Remember When We Went to Belgium?

Dear Internet,

While on our Paris trip, a few friends and I decided that on one of our free days, we’d pop over to Belgium just for the fun of it. I can’t tell you how glad I am that we did it. It was one of the best experiences I’ve had this whole trip.

We were up and at ‘em bright and early to catch our train to Brussels, then took our connecting train to Brugge. I'll be honest, I’m not quite sure if it’s Brugge or Bruges. It’s different in English and Dutch, but for your sanity and mine, let’s call it Brugge. We got out of the station to blue skies, but freezing weather. That’s Northern Europe for you.

It was cold!

The cobblestone streets and closely-knit brick buildings that make up Brugge instantly charmed us all. We kept saying, “Is this real?!” We soon forgot our goal to find the city square and wandered around taking it all in. We ran into a lace shop, a trademark of Belgium, where we each purchased a little something to bring home. The woman working there was actually the woman who made most of the lace herself. She was such a cutie!

Brugge in a nutshell

My favorite little house in Brugge

The best lace maker in all of Belgium!

Remembering our initial goal, we hunkered down and found the city square, which was AMAZING. Photos don’t do it justice. I wish I could teleport you all straight there so you could see it, it was that beautiful. There’s a bell tower located on one side of the square that was deemed a “must-do”. After climbing the infinite amount of steps, we reached the top and saw all of Brugge for miles and miles.

That's the Bell Tower in the background that we climbed. Yes, I'm short.

The view from the 5839021 steps at the bell tower

After a brief lunch, we decided a chocolate museum was necessary. Come on, we WERE in the chocolate capital of the world! It was interesting to see how chocolate was made, but my favorite part was the chocolate making demonstration at the end. He made it look so easy! But tasting it was the best part. Mmm, definitely the best part. Afterwards, we visited the cheapest yet most delicious chocolate shop in all of Brugge. The nicest guy ever worked behind the counter and hand picked a whole box of chocolates for me based off of what I liked. Now that’s service!

Eating my chocolates in the Square

My little chocolate shop

I was really excited about my chocolates...

Despite gorging ourselves on chocolates already, we figured we HAD to try Belgian French fries. Little does everyone know that French fries were originally made in Belgium, not France! The more you know. We shared a large between the 4 of us (no shame) and each got our own little forks to eat them with.

French fry time!

To settle our stomachs, we bundled up nice and tight for a canal cruise of Brugge. Brugge is called the Venice of Northern Europe because it has a canal system similar to Venice. Even though my fingers were a tad frostbitten, it was probably my favorite thing we did that day. It’s the best way to see the city.

Ready for our boat cruise!

Mere and Tav looking beautiful on our boat cruise

Kayla and I on our boat cruise

Sadly, after our tour the sun went down and the wind started howling. What are 4 girls to do? Right next door to the boat cruise was…. a Belgian waffle shop. More food? Might as well! They were authentic, smothered in chocolate sauce, and delicious. Couldn’t have asked for better.

WAFFLES.

Since the cold was coming in, we headed back to the train station to go back to Paris. It was heartbreaking leaving Brugge; we had all grown so attached! We vowed that we’d retire there when we were old and gray, spending the rest of our days eating chocolate and French fries. In the meantime, summer is almost here (for most of us)! This California girl gets really excited at any mention of heat, but I’m actually depressed about it this time because summer means that the time to go home is fast approaching. My plan is to officially transfer to Hogwarts so that I can still stay in England. Think it’ll work?

Love,

Courtney