Random things we learnt in Bruges

So Sarah and I spent a long weekend in Bruges, and although I don’t have any pictures transferred over from my camera yet I thought I would share with you all some of the things we learnt from this trip, illustrated by my lovely phone pictures. (By the way I am not very keen on the camera in my phone, and how it makes the photos that size, I may have to investigate the settings)

Right, lets start from the beginning shall we?

– Travelling on an international flight usually means you have to be at the airport 2 hours before departure. Not 45 minutes. Getting called for by guards whilst being stuck in security when your flights closing is not fun, and does not make for stress-free travel

– Train timetables can be tricky to understand, so double check before you get off at that station and head to the next platform, as there is every chance you may miss your train if you get it wrong!

– On a related note, in Belgium they can randomly decide that a train no longer departs from the station you have been sent to, but a completely different one! Having said that, Antwerp wasn’t a bad place to have to spend an hour, all in all

– Bruges is a lovely place. It’s probably going to look even lovelier when all the Christmas market stalls are open and all the lights are on. As it was the stalls kind of blocked our views and sabotaged some pretty good photo opportunities. Oh well, we still managed to catch some pretty sights, such as the canals in the photo above

– There is seemingly no limit to how many chocolate shops you can fit into one city! And the chocolates come in all shapes and sizes. Chocolate nipples anyone? Yum yum!

– Kerri is a lovely person in real life (wow that sounds like I think she is horrible on the internet!) She made us chuckle for sure! We didn’t take any photos with her though, and so due to timings of events compared to photos on my camera, my note about Kerri comes directly under a photo of chocolate nipples. This is pure coincidence.

– There isn’t really any way to drink Kwak gracefully. But the more you have of it, the less you care about that!

– Belgian waiters seem to take tourists a bit for granted. We asked for a table for two and got a grumpy nod towards a corner and a “yeah you can sit there.” Thank you for making us feel welcome waiter!

– A tour of Bruges by horse and carriage can be really fun after a few Kwaks and in the dark. However, you probably won’t learn (or see) much!

– There are windmills in Bruges! They are not open on a Sunday though.

– Belgian fries! Delicious greasy goodness! Also, Cecilia is a messy eater, it’s a good thing to have friends that tell you when you have mayonnaise all over your chin!

– Don’t order Salami as a bar snack and expect an Italian style antipasti platter, because you are going to get disappointed! I don’t have any photos of this because I thought I would spare you!

– The Belfry tower is a popular tourist destination, and so it’s best to go in the morning to avoid the queues.

– Even so, the fact that there are fewer people doesn’t make climbing the steps any less petrifying (and hard work! Hooray for lots of layers!) You can almost see the fear in Sarah’s eyes here

– Finally, if you fall asleep on a train with Cecilia, it will be documented!

Have any of you ever been to Bruges? Or even better, have you been to Bruges during the Christmas market?

P.S. – Be sure to check out Sarah’s post for some gorgeous photos from our trip!