Hello! Yet again I am laughably late in posting.... It's Christmas Eve, and here I am trying to make two weeks' worth of catch up! The fourth and sixth of December were holidays in Spain, so I took advantage of my schedule, and traveled the whole week. Instead of opting to go south, as would have been advisable for such a COLD winter, I went to Belgium!! Kind of on a whim, to see something new, and be somewhere I'd never been. Oh, and I wanted Christmas Markets and Belgian Chocolate. I'm proud to say I ate my fair share of chocolates, waffles, french fries, and Beer. Spent the next week recovering physically, but it was worth it! I started my trip in icy, beautiful Bruges. It's one of the most beautiful towns I've ever seen. The old quarter looks like it hasn't changed in four hundred years. (though the shops definitely have) All the streets and buildings are stone, and the entire old area is surrounded by a sort of moat-like river. All the christmas lights made it appropriately festive, and though it is a painfully touristy and expensive town, I loved it. Frozen river:
Here's the photo some Spanish tourists took of me. Bruges was FULL of Spaniards. 
Wooden Shoes!! Terribly out of focus, but you get the idea. 
Christmas displays: 
Oh, this was fun. So, all the shops close early in Belgium, so I was wondering around after hours, and found it quite entertaining that the mannequins in this shop were having a parts... or something.
Thought this was cool: 
I stayed in a Hostel called Snuffels (which I asked the owner about, and he told me it was the sound your nose makes when you're cold.... thought it was a clever name.) Here's the main entrance room. It had a great vibe, and I loved the "world money mural." 
My first night, I wandered around in the FREEZING cold -4 degree weather, and popped into a lot of cafes, just to keep warm. Ate dinner alone at a restaurant recommended to me, run by a family, and with the kids stuff strewn about on one of the tables. It was a locals place. Drank some incredible blonde beer, and set out to explore some more. Dinner: Beef Lasagne with white bread and beer. Oh liver, I'm sorry. 
The post card photo of the facade of the restaurants in the main square. 
Sorry, this one's out of focus. I loved this angel statue: 
After about an hour, I was freezing, and it was time for dessert, so I popped into an overwhelmingly overpriced cafe, amd drank a cappuccino, accompanied by my first Belgian waffle. It was ok. After leaving I went to the christmas market and bought a waffle for two euro, and it was WAY WAY better. That's right, two waffles within an hour. And then another hour later, I went to another cafe, and got a crepe, or pancake as they call them there. Needless to say, I went to bed early, because I found myself slipping into a sugar coma. Belgian Waffle # 1: Expensive and not very good. 
Belgian Waffle # 2: From a street vendor, cheap and delicious. 
And the final dessert of the evening, crepe with brown sugar and butter. Also overpriced, but good. Made friends with the waiters also, which was fun. 
Belgians LOVE chocolates. It's not just a stereotype. Everyone I met was obsessed with chocolate.... And they have fun with it. Here is the window display that I found the most... ahem. Entertaining about this shop was wonderful. I particularly love the angry Santas and the boobs. 
Next day, I rented a bike from the hostel, intending to go on a short ride and head to Gent, my next destination. However, one of the workers at the hostel, Yon, invited me to bike with him, because he had to send some post from the Netherlands.... yep. So, I biked with him, the 65+ Km ride there and back along icy roads, through the country, and along the coast.
This is a fountain we crossed on the way out of town... because it was really that cold.
Riding along the levy from Bruges to Damme. Most of the ride looked like this. Grey, beautiful, and frozen.
This is a barge we would have used to cross the river, but it wouldn't move on account of it being frozen solid!
Our first stop was Damme, a tiny village full of antique bookstores and ice!! The town consisted of one street, some houses, and a couple of churches. Yon showed me an old church that was supposedly bombed during the second world war, and I thought the cemetery was quite imp 
Ice. 
....More ice.
...even more ice.
Just so you have an idea of what the road looked like... this is right after crossing into Holland. 
And in the distance, on the left, that's an OLD castle. Thirteenth century maybe? Yon wasn't quite sure. 
We spent the whole day out, and ate lunch, typical mussels with french fries in a small town in Holland. I can't, for the life of me remember what it was called... but we ate an amazing box of chocolates as well. Look ma! A real Dutch windmill! 
After refueling on our hearty lunch and copious amounts of chocolate, we headed through the country out to the shore, passing through icy fields, and coming across World War I bunkers. That was a shock to my entire system. Reading about the trenches in history books is one thing, and walking among bunkers is another thing entirely. I couldn't believe they had so much graffiti on them, but that's what happens I guess. 
We arrived at the shore around sunset. here's a rabbit statue that I thought was interesting. The beach looked surprisingly like the dunes of Monterey. Except covered in ice. With a treacherous boardwalk when you're on a bicycle... I fell a few times. However, the nice thing about slipping on ice and falling is that you don't really hit the ground hard... you kind of just glide down to the cold, hard earth. Quite graceful really. 
I was wiped after the bike ride, and instead of heading to Gent as originally planned, I hung out with Yan and he showed me a ton of amazing Jazz records from years past. It was pretty great, and he collects antique records, so that was amazing to look through. I ended up buying some sheet music from him from the 20s.... yea, two euro each. Maybe it's a rip off, but come on. That sheet music is older than anyone I know. Amazing. The next day, Yan walked me around Bruges in the daytime, and we wandered into various churches, convents, etc. It was very helpful to have someone explaining the history to me, and showing me to secret alleyways of the city. Oh yea, we also went to this church (completely forget the name....) whic had a Michelangelo statue in it. It was a mini version of the Madonna and Child. Pretty gorgeous, and completely unexpected. REALLY old gilt Bible... oh church opulence... 
