So a Canadian, 3 Americans and a Brit went to Bruges...or was it Ghent?

No readers, that isn't a rather crappy joke that lost its way, I really did go to Bruges (or Brugge, which made me, the Brit, laugh a lot, if you can figure out why) with a group of lovely people for the weekend.

It started at 8.30am Friday, when Tylor picked me up in the hire car. Upon seeing it I burst out into slightly hysterical laughter as the car was a BMW. Sweet!

Photo below of a pretty chuffed group of people:


We hit the road, Tylor our trusty captain at the wheel, and drove through Luxembourg and then through Belgium to Bruges, which lies near the West Coast in the Flemish speaking part. We arrived at our hostel, which was very similar to a standard British YHA hostel you'd find in the middle of nowhere in the Lake District. (This isn't really a good thing). But it was warm, dry and vaguely comfortable and came complete with an über friendly cat so we were zufrieden.

We headed into the city centre, armed with a map Patty picked up at the Youth Hostel, but quickly got confused with our bearings. It was then we realised that she'd accidentally picked up a map of Ghent, which I'm sure is a very nice place but it did render the map a bit useless. Correct map found, we found the main marktplatz, which is stunning. See below:


Those of you who have seen the film In Bruges will recognise this place, it is the Belfry of Bruges, which has apparently been destroyed by fire and/or lightning strike 3 times to varying degrees:



From there we decided to do some of the more unusual tourist activities, including finding and kissing a hidden frog on a bronze statue and discovering the ruins preserved beneath the 4 star crowne plaza hotel.





Afterwards we wandered around enjoying the beautiful little streets and the canal for a while (with me going roughly every 5 minutes "ooooh I remember this bit from the film!" until I got a grip on that annoying habit) then hit a pub. We wanted to go to a pub selling a particular brand of beer one of the euro-tripping Americans was missing, but sadly it was closed so we headed to one over the road instead and took it upon ourselves to sample a large number of fine Belgian beers (all in the name of culture, of course) and played cards.

The next day we headed to Oostende, which is a town on the coast, and drove along the "coastal path". Unfortunately you couldn't actually see the sea much to the American's chagrin, so we decided to brave the driving rain and pulled over in a small town (De Haan I think it was called) and hit the beach. After getting soaked we had a hot drink then the sun came out (sort of) so we decided to head back to Bruges. 

Next we went to a beer museum, which was good, though I embarassed myself by making fun of and taking silly photos with a huge picture of some silly looking people on the wall, who turned out to be the owners and makers of the beer, awkward. By this point it was 3pm and we were pretty hungry, so we had some food then headed to a "Celtic" bar we'd heard was good; it was, though to my disappointment it was more just an Irish bar save for the dirty Welsh flag on the ceiling.

Finally our trusty, if slightly odd, guide recommended the bar at another hostel, so we headed there for happy hour and got talking to some people from Newcastle and New York (an interesting combination). 

The next morning was a different experience alltogether: we drove to Vimy, northern France, where there is a beautiful and majestic Canadian war memorial. Tylor (who is Canadian) had found out there was a Remembrance Day Service in front of it on the Sunday, so once more we braved the driving rain and stood to watch. Serious moment here, but it was pretty moving to attend the service of an entirely different country remembering their fallen soldiers, and hearing the speeches in French was a further reminder as to how many soldiers around the world have given their lives.

The monument: breathtaking, ne?

Afterwards, throughly wet through, we headed to the car and benefitted from Germany's overengineering and toasty car heaters til we'd stopped shivering. 

Then, after one of the most interesting and funniest weekends of my life, we headed home via Belgium & Luxembourg once more. 

I will leave you with a picture of me next to a Beth-sized door, and Tylor next to a normal sized door which is currently being appreciated on Facebook. Really puts my miniature-ness into perspective, doesn't it?

Bis bald!