Up at 0445, on the bus to the airport and short flight to Amsterdam. I was impressed that we could change our flight so easily just the afternoon before.
The train from Amsterdam to Brugges took about 3 hours with a change at Brussels. I like travelling by train – seats are comfortable, most have wifi and power points, toilets and food and drink, plus you get to see the country.
Arrived at the hotel and the room was very small, but most European city hotels are like that so we didn’t mind.
Dropped the bags and headed out. I’d been to Brugges about 30 years ago and as we walked around I started to remember it. It’s a very pretty town, the main square has some impressive buildings and the whole place was delightful – lots of old buildings, very clean, quaint alleyways, and more chocolate shops than I have ever seen. We decided to wait until after dinner before buying chocolates but they were definitely on the agenda. We walked along the streets, a nice change of pace after the driving of the last few days. The weather was perfect – sunny and warm – Google said it was 17C but it felt warmer, probably after the wintry conditions in Ireland. It was hard to believe that just a few days ago we were walking in a howling gale being pelted with freezing rain. We wandered around the streets, lots of tourists about, just enjoying the environment. We stopped at a restaurant around the corner from the main square. I had Flemish beef stew with apple sauce, salad and chips, Song had mussels. I also had a beer because I was no longer driving – a Leffe Bruin, which I think was the nicest I’ve had on this trip so far.
Left the restaurant and suddenly found the streets empty – we guessed all of the tourists were on day trips and were heading home because there were very few people around. We stopped for an ice cream despite the temperature dropping as the sun went down and went back to the hotel.
Tomorrow we’re going to Luxembourg, then onto Metz in France.
