Belgium Day 2: Brugges

Saturday morning we woke up, got ready, grabbed a waffle and hopped on the train to Brugges. Brugges is an hour outside of the city and it came highly recommended by everyone we talked to as a must see in Belgium; I definitely agree.

Brussels definitely has a bigger French influence to it, whereas Brugges is more Dutch.  The city is smaller, easily walkable, and quaint.

The main plaza in Brugges 

The Belfy tower

Almost immediately upon arriving at this plaza we looked up at the Belfry tower and jumped in line to climb it. We had an inkling about how narrow it was because they would only allow 70 people in at one time, but we just assumed they were being overly cautious. Wrong. 

Those were some of the smallest, steepest stairs I have ever climbed. There are 366 steps to the top and we almost ran all the way up because you just have to keep moving.  However, the view at the top was definitely worth it. 

Part of the reason I loved this city so much was the architecture. I loved how all the houses were of some red color variation, and had the angled edges. 

After our mid-day hike we were in search of food, water, and a place to sit. We found a cute restaurant under one of the green awnings in the main plaza. 

Me, Caitlin and Grace at lunch

 View of the Belfry from my seat

After lunch came dessert! I ate probably 50 chocolates at this point but I will narrow it down to my two favorites. 

#1

"Cookie" from Neuhaus 

It is a mix of milk and dark chocolate coating bits of crumbled up "American" cookie 

#2

Salted Caramel from The Chocolate Line

Next up: afternoon tea at a teahouse

Grace and me with our tiny tea cups

At the end of the day I was very sad to leave Brugges. Thus far, it is one my favorite cities. It would have been a perfect day, if not for one small mishap. 

It seems that my shoes cannot quite keep up with me. As we were leaving, the sole of my shoe split off from the rest of my boot.  This would not normally be a problem, except that this was the only pair of shoes I brought for the weekend. So these had to last me until early Monday morning when I got home. 

They were annoying, but manageable, for the whole weekend up until my arrival in the Dublin where I had to run from my flight to the opposite side of airport where I had to pick up my bus. While I made the bus, my shoes did not. 

But, I did not let my shoes stand in the way of more sugar. Later that night Caitlin, Grace and I all had a craving for a waffle so we got ourselves a most delicious late night snack.

My waffle: liege (with the sugar inside) topped with nutella, bananas, and more sugar

A great ending to a great day.