Chocolate in Brugge

A few quiet moments in a cafe we snuck into after the boys fell asleep in the stroller.

The last place we went to was Brugge in Belgium.  I had honestly never heard of it until we came to Corrymeela and our flat had the movie In Brugge.  It's a great movie, although you'll probably wonder what in the world made me want to go to Brugge after watching it.  Maybe the food?  Because the food in Brugge was just a continuation of magic from the previous day we spent in Brussels.

To say that I attempted to try a piece of chocolate every hour would be correct.  How can you go to Belgium and not have Belgium Chocolates?  And trust me, there were plenty just screaming out to be tasted.  According to Rick Steves, the people from Belgium invented the french fry (a.k.a. frites).  And not to be outdone by my newest boyfriend - the Belgium waffle - these perfected twice-fried frites are serve with tangy mayonnaise.  I'm telling you, like everything else in Belgium, frites = heaven. 

 

The boys helped pick out some special Belgium chocolates for their grandmas for mothers day...so if those lucky ladies are reading this they can know they are getting hand-selected chocolates...although probably a few days after the American Mothers Day.

We decided to splurge on a carriage ride because it was recommended by friends, and the boys were in heaven.  (I mean, can't you tell by their huge smiles above?)  They loved seeing the horses all throughout the city, and to get to ride behind one was just about the bees knees.

 

This city is meant to be one of the best preserved  cities from the Midieval times, and the canals that run all through it were beautiful.  I would definitely recommend it to anyone looking for an adventure.

And finally one of the last things we did in the city was to search out this windmill - the only one we got close to the entire trip, which was a priority for D-train.  I'm so glad we could walk 10 extra miles to scope it out (just kidding D-train *smile*). 

The next day we headed back to Amsterdam on the train and spent a really low-key day/night in a hotel near the airport.  We had all sorts of plans for things we could do with our remaining 24 hours, but I think we did the right thing by staying in and watching movies in our hotel room.  It was a great way to wind-down a great trip, and trust me - we needed some winding down.  It also made the traveling back on Saturday really pleasant. Unfortunately for you (or quite fortunately) I don't have any pictures of Dustin and I watching Moneyball in the dark.  So just envision two exhausted-looking adults in their stretched out pajamas with two sleeping toddlers between them while starring bleary eyed and zombie-like at the television and eating packaged Belgium waffles in bed. It was beautiful.