Another beautiful building. Think this used to be a house. The lake is called the "lake of lovers," and in the summer kids hang locks around the branches on trees to symbolize their love. Precious. 
Beautiful church.
Next, I was off to Gent, to stay with a friend of a girl I met in Santiago, also an amazing experience, but much less tranquil! I'll put that post up tomorrow. For now, hope this suffices!
Happy Christmas Eve!!
Here's the photo some Spanish tourists took of me. Bruges was FULL of Spaniards. 
Wooden Shoes!! Terribly out of focus, but you get the idea. 
Christmas displays: 
Oh, this was fun. So, all the shops close early in Belgium, so I was wondering around after hours, and found it quite entertaining that the mannequins in this shop were having a parts... or something.
Thought this was cool: 
I stayed in a Hostel called Snuffels (which I asked the owner about, and he told me it was the sound your nose makes when you're cold.... thought it was a clever name.) Here's the main entrance room. It had a great vibe, and I loved the "world money mural." 
My first night, I wandered around in the FREEZING cold -4 degree weather, and popped into a lot of cafes, just to keep warm. Ate dinner alone at a restaurant recommended to me, run by a family, and with the kids stuff strewn about on one of the tables. It was a locals place. Drank some incredible blonde beer, and set out to explore some more. Dinner: Beef Lasagne with white bread and beer. Oh liver, I'm sorry. 
The post card photo of the facade of the restaurants in the main square. 
Sorry, this one's out of focus. I loved this angel statue: 
After about an hour, I was freezing, and it was time for dessert, so I popped into an overwhelmingly overpriced cafe, amd drank a cappuccino, accompanied by my first Belgian waffle. It was ok. After leaving I went to the christmas market and bought a waffle for two euro, and it was WAY WAY better. That's right, two waffles within an hour. And then another hour later, I went to another cafe, and got a crepe, or pancake as they call them there. Needless to say, I went to bed early, because I found myself slipping into a sugar coma. Belgian Waffle # 1: Expensive and not very good. 
Belgian Waffle # 2: From a street vendor, cheap and delicious. 
And the final dessert of the evening, crepe with brown sugar and butter. Also overpriced, but good. Made friends with the waiters also, which was fun. 
Belgians LOVE chocolates. It's not just a stereotype. Everyone I met was obsessed with chocolate.... And they have fun with it. Here is the window display that I found the most... ahem. Entertaining about this shop was wonderful. I particularly love the angry Santas and the boobs. 
Next day, I rented a bike from the hostel, intending to go on a short ride and head to Gent, my next destination. However, one of the workers at the hostel, Yon, invited me to bike with him, because he had to send some post from the Netherlands.... yep. So, I biked with him, the 65+ Km ride there and back along icy roads, through the country, and along the coast. This is a fountain we crossed on the way out of town... because it was really that cold.
Riding along the levy from Bruges to Damme. Most of the ride looked like this. Grey, beautiful, and frozen.
This is a barge we would have used to cross the river, but it wouldn't move on account of it being frozen solid!
Our first stop was Damme, a tiny village full of antique bookstores and ice!! The town consisted of one street, some houses, and a couple of churches. Yon showed me an old church that was supposedly bombed during the second world war, and I thought the cemetery was quite imp 
Ice. 
....More ice.
...even more ice.
Just so you have an idea of what the road looked like... this is right after crossing into Holland. 
And in the distance, on the left, that's an OLD castle. Thirteenth century maybe? Yon wasn't quite sure. 
We spent the whole day out, and ate lunch, typical mussels with french fries in a small town in Holland. I can't, for the life of me remember what it was called... but we ate an amazing box of chocolates as well. Look ma! A real Dutch windmill! 
After refueling on our hearty lunch and copious amounts of chocolate, we headed through the country out to the shore, passing through icy fields, and coming across World War I bunkers. That was a shock to my entire system. Reading about the trenches in history books is one thing, and walking among bunkers is another thing entirely. I couldn't believe they had so much graffiti on them, but that's what happens I guess. 
We arrived at the shore around sunset. here's a rabbit statue that I thought was interesting. The beach looked surprisingly like the dunes of Monterey. Except covered in ice. With a treacherous boardwalk when you're on a bicycle... I fell a few times. However, the nice thing about slipping on ice and falling is that you don't really hit the ground hard... you kind of just glide down to the cold, hard earth. Quite graceful really. 
I was wiped after the bike ride, and instead of heading to Gent as originally planned, I hung out with Yan and he showed me a ton of amazing Jazz records from years past. It was pretty great, and he collects antique records, so that was amazing to look through. I ended up buying some sheet music from him from the 20s.... yea, two euro each. Maybe it's a rip off, but come on. That sheet music is older than anyone I know. Amazing. The next day, Yan walked me around Bruges in the daytime, and we wandered into various churches, convents, etc. It was very helpful to have someone explaining the history to me, and showing me to secret alleyways of the city. Oh yea, we also went to this church (completely forget the name....) whic had a Michelangelo statue in it. It was a mini version of the Madonna and Child. Pretty gorgeous, and completely unexpected. REALLY old gilt Bible... oh church opulence... 
Another beautiful building. Think this used to be a house. The lake is called the "lake of lovers," and in the summer kids hang locks around the branches on trees to symbolize their love. Precious. 
Beautiful church.
Next, I was off to Gent, to stay with a friend of a girl I met in Santiago, also an amazing experience, but much less tranquil! I'll put that post up tomorrow. For now, hope this suffices!Happy Christmas Eve!!
