366 steps of the Belfry Tower for a panoramic view of Bruges.   After that we decided to stop into some of the churches; my favorite was Church of Our Lady (Onze-Lieve-Vrouwekerk in Dutch).  Inside, is Michelangelo's sculpture Madonna and Child which was exciting to see. Sadly, we had to head home and decided to grab some frites (fries) on the way.  


It was a great weekend and we covered a lot of ground.  Somehow, we had no major mishaps and I am so excited to go back to Bruges and Brussels with my Chocolate class!

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