Bruges & Brussels

Travelling to Bruges the next day became very complicated with trains getting cancelled, but by this point we were pros and also basically stopped caring. We made it to Bruges in the end after and hour stop over in Rotterdam. We walked around Rotterdam enough to see that it was almost polar opposites with Amsterdam. 

In Bruges we got a local bus to our hostel. Even the bus system felt like the old ticket system I used to used as a kid going to school. Bruges was just an old place, like going back in time. 

We spent our evening walking around Bruges, and we learned the hard way that in this medieval town that everything closed at 5pm. We luckily got onto one of the very last boat cruises in which we got a mini tour of the little town. What were pleased to have finally got a bout cruise after missing out in Venice and Amsterdam. 

After food in the hostel we went back to the square for Belgian Waffles, which we ate on a step while listening to a concert choir that was performing. It was awesome. 

The next day was our very last. We did a chocolate factory and climbed the belfry tower in the morning, and then headed for the station eating waffles on the way. 

We arrived in Brussels and hour later, and had exactly 4 hours until our Eurostar train back to london. Luckily we were able to store our bags in the station. A lady at the tourism office was very helpful, drawing us a map of where to go in such a short time. 

This is the story of how we did Brussels in 3 hours. While we didn't get to go into any of the places to learn about what they were, we walked in a loop to churches, museums, shopping districts, and the main square, and the Manneken Pis statue. Everyone was getting ready for the Belgium vs Argentina game, and we headed back to the station in hopes we could catch the first half before our train. 

Luckily a small cafe was showing the game, and train passengers from all over the station crowed it's doors to watch (much to the distaste of the workers in the cafe). The cafe sold beer, so we were set. After the first half we had to check-in with Eurostar. We knew they wouldn't be showing the game in departures, but to our surprise the information desk had flipped their two computers around displaying the game. All of Eurostar departures were crowded around these two tiny laptops. 

As you know, Belgium lost, but by that point we were on our way home. It was funny, because arriving in Kings Cross felt like just another station. It wasn't until I was properly home that it sunk in that our trip was over. 

- Evie

1) Mayonnaise is considered a dipping sauce. 

2) Belgian fries are good, but I've been spoiled by In n Out my whole life, so it's hard to judge the quality of fries accurately. 

3) Belgian waffles however, I can get on board with. Though covering something in chocolate is always something I can get on board with.

4) The customer service of the local restaurants can really make or break an impression of a place.

5) Belgium and the Netherlands really embraced the World Cup thing -streamers and flags and Tv's everywhere- like sitting on the floor in the train station with everyone hovered around two laptops. That's kind of what I'd been hoping for the entire trip.

6) Everyone in Belgium spoke three languages and I felt like a failure for still only knowing enough Spanish and French to tell someone that I don't know Spanish or French. 

7) Walking around different chocolate shops is fun, but also really tempts you to just buy all the chocolate.

8) Chocolate can be made into any shape, even the questionable, not exactly family friendly ones.

9) We have become so good at dealing with train delays that we managed to fit in an extra city in the Netherlands and we have become so good at layovers that we managed to see the majority of Brussels in under 4 hours. 

10) Traveling has not quenched my desire to travel, it has only inspired me to do more of it.

- Megs

So since this is our final entry, we would like to say a big thank you to our readers. Initially we just planned to do these for our parents, but the more texts and comments of support we started getting, the more we wanted to keep up with them. Without your support we probably would have given up writing a long time ago! So thank you so much for the 339 page views and counting! We have enjoyed sharing our adventures with you. 

- Both