· Mmmmmm chocolate, yummmmBrugge, Belgium · 2nd Jan 2007 · Posted by Annie
(Chris: Get outta the way, I'm starting this one)
Question. What's red, pointy and goes zoom zoom zoom? Answer ... the Thalys train that we caught from Paris to Brugge. OMG. How does 300kph on train tracks sound? I mean, I'd heard of the massive speeds these things can do but until I saw cars doing 110kph disappearing back over the horizon as if they weren't moving I never really gave the speed much thought. Let's just say that the video I took of bridges going by at what looks like the speed of light needs to be seen to be believed. :) ANYWAY, with the magic of the internet, we're now in Brugge, Belgium. Home of chocolate, makers of "Gluhwein" (hot mulled wine) and even more of the amazing european architecture that we've seen so much of so far.
(Annie: Look, we're signed in as ME. Now let me type something for once!)
Right. It was New Year's Eve, so Chris and I wandered into town to see what was going on. There was a lovely market, stalls selling all the things Chris mentioned above, an ice skating rink in the middle, all surrounded by lovely buildings with little lights all over them (you'll see them in the pics when we get the chance to upload some). We had some really awesome potato/bacon dish that some guys were cooking up in one of the stalls, YUUUUUU-UUUUU-MMMYYY. They had the biggest frying pans we've ever seen. Seriously, about a metre in diameter. Woah. I tried to take a photo but not sure it came out well. Yumm. So good. Gotta love that market food. And gluhwein. And hot chocolate. And pancakes. And waffles. And candy-floss. :)
Anyway, it was dark, but it was actually only 5pm. Then it started raining. So we walked around for a while, got a bit lost down all the nice little streets, started to get a bit cold and wet, and decided to head back to our hotel. Where we promptly fell asleep. Yup, that's right, our new year's eve consisted of... a very long nana nap. Oh we're so young and hip. In our defense, we had been walking around all day, and for many days previously. We had just arrived in Brugge, travelling from Paris that same day, done a whole bunch of washing, etc etc. We were tired. Don't hassle us. :P
Anyway, after our 14 hour nana nap, we had another lovely day in Brugge, this time attempting to visit all the sights, which unfortunately were all shut due to it being the 1/1. So we sat in a restaurant and ate instead. Sounds fine to me. :) A very relaxing day indeed.
(Annie: Ok Chris, you can have a go now. Aren't I nice?)
(Chris: Yes, dear.)
Ahhhh, that's better. We're currently having a drink in a really nice bar in our hotel while we type this ... but we'll get to the details of where we actually are in the next post. ;)
After having a nice relaxing lunch which consisted of the largest glasses of coke I've seen for a while we left and wandered around the few shops that were open and gawked at the amazing array of knick-knacks available in the little souvenir shops scattered around the Brugge Markt (market...duh).
At one point the ice skating rink seemed to throw open its doors to anyone that felt like a walk around on the ice so naturally we had to take the chance. All around were little kids looking like they were about 0.0000001mm away from life-threatening injuries, women in high heels, old ladies in their Sunday best, people that looked like they would be more at home walking around on the Moon than on ice. Oh and let's not forget the large blood stain on the ice. Owwwwwwwwwwwww! :~
Anyway, next stop: Delft (P.S. - That's in The Netherlands.)
Question. What's red, pointy and goes zoom zoom zoom? Answer ... the Thalys train that we caught from Paris to Brugge. OMG. How does 300kph on train tracks sound? I mean, I'd heard of the massive speeds these things can do but until I saw cars doing 110kph disappearing back over the horizon as if they weren't moving I never really gave the speed much thought. Let's just say that the video I took of bridges going by at what looks like the speed of light needs to be seen to be believed. :) ANYWAY, with the magic of the internet, we're now in Brugge, Belgium. Home of chocolate, makers of "Gluhwein" (hot mulled wine) and even more of the amazing european architecture that we've seen so much of so far.
(Annie: Look, we're signed in as ME. Now let me type something for once!)
Right. It was New Year's Eve, so Chris and I wandered into town to see what was going on. There was a lovely market, stalls selling all the things Chris mentioned above, an ice skating rink in the middle, all surrounded by lovely buildings with little lights all over them (you'll see them in the pics when we get the chance to upload some). We had some really awesome potato/bacon dish that some guys were cooking up in one of the stalls, YUUUUUU-UUUUU-MMMYYY. They had the biggest frying pans we've ever seen. Seriously, about a metre in diameter. Woah. I tried to take a photo but not sure it came out well. Yumm. So good. Gotta love that market food. And gluhwein. And hot chocolate. And pancakes. And waffles. And candy-floss. :)
Anyway, it was dark, but it was actually only 5pm. Then it started raining. So we walked around for a while, got a bit lost down all the nice little streets, started to get a bit cold and wet, and decided to head back to our hotel. Where we promptly fell asleep. Yup, that's right, our new year's eve consisted of... a very long nana nap. Oh we're so young and hip. In our defense, we had been walking around all day, and for many days previously. We had just arrived in Brugge, travelling from Paris that same day, done a whole bunch of washing, etc etc. We were tired. Don't hassle us. :P
Anyway, after our 14 hour nana nap, we had another lovely day in Brugge, this time attempting to visit all the sights, which unfortunately were all shut due to it being the 1/1. So we sat in a restaurant and ate instead. Sounds fine to me. :) A very relaxing day indeed.
(Annie: Ok Chris, you can have a go now. Aren't I nice?)
(Chris: Yes, dear.)
Ahhhh, that's better. We're currently having a drink in a really nice bar in our hotel while we type this ... but we'll get to the details of where we actually are in the next post. ;)
After having a nice relaxing lunch which consisted of the largest glasses of coke I've seen for a while we left and wandered around the few shops that were open and gawked at the amazing array of knick-knacks available in the little souvenir shops scattered around the Brugge Markt (market...duh).
At one point the ice skating rink seemed to throw open its doors to anyone that felt like a walk around on the ice so naturally we had to take the chance. All around were little kids looking like they were about 0.0000001mm away from life-threatening injuries, women in high heels, old ladies in their Sunday best, people that looked like they would be more at home walking around on the Moon than on ice. Oh and let's not forget the large blood stain on the ice. Owwwwwwwwwwwww! :~
Anyway, next stop: Delft (P.S. - That's in The Netherlands.)
