Chocolate, Chocolate, and More Chocolate: Day 1 in Bruges, Belgium

This past weekend could be classified as one of my top weekends in Europe. I was fortunate enough to travel to Bruges, Belgium, the #1 Gothic city in the world and capital city of Belgium. The trip started off a little bumpy though. After only getting about 4 hours of sleep (I was excited and Woodland Court was a little noisy) we boarded our coach at 6:45am. We were on our way to the city of Dover to meet our ferry which would be taking us across the English Channel to France and then our coach would drive us onto Belgium!

The ride to Dover was about 2 hours long (of which I slept most of the way) and when we reached the port town, the White Cliffs of Dover were actually visible-unlike the week before when Monica and I were on a tour there. It was pretty cool to be able to clearly see them! So at around 9:30am, our bus drove onto the ferry (which was more like a cruise ship!) and we disembarked from the bus and went up to the main deck of the boat. The view from the outside was incredible! The sun even peeked out of the clouds to let us get a few good pictures. Our ferry ride was going to take 90 minutes so we settled in, had a little snack, and anxiously awaited our arrival in France.

English Channel

Rainbow over the Cliffs of Dover

Dover Castle

Little Londoner and the White Cliffs of Dover

When we finally reached the other side of the channel, we got back on the coach and were onto the last leg of our travel. It took us another 90 minutes to finally reach Bruges, but the long trip was well worth it. From what I could see from my rain-soaked bus window, Bruges looked like a fairytale city. All these medevil gothic style buildings lined the tiny streets. Our first order of business was to check into our hotel, the Hotel Ibis. Before we could do that, our bus had a little accident. Our driver, Dave (not the kindest man in the world) bumped into another little car on the narrow road of Bruges. The car had a little bit of damage and the driver was pretty upset so Dave had to sort that all out while the rest of us put our luggage into the hotel for storage until our rooms were ready to check-in to.

Hotel Ibis

Lobby of the hotel

After everyone stowed their belongings, it was time to begin scenic tour #1 of Bruges guided by our activities coordinator Tony. After walking up one of the narrow streets past dozens of chocolate shops and waffle parlors, we reached destination number 1...The Onze Lieve Vrouwerk (Church of Our Lady). We got to explore the indside and see the famous work of one Michelangelo-his sculpture of Madonna and Child. It was pretty amazing and something I will never forget.

Church of Our Lady

Michelangelo's Madonna and Child

Then we were given 30 minutes to explore the street and get out first taste of Bruge's delacacies-Belgium Waffles! It was seriously amazing. My waffle was fresh and warm and coated in powder sugar. It also had little sugar granules inside which made it sweet enough so I didn't need syrup! DELISH!

So happy to have a real Belgium Waffle (don't worry mom, I still LOVE your waffles)

Then it was time to continure our journey through the city. We visited the Basilique Du St. Sang (Basilica of the Precious Blood) where they supposedly have a vile of Jesus' blood. You could get in line and walk up onto the big podium-like thing and put your hand on the vile...it was pretty cool but kind of creepy at the same time (I may have prayed for better weather...oops!) Then we continued on to the Markt Square where we saw the Belfry which is the big bell tower in the center of Bruges. There are 366 stairs you can climb to reach the top of the tower (you will have to read my next post to see if I climbed them or not). Then were were taken back to the hotel to warm up and get ready for the evening which consisted of free time to eat and explore the city. The weather seriously sucked and my jacket leaked was not waterproof so I had to blow dry it to warm it up/dry it off. Then Kirsten, Monica, Amy, and I headed out for dinner. First, here are a few more pictures from the walking tour.

Absolutely adorable :)

Church of Our Lady

The Belfry

The Belfry

Basilica with the Blood of Christ

CHOCOLATE!

Our first stop of the night was at this chocolate shop Tony suggested-it didn't really have a name but he called it the blue and white shop because that's what color it's awning was. It was seriously overwhelming and amazing all at the same time. The smell was incredible-fresh chocolate scent. The chocolates looked so delicate and delicious in the way they were presented/displayed. I decided on a little box of 28 for my parents and some other goodies for some of my friends back home. The only bad thing about Belgium's chocolate is that they use the freshest ingredients without any preservatives so they only stay fresh for 3 weeks...just means I'm going to have to eat all my chocolates real fast :)

After the chocolate expedition, we went into a little lace shop (another delcacy known to Belgium) and purchased a few other things. Then it was off to find a place to eat dinner. Belgium is also known for it's french fries and mussels so we wanted to find a place to try those. However, we were very shocked to find every restaurant would set us back about 20-23 euro! I was not prepared to spend that much on one meal but in the end, we decided "when will we ever get to eat mussels in Belgium again?" so we chose this little place in the Markt Square and splurged. Let me just say, that was the best idea we could have ever had because this food was seriously amazing. Tony had told us Belgium is one of the foodie capitals of the world but my tastebuds were not at all prepared for the trip they were about to take.

We sat down and stared at the menu for about 10 minutes before one of the nice waiters brought us the "local" menu which was a 3 course dinner for 14 euro (now we're talking)! It came with an appatizer, main course, dessert, and tiny glass of wine. I was sold. I decided on the mussels in au gratin sauce for the appatizer, Flemmish beef stew with chips for the main course, and a raspberry beer brewed right in Belgium for my beverage. I questioned what the mussels would be like but they may have been the most delectable thing I have ever put in my mouth. The cheesy sauce they were in was so rich and delicious. If you ever go to Bruges, you MUST try them! Then our main course arrived which was just as tasty if not even tastier! It consisted of thes huge chunks of beef in a delicious sauce with a side of french fries. Apparently, Belgians do their fries different than everywhere else in Europe. They use only a certain kind of potato which is sweeter and they double deep fry them...amazing.

Finally and sadly our main courses were devoured and our bellies were full. But we still fit in our beers and little dessert of ice cream. It was the most satisfying  meal I have ever consumed...my mood was so happy after this meal and I forgot all about how cold and wet I was. Take a look for yourself and try not to get too jealous :)

The restaurant

Mini wine for Hale

The Markt square lit up at night

Best brew EVER!

Hadn't even drank any yet...also, notice how wet my shirt is :(

MUSSELS!! So good

Flemmish Beef Stew :)

After we were finished, we waived down the waiter to get our bill (came to around 80 euro total!) and headed back to the hotel. Kirsten and I were roomies and we decided to have a chill room as we were both exhausted, extremely full from dinner, and cold. We turned on the TV and to our surprise found GLEE was airing in English! We watched that for a while and munched on some of our newly purchased chocolates...which by the way melted in my mouth and were sooooo good! Then at around 10PM I feel asleep to Transformers and had dreams of mussels, chocolate, and waffles!

My box of chocolates which started out at 14 and sadly only has 8 left...noooooo!

Tune in to the next blog to hear about day #2 in Bruges, Belgium!

Cheers,

Little Londoner