Bruges, Belgium - January 2 & 3, 2009Also spelled as Brugge, north of Brussels is an incredibly beautiful and quaint city filled with a lot of medieval architecture, several canals and a wonderful Christmas market.
Brendan F. and I ran into each other at Gare du Nord (Gare = Train Station) in Paris and were able to take the same train to Lille Flandres and then got on another train that took us to Bruges where we met up with the rest of the group that left earlier that same day from Paris. Meeting up with them was somewhat of a hassle. After rolling my suitcase around Bruges to find out hostel from the train station, Brendan and I arrived at Bauhaus Hostel and realized that we had somehow beaten our friends. (Below: one of my favorite pictures of the semester; A couple enjoying the canals of Bruges)
Brendan didn't have a room there and they were booked, so in the meantime we went on down the street towards the town center and found him a place to stay at Charlie Rocket's. From there he and I wandered around the Christmas market and some of the other cool buildings in Bruges before heading back to Bauhaus and reuniting with the rest of the group. It was so good to see them all because since I had lost my Eurail, I was not certain that I was going to be able to go on the week long trip I planned!That night, January 2nd, the seven of us walked down to the Main Square where we all ate various things from the stalls of the Christmas market; I had a huge bratwurst with tomato, mustard and grilled onions.
Also, I was even able to have a Nutella crepe, while the girls all tried the Belgian waffles (which I had a taste of and didn't think they were overly special).Ice Skating in Bruges was a great time and I am glad that Brendan and Kelly convinced us to all participate. (Below: Kelly, Alec, Laurence, Caitlin, Chelsea and I Ice Skating in Bruges)
The ice itself was covered in snow, which was of course scraped off ice, and I was not sure how easy it would be to skate on, but it worked well. After ice skating we went to Ijs Laurenzino Waffels where some got waffles and I got Citron (Lemon) Sorbet despite the freezing weather.Saturday, January 3, we were determined to see a lot of Bruges. We started by walking to the huge Windmills on the riverbank. (Below: the sun as seen through the fog and the group with the giant Windmills)
The weather was gloomy with a dense fog covering everything in sight, but we used it to our advantage and took some pretty great pictures. I went by a statue Jan Van Eyck and I appreciated the I had just learned about him not too long ago in Humanities - it is great to study things, such as Versailles as an example, and then visit them only days, weeks or months later. It's definitely a blessing to be studying in Europe. Our main goal after a good lunch and a taste of hot chocolate from "The Place to be to Drink the Best Hot Chocolate" was to see Michelangelo's "Madonna and Child" which was cool to see and somewhat strange to see in north Belgium. We also stumbled upon a great rock candy factory and chocolate factory that were in store fronts adjacent to each other.
(Above: Alec, Myself, Brendan on street Bruges)After another Christmas market, which is comprised of small wooden huts selling various good, we made our way to the hostel and then took a bus to the train station. The first train we took was from Bruges to Brussels. The second train took us from Brussels to Cologne. While on our 1.5 hour layover in Cologne I went with others who had never been there to see the beautiful Dom Cathedral that is immediately outside of the station after eating at "Gourmet Asia".
Kelly was suppose to be watching all of our luggage (above), but she had fallen asleep, so to spite her we took most of it away and then recorded a video as she was awaken in a panic and questioned as to where all of our things that she had been "guarding" had vanished to. It was hilarious. That night at around 10:30 we boarded our night train to Copenhagen and that is where I will pick up...- Wade
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