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Fries, Beer, waffles and CHOCOLATE!!!!

The Canal in Bruge
The Canal in Bruge,
originally uploaded by Nate Brunk.
So this weekend we headed to Bruges, Belgium... What an amazing little town! Full of tourism (and tourists acting like tourists), the town had plenty to do and to see. We arrived by train on Friday night (only about a 3 hour ride from Luxembourg City) and started to hike around to try to find our hostel. We ended up staying in a place called Snuffel Backpacker hostel... it's an awesome place with tons of people there. The common room was a bar... a bit smoky, but a neat place to socialize. Taylor and I ended up talking to people from France and Holland (in French, incidentally... well, slightly drunken French...). They were studying to be train conductors, and had the weekend off for holiday.
Anyway--that night, we took a night walk of Bruges, an incredibly beautiful city when the weather is nice and the lights are on... Awesome! We stopped before we went back to get some fries (did you know they were invented here?!) with triplicate... Mm. We think its a combo of mayonnaise, mustard, and ketchup, but we're not REALLY sure.
The next morning, we got up at 7:45, got showered and dressed and went to breakfast at a fast-foodish joint. It was actually more like a Belgian bakery, but had premade liege style waffles for us... mmmm. I had mine with strawberry sauce. It might be the best sweet pastry I've ever tasted. After that, we climbed the big bell tower you can see in the pictures. 366 steps later, we were at the top. It had started raining, the wind was blowing.. ahh! It was pretty nasty up there, but we got some decent pictures. We next headed down and went to the Chapel of the Sacred blood. This place holds a relic that supposedly contains Christ's blood. Needless to say, it was a place of impressive beauty, but we didn't feel the need to stick around for the Veneration. We paid our respects and left after taking some pictures.
Next, we headed to another Cathedral that holds Michaelangelo's "Madonna and Child." It was incredibly beautiful, true to life, and housed in a magnificent building. Pictures are on my FLICKR page.
After that we got a littttttttllleee hungry... where did we go? FRIES!!!! We had fries and hot dogs (on baguettes?) from the cart again.. mmmm. After our lunch, we headed to a brewery (De Halve Maan... the half moon) to get a tour. The tour was pretty cheap and a lot of fun! We learned that Brugge Zot is the only Brug-ish beer still brewed in Bruges today, some history about beer, and more history about Belgian beer (did you know they make some of it with Coriander? It adds an amazing taste!). The tour concluded with a full glass of their beer... much better from the tap than the bottle... and it was good!
After that, the girls were tired of museum hopping/sight seeing and felt the need to shop. They headed off and Taylor and I went to a Flemmish Art Museum... I didn't know such beautiful art came from Belgium.. it was absolutely incredible! After that, we met back up with the girls, and went to the Dumon Chocolatier (Suggested by Rick Steves)... I think he picked the best one! Their chocolate was sooooo creamy and sooooo rich! I only had a few little pieces, but it was great!
Next, we went to "The Chocolate Story" a museum of Chocolate history... interesting, but not worth the money... too touristy. The highlight was the demonstration for making filled chocolates at the end with free samples! That night we grabbed dinner at a tapas bar, after Taylor and I used our 9 euro beer card to try 5 beers at our hostel... yea, enough said. haha! We went out to a local night club that night, but no one was dancing, so we left early...
We slept in the next morning, had some gooooood breakfast at a really nice restaurant (for only about $9), and then headed back to Lux city. We got back here in differdange about 5pm... so not too late! Needless to say, we were pooped, but we had a great time overall!
Hope everyone's doing well, having a good time here but missing you all!

xnatex

Comments

Anonymous said…
Dear Nathan,

I love the pictures. I also am happy that you are visiting so many cultural places in addition to the bakeries and bars. I hope you return to the states with your hips and liver intact! Perhaps the Battle of the Bulge has another connotation. :-)
I’d like for you to let Taylor use the camera and take some pictures of you at some of these beautiful places with you mouth closed! I know we paid for great dental work but it should be a private thing!:-(
Congratulations on the Embassy Envoy gig. I know that you’ll be an excellent representative of all that is good about the US.

XOXO Mom
Anonymous said…
Hey Nate,
You are taking the trip I one day want to take. Better yet when Dave and I decide to go you can be our guide. Have fun. Eat some fries for us too. HAHA

Michelle
TwinMamaLinda said…
HEY! I am waiting for an update ... how can I live vicariously through you if you won't tell me what we are doing! I hope you are having a great time! While you have fries for Dave and Michelle ... washing them down with a beer for me :) And have some chocolate for Dad! Does europe do good sticky buns anywhere? I guess Mom will have to have waffles ....

Check in again ... please :)

Love and Hugs
Anonymous said…
Your journey makes me want to come and have some pommes frites with you. Enjoy! Thanks for the views.

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