Bruges: Filled with More Waffles, Chocolate, Beer, & Fries With Mayo

We headed to Bruges, Belgium on Sunday, December 28th.  We were pretty excited about this trip, as we had friends who traveled to the same spot.  We were looking forward to meeting up with them a few times.  Before we even arrived to the hotel, we saw them walking the streets.  Talk about a small world!  We LOVED our hotel in Bruges, the Crowne Plaza, as we had an amazing view and they upgraded us to a suite!

 View from one of our hotel room windows

We ventured out into the city, to find the Belfry Tower and a giant plaza area where there was yet another Christmas Market.  I have lost count on how many Christmas Markets we have been to at this point.  We walked into a pub to have a couple beers and some great burgers.  We stopped in 2be Beer Wall, which had many different types of beer on tap. Although, I will always think of Belgium having some of the best beer I have ever tasted...I also had one of the worst ones too.  It was cherry flavored and tasted like cough syrup.  But I pushed through and even finished it!

 Belfry Tower

Beer Wall

We were able to walk around the city before meeting up with our friends at a pub and explore the city together at night.  We also went into Dumon's, a great chocolate shop.  Jeff and I just finished the last piece last night...so good! We enjoyed our time with friends, and probably had a little too much fun in Bruges as the beers were very strong!

 The Jo's

 Bruges gang

 Some of the amazing chocolates

The next day, Jeff and I woke up to explore the city more. But first...street waffles for breakfast! We walked through The Beguinage, which used to be known just as a peaceful area, now a monastery.  They had signs in the area that asked for silence.  After walking through this area, we made our way to the edge of the city next to the canals and to visit the windmills.

The monastery

 One of the many windmills

We headed back towards the city centre and explore a few other areas of the city.  We made our way back to the plaza area where I grabbed a plate of fries with mayo as that is a delicacy there in Belgium.  It was pretty good, although maybe a little too much mayo for my liking. Jeff grabbed a snack from the market, some large dish with potatoes and sauces all over it.

A beautiful museum behind us.

Known as the "Best View" in Bruges

Beautiful canals

Next on the list...we grabbed a beer at the Historium Brugge, which had some of the best views of the city.  We timed it right, by accident as the sun was setting and we had a great view! We tried a couple new beers, then met up with our friends again for dinner.  We enjoyed dinner and tried a few pubs afterwards, and then headed home as we were all heading back to England the next day.

 Sunset over the markets and ice skating

 Belfry Tower

Jeff's shrimp pasta with a few mussels on top.

The next day was Jeff's Birthday!  We woke up to climb the Belfry Tower, 366 steps to the top! We made it to the top and were able to hear the bells chime a beautiful little tune.  We finished our time in Bruges grabbing ones last treat...chocolate covered strawberries from Godiva. Yum!

 The Birthday Boy!

View from 366 steps up

Since we had time before our turn on the Euro Tunnel, we went to a coastal town, Blankenberg.  It was only a 25 minute drive, and you could tell this area would be packed in the summer.  The boardwalk was lined with restaurants and shops.  We walked out on the pier, and went down to the beach to put our hands in the water. We have officially touched the North Sea...although it was freezing cold.  It was definitely weird having a coat, boots, gloves, and a hat on at the beach.

 So windy & cold, but definitely worth it!

 I gave Jeff a beach vacation for his birthday...ha!

 

On to the next adventure...