brussels and bruges

A thousand apologies for not having blogged about our first European trip to Belgium! It’s almost come time for our second trip (Paris this weekend!) and in a midst of guilt and panic, here is a snippet of our little getaway to the home of mussels, waffles and frites!

We caught the Eurostar from Kings Cross on Friday night – it is the most convenient and comfortable way to travel, none of the rubbish with checking in 60 minutes pre-flight and missing luggage. The train flies through the gorgeous English country-side, under the English Channel, finally emerging on European soil. We arrived in the evening, checked in to the Hilton, and thus began our very first European adventure!

Saturday was spent in Bruges, which to me (though I am a newbie) was just the most stunning, peaceful, beautiful town I have ever laid eyes on. Holding onto its medieval architecture, Bruges truly is a step back in time. We wandered the streets, climbed the bell tower and ate copious amounts of mussels, waffles, frites and ice cream. The mussels eventually landed me in hospital but nevertheless, it did not taint my view of Bruges…



















Tired and weary from our day in Bruges, we camped in the Grand Place that evening, ready to watch the light shows. Which never happened. But the warmth and ridiculously late sunset allowed us to sit and take in the pure grandness of the Grand Place – nothing really beats people watching, wherever you are in the world!




















Sunday was spent in Brussels itself, visiting the Music Instruments Museum and more enjoyably, the Comic Book Museum, where I got a photo with my smurf friend *grin* Our bellies were filled with frites, waffles, chocolates and croissants and when we were just about full, we had steak and ice cream for dinner! It bewilders me that I am not so large that I could have given birth to that double decker bus that just mosied past my window.











Monday… well, I won’t dwell on this but I had an allergic reaction to the mussels from Bruges, landed in hospital for a few hours, absorbed about 10 gallons of steroids via intravenous drips and hey presto! I’m out and about at lunch time, and we enjoyed the rest of the day shopping for pressies and headed back happily on Monday afternoon.