The town of fairy tales

Although I had to wake up around 5:30, before the sun rose, my day was quickly made worth it.

First I stopped in Antwerp. This fairy-tale place had so many beautiful sights, such as Het Steen and Groenplaats. I had my first bubbly waffle here, bantered with a bus driver for being too difficult to understand, and then headed off to Bruges.

Almost immediately as I steeped off the bus at Bruges bargeplein and headed into Minnewaterpark, and passed the Sahsuis and Begijnhuise, I was blown away by the sheer beauty of this capitalised-upon fairytale town. A further walk put me by Godshuis, the Bonifacus bridge, and the Groeningemuseum. The more I wandered through this beautiful little town, the more I fell in love.

After this, 

Sint-johnshospitaal

Archaeologiemuseum

Silt-salvatorskathedraal

Boottochen brugge

As my phone approached death, i asked a random shopkeep for directions to Le Trappiste, a dungeon-style bar with surprisingly few English speakers and astonishingly strong trappist beer. The bartenders charged my phone in the back of the restaurant for me as I happily sipped away.

De Halv Maan-  Since 2010 bottling is done elsewhere, but the wort is still fermented here since 1856. 6 generations later, they are still piping out (literally) 20,000 litres of beer, 5 days a week.

I was on my way to see the beautiful Basilica of the Holy Blood and the Arenthuis when my phone battery life ran out. As I chatted with my airbnb host to inform her of this mishap, Inpassed by the

Frietmuseum (the french fry museum),

Belfort van brugge (the belltower), and Provincaal Hof. 

I met my Airbnb host and her daughter later that night, after very confusedly figuring out the Dutch bus system. Her daughter, who had a developmental delay, was the biggest sweetheart I ever met. And so, after collapsing for a solid nine hours, I woke up, had some continental breakfast, a lovely conversation, and I was dropped off at the train station in Brugge to explore a bit more and take the bus home.

I decided I would finally get my first real Belgian waffle, and much to my amazement, everybody in the stores boat three languages fluently - English, Flemish Dutch, and French.

 When I went to buy souvenirs, The shopkeepers on my bankcard from the UK and we talked about how he lived there for five years studying at Hall college and visiting Cambridge College. I told him some of the better part of America to visit, and we had a beautiful conversation.

I then visited Burg and Markt to listen to some songs as performed by the Belfry of Bruges. Played several songs from musicals like Phantom of the Opera in the bells of Notre Dame, complete with key changes.

After a beautiful two days in Belgium, I took a five hour bus ride back to London, experiencing the Eurotunnel and meeting a new Dutch friend in the process.

Stay tuned for more travels!