Bruges Report

Hi everyone! Today was a hectic day, on Mondays I have 4 classes in a row with a break only for lunch. I went home for a bit and then went to a classical musical concert at the Philharmonic Concert Hall in Luxembourg City! I am tired and I have a lot of work to do, but I thought it sounded like a really neat opportunity, and my program offered it for free, so I decided to go! I am glad I did but more on that later. I have a few minutes though and wanted to start my update about this weekend so here goes….

Wow! It was an absolute blast first of all. I was a little bit nervous about my first weekend traveling in Europe. There was a ton to think about and plan, but in the end it worked out great. My school organized a portion of the trip (the bus ride to Bruges, the hostel there, a tour in the morning, and then a bus to Brussels) but we had to make our own arrangements for the day in a half in Brussels that we were there. In the end, I learned that I can actually read a map and navigate. You kind of realize that when you have to get from the train station to your hostel or you will not have a place to stay, you just figure out how to take the metro and then walk there. My friends and I were proud of how much we figured out with only getting lost a few times haha. We also realized that although traveling in a big group has its perks- like neat tours and comfy buses- being independent is when you really get to know a city better. You meet more local people and other travelers, and don't have to stick to anyone else's schedule but your own, you can be spontaneous and not worry about messing up the itinerary. The two girls I went with are both really fun and easy going, and we worked well traveling in a threesome. We think we are going to plan a lot of trips together in the future!

So lets start at the beginning. First, on the way to the Bruges, we stopped in the Belgian college town of Ghent at a brewery called Grutt. Our bus was supposed to drop us off in the front, but the streets were so narrow and windy, our bus actually could not fit up them and we ended up walking. We just saw a bit of Ghent, but from what I saw it looked like a really exciting, hip town. The brewery was an interesting place. It was owned by a very tiny, very fashionable, very blonde woman in her 50s. The interior was very modern, and the pretty decorations reminded me a little of Veritas vineyard in Charlottesville that I visited over my birthday celebrations. Grutt specializes in making unusual brews, and we tried three beers that were all unique in some way. The first one was made with herbs rather than hops, the second one was unfiltered, and the third was made with no added sugar. I actually liked them all! Three beers later and considerably happier, we headed back on the bus and drove a little more to Bruges.

When we got there, it was already dark, but as we tried to find our hostel- an American sort of place called Charlie Rockets with pool tables and US license plates (I took a pic of the MD one woo) covering the downstairs bar- we passed through the middle square of the town and were in awe of how beautiful it was. That night, we went to dinner at a little restaurant off the square and then we visited some of the bars and one discoteque nearby. I followed my Fake Uncle Chip’s wise advice and always asked the bartender or waiter which beer they recommended when ordering a drink in Belgium. It was a good plan and I got to sample a lot this way- but don’t worry not too much! One interesting one was Kriek, it is cherry flavored and tastes more like cherry snowball flavor than beer!

After a few hours out in Bruges, we returned to Charlie Rockets for our first ever hostel experience. All of the girls I was with that night- we had a 6 person room- were slightly nervous, and we tried to avoid seeing images of the movies Hostel and Taken as we climbed up the neon green stairs, past the dirty showers, to our crammed in 3-bunkbed room. In the end, although it was not the Ritz, I really didn’t think it was that bad. The main problem with this one was it was kind of dark and musty since it was in a very old building. But overall, it was totally fine for a one night stay (or at least the bed bug bites have not appeared yet).

In the morning, we awoke and after a hostel provided breakfast, met in the square. Over 60 kids from my program had come on the trip, and we were split into groups of 20 for the private tour of Bruges. My group had a nice lady named Kate as our guide and we enjoyed a tour that combined two of my favorite things- chocolate and history. We walked all around the city, and learned about Bruges’ rich history. It was an important medieval port town (the many canals give it the nickname the ‘Venice of the North’) and is preservered to look exactly as it did during the Middle Ages. We saw the gorgeous town hall, the romantic Lover’s Bridge, the Church of Our Lady, and several cobblestone narrow streets and alleys. We learned that the bear is in the Bruge’s coat of arms because legend has it that the area was inhabited by a huge bear until a brave knight with an iron arm fought him and established the village. Another interesting detail Kate pointed out that I never would have seen was the crowns that decorate the chimneys of the town hall. They were commissioned by a former duke of Bruges who thought the words of his ministers in the town hall were so wise that the breathe they were spoken in deserved to be crowned as it rose in the air. Inside the Church of Our Lady we saw Michaelangelo’s statue Madonna and Child, one of the only of the artist’s works that can be found outside of Italy today that was transported during his lifetime and with his approval.

After the history, we moved on to the sweets! We visited two candy shops. The first one was a very modern, specialty store where they make pieces of hard candy that have tiny words anything from a newborn baby’s name to a “just married” wish on them. We saw them rolling and cutting the hot slabs of sugar mixture that harden to make the candy. They make each teeny letter individually in huge quantities, and then combine them to make the words. The next one was a more old fashioned shop that used to be operated in someone’s living room! An older lady owns the candy shop, and next door her husband owns a beer store that sells over 900 Belgian varieties. Both candy stores gave us samples of course! My favorite was a styrofoam-like pink capsule that had a sweet white powder inside that you discovered when you took your first bite! I had never had anything like it. After that, we finally made it to a chocolate shop to enjoy my favorite thing ever. We tried pralines, which are like truffles but filled with a hazelnut type cream, as well as some more unusual types of chocolates flavored with spices like clove and pepper. The lady who made the chocolates explained that while the traditional ones were made for eating, the more unusual were made for tasting. At first I wasn’t sure of the difference, but after trying the rich, boldness of the clove one, I knew what she meant.

After the tour, we had about an hour and a half to spend in Bruges. We walked around and did some shopping at the many chocolate and lace (Belgian’s other specialty) shops. For lunch, we picked up a Belgian waffle (which made me think of my mom who loves them) and it was delicious. We had one that was a legoise style, which means the sugary topping is baked in. It tasted like a mix of fried dough and a waffle and was almost as good as the Chocolate Chip waffles my dad makes on Christmas morning (don’t worry pops yours are still best).

I have to go do schoolwork now, but look for an update on Brussels soon! And I am going to try to put some pics on fbook today as well!

Care