Bruges, Belgium

On Tuesday morning I took a train to Bruges, Belgium.  This is where the most adventurous day yet of my trip begins and ends.  It is on this Tuesday that I feel the most like a “backpacker” (but with a zebra striped suitcase).  I had to switch trains three times and in the confusion I absent-mindedly left my big winter coat on the train!  A few hours later I was deposited in Belgium with no jacket or gloves, since they were in the pocket.  I shamefully exited the Bruges train station and was greeted by my Belgium host, Anne.  Who is Anne?  Well don’t freak out, but I met her on CouchSurfing.com (see previous entries if you are confused about this).  You may think negatively of couch surfing, but I am here to say how much it has enhanced my trip thus far.  Up until now I have met two different girls my age for coffee and activities, but I decided to try actually sleeping on a stranger’s couch.  I picked Anne, a 50-something year old Belgian woman.  On the train to meet Anne, I started mildly freaking out that I was about to walk into a murderer’s trap, but Anne turned out to be a nice cat-lover with two new knee replacements.  I could sense Anne was lonely (she is unmarried with no kids) and I think she really enjoyed my company.  She offered to drive me all over and cooked me dinner and made me breakfast.  Her cat slept in bed with me.  The thing I like about couch surfing is that it turns the world into a very small place, uniting humans from different places and languages together, because at the core we are all the same. 

After arriving in Bruges, I took an afternoon walk around the small, medieval town commonly referred to as an “open-air museum”.  There were no cement streets, just cobblestone and old houses.  Horses were carting tourists around and little bridges crossed canals into more old streets.  When I was little I had a pop-up paper book that contained a paper-doll village; Bruges looked like that village come to life.  The best part of Bruges is the chocolate shops…the streets are literally lined with chocolateier after chocolateier.  According to my made-up dictionary, Bruges (noun) is a quaint town of chocolate shops.  It was also very very picturesque and a popular destination for marriage proposals and weddings.  This makes sense, as the collection of hotels in Bruges was adorable.

"Chocoholic" 

Cherry beer

My favorite part of Bruges happened on Tuesday night.  I had been talking to Cynthia from Couch Suring online and we have a lot in common.  She offered to meet me for a drink so Anne drove me to the town center.  Cynthia is beautiful; she had a nose stud on the same side as me and was very warm and friendly.  We went into an underground pub that had a selection of fruit flavored beers!  I tried cherry beer, which was a bit too sweet but still fun to try.  Cynthia is a 26-year old artist and figure model for art classes.  She loves to travel and recently worked on a farm in Ireland.  We both are very spiritual and love yoga; we honestly could have talked for hours.  It was like meeting an old friend; I am convinced she is my female soul mate.  The best part of all is she is moving to Australia the same time I am!  I am going to study but she is going to travel and be spontaneous, but we decided to keep in touch so we can meet up when we are there.  Cynthia ran into her friend at the pub who, upon finding out I only speak English, told me that she has a student (she is a teacher) who she feels like “throwing out the window and saying, ‘I hope you can fly!’”  This really tickled my funny bone. 

My new friend Cynthia

The next morning on Wednesday Anne dropped me off at the railway station where I bought a locker to store my suitcase in.  I purchased a ticket for my evening train ride to Düsseldorf, Germany, paid 40 euros to paid the bathroom (which included a man wiping down the toilet seat before he let me inside) and was on my way.  Despite putting in an online request for my missing jacket to be returned, I had not received any contact back, so for now it is now being worn by someone else.  I walked through a green park to the center of Bruges and found the one thing I was looking for in Belgium: a Belgian waffle.  Oh. My. God.  I would never have eaten this anywhere else in the world, but I couldn’t leave Belgium without completing this one simple task.

Step 1: Look at the waffle selection

Step 2: Order

Step 3: Go to town!

Cute dog I saw- aw!

For the rest of the day I busied myself by walking around the town and window shopping.  I was planning on taking a boat ride, but the weather was terrible and I was still without a jacket.  So I snapped into Julia survival mode and... went shopping!  I found a new jacket that I love (its way cuter than the big pillow that was my last jacket).  Plus it was really cheap.  I also decided to go lingerie shopping, my favorite past time.

When the afternoon arrived I still had a couple of hours to kill before my train arrived, so I found a bookstore that sold books in english and bought another Ian McEwan book: "Enduring Love".  He is my new favorite author.  I found a cute restaurant and ordered a gorgeous salad and a glass of wine and read.

An amazing afternoon: a good book, a great salad,
and a glass of delicious red wine!

In the evening I took a train to Dusseldorf, Germany.  My dear cousin Clemens was waiting for me at Platform 17.  Clemens is a 30-year-old hipster journalist who loves vinyls and football (soccer).  Now I am staying at his flat in Dusseldorf.  Tomorrow we are driving to Berlin!  I can't wait!  Until then, auf wiedersehen!

More photos of Bruges:

"...the world she ran through loved her..." -Ian McEwan (Atonement)