Today, we left the fairy tale town of Bruges. First, we made a stop to visit Ghent again since it was on the way. We decided we would visit Ghent because it was such a beautiful city and to climb the Belfry Tower. The Belfry Tower of Ghent was around 200 something steps, but a hard climb at all. The stairs leading up to the tower though can be very narrow. The view above was really nice, too bad it was a gloomy sky today. You can see all of Ghent from above. We also watched and heard the bells chime from the top of the tower, and realized there’s an elevator you can take to go back down from the top.
*pics of Ghent and belfry tower, cuberdon
After spending the afternoon in Ghent, we made another stop at Brussels! I really loved the unique streets of Brussels. We walked around the streets. We also stopped at a French restaurant and had a pork knuckle from apparently one of the best restaurants in Belgium. The pork knuckle was really delicious!
*insert pics of hanging flowers
After our brief and last stop in Brussels, we finally made our way and took a train to Rotterdam. One of the things I really noticed about Netherlands was how efficient their transit system was. It’s really nice and high tech..unless Toronto’s TTC system. The downfall is that their transit is hella expensive! We took a bus and checked into The Student Hotel in Rotterdam. I didn’t expect this hotel to be so university/college inspired, and found it surprising and nice! I loved how the interior decors were all dorm inspired, it even had a hang out area with table tennis, study rooms and space. This was definitely an upgrade from our last stay in the hostel. It was all dorm themed and really neat! However, as we finally checked into our hotel after a long day…we found out the lights were not working. The staff was busy and we waited for 20+ mins. They then upgraded us to a bigger room. I also tried a chocolate Stroopwaffle for the first time and I loved it! P.S. David also couldn’t figure out how to turn on the shower for like the longest time..it was quite funny.
Today was the first day David and I got to explore and delve into Bruges. We woke up and had breakfast at the hostel at St. Christopher’s Inn at the Bauhaus. Nothing special, just your typical breakfast foods. Looking back, I think today was one of the most eventful days of the trip. Many things happened all in one day.
First, our mission was to buy a sim card! We navigated around Bruges using the map they offered us at the hostel. It was quite useful, with local places to check out, and even had kissing spots on the map/lengend haha. We went to the Markt, and Burg Square, and