Bruges, cher Bruges.

We got a bit of a late start today, but enjoyed an excellent continental breakfast at the hotel.  Being the thrifty, scavenging college students we are, we made some ham and cheese sandwiches and threw them in our bags for lunch.  The girls and I headed toward the train station to purchase our tickets to Bruges, which is a city located about an hour away from Brussels.  The man at the ticket counter told us to hurry, that a train was leaving in a couple of minutes, and that if we ran, we could probably make it.  We thanked him, and off we went to the platform!

We got to what we thought was the correct platform, and although we weren’t positive, we jumped on as the whistles blew and the doors were closing.  Not quite the best of ideas; as the train started pulling out of the station, we asked a couple if the train was heading to Bruges.  They gave us a funny look, and said no…

At which point we began praying that the train would make a stop somewhere, and FAST.  God must’ve heard us, because we stopped at Gare du Midi, where we were able to catch a train to Bruges 30 minutes later.

By 1, we were in Bruges.  By 1:05, I was in love.  We explored the cute little streets and quaint shops, strolling over old bridges and taking pictures of the beautiful canals.  I got my second gaufre (waffle), which was a million times tastier than the one I ordered yesterday.  This one was more authentic, had a richer flavor, and was covered in powdered sugar (which obviously ended up all over my black jacket).

We went to the Church of Our Lady, which dates back to the 13th century.  It was absolutely beautiful, and since it also serves as a museum, we got to see Michaelangelo’s Madonna and Child.  I took some awesome pictures in the church, so I’ll be putting those up on Facebook sometime this week.

We decided to check out a highly-recommended brewery tour at the De Halve Maan (The Half Moon).  We bought our tickets, and were ushered inside by our fabulous tour guide, Andre!  He told us all about the history of the brewery, which was founded in 1856 and today is the only family-owned brewery still active in Bruges.  It was really interesting to see how beer is made, and how this specific brewery was run.  Andre was a highly amusing tour guide as well, and kept us all laughing throughout the tour.  The end of the tour may or may not have been the best part; free beer!  I tried the brewery’s blonde beer, Brugse Zot, which was very tasty and quite strong.

After our lovely tour, we went to a restaurant (the name of which I can’t remember, as it was in Flemish and long) and tried some more traditional Belgian food.  We got an order of mussels to split, which were pretty good although not as flavorful as I thought they would be.  We also got a couple of orders of fries, which were better than the first batch we tried yesterday.  For my main course, I ordered Flemish stew, which was just seasoned stew.  It really hit the spot after spending a long day out in the cold.

After dinner, we headed back to the train station and were back in Brussels by 9:30.  Even though we were tired, we decided to go back to Delirium for a bit.  I tried a mango beer, which was a bit sweet but quite tasty; who would’ve thought that mango lends itself to beer?

Anyways, if anyone wants to buy me an apartment in Bruges, feel free…I’d love to spend the rest of my life there.