Steps: 23,950. Bruges. Weather: Amazing! Really amazing! The morning started out around 60, but it warmed up to 75 by mid-afternoon. I was in shorts and short sleeves the entire day (including sitting outside at 10pm) and somehow was never hot nor cold which has got to be some sort of weather witchcraft.

  • 9:00 Wake up
  • 9:30 Get up, get ready
  • 10:00 Leave for a quick “run” along the river. Emphasis on the quotations there.
  • 10:35 Back to hostel to “change”. Again emphasis on the quotations because I ran out of time so all I actually did was grab my bag.
  • 10:45 Walk to center
  • 10:55 Meet walking tour group in the central Market.
  • 11:00 Walking tour! As promised, our guide Steve was a comedian and made the tour interesting. We got to act out scenes from Bruges history. Theoretically I’ll remember a lot more of what I learned! Here is some of what stuck with me:
    • Bruges went from being one of the richest towns in Europe to one of the poorest overnight. The king was to blame for its preservation and its downfall.
    • Bruges = Brujas in Spanish, whah means witch! I theoretically knew this but hadn’t explicitly realized it until now. There are many magic-related legends to go along with this. And some other observations…
    • I was the only American on the tour and maybe I’m making this up but the people on this tour were a lot more tolerable than your usual bunch; there were no ignorant questions asked or dumb pictures taken. That being said, the only role I got to play in a skit was that of a typical American with no sense of geography mistakenly thinking he was fighting a war in France when he was really in Belgium and naming the delicious fried potato sticks he was served “French fries”. Sorry Belgium, that one’s our fault.
    • We got two complimentary waffle tastings and one chocolate tasting- all from really high quality shops!
    • The 10 and 12 year old siblings on the tour really reminded me of how Tyler and I would have been behaving. (Up to you if you think that says something about the children or about Tyler and I…)
  • 1:00 Grab a Leige waffle from what was apparently the highest rated place in town. Plain with powdered sugar. Really good.
  • 1:30 Walk over to some peaceful hidden away medicinal gardens. From there I strolled over to a big park where I walked around for a while and was one with nature.
  • 3:15 Walking back through town. Stop at the Carrefour express for a package of roasted chicken which was really funny and weird to walk around with but a really great idea given the chocolate and waffles is probably not the healthiest diet around.
  • 3:25 Stop for chocolate at Sukerbuyc. I got the Bloody Mary (Almonds, orange, caramel) and the Max (peanuts and caramel and shaped like a car!). I also made several trips to the town drinking fountain, which was a lifesaver.
  • 3:45 This was actually pretty cool. Again thanks to a recommendation from the tour I think I saw the actual blood of Christ in the Bruges Cathedral. It is said that someone long ago brought a blood stained cloth to the Cathedral and insisted it was the blood of Christ; there has been loads of evidence found to back this up. It is on display in an ornate sealed vile for a specific window of time every day and there was a line out the church and down the steps for a turn to take a look.
  • 4:10 Explore the lower Cathedral
  • 4:15 Explore the City Hall
  • 4:20 A little shopping on the Main Street. Got chocolate from Neuhaus but they didn’t mention the two additional free chocolates if I put my email in :(
  • 5:00 Leige waffle from a street food place. Would not have expected this, but I think it was my favorite one I had!
  • 5:30 Visit Sint-Salvatorskathedraal. Very pretty and huge.
  • 5:45 More chocolate time!
    • Leonidas: Definitely my favorite shop- great quality AND great price! Their hazelnut cream bonbons hit different I tell you
    • Elisabeth: The hazelnut bark was thick and ultra smooth and heavenly.
    • Chocolatier Dumon: Good but a little too bougie.
    • Another wonderful artisan store that was highlighted on the tour, which was probably my second favorite chocolate of Bruges. The Dubai truffle was out of this world.
  • 6:15 Got French fries purely to check it off the bucket list (they were really not that good in my opinion). Realize I am too late for a boat canal tour. Very sad. I block out time for it tomorrow but the voice of the future (aka my voice right now as I am writing this) knows it is simply not in the cards.
  • 6:30 A bit of aimless walking.
  • 7:00 I realized that I only have one more day to eat Leige waffles, so why not get another one?
  • 7:20 Walk through the back side of town to the hostel. I needed to get my charger as my phone had been about to die for the past few hours, and it was getting a bit chilly.
  • 8:00 Back- grab my charger and my laptop and head to a little hill with green grass and a windmill on it overlooking the river (can you picture anything more Belgian?!) to have some much needed laptop work time. I was confused for a local by two different groups which made me feel very good about myself. Ask me about the stranger danger story haha
  • 9:45 I was STILL in my shorts and short sleeves and was getting quite cold, so I decided to head back inside. Walking into the hostel I met Ferhan and we realized we were staying in the same room and chatted for a while!
  • 10:15 We went to get drinks and that evolved into the rest of the night… :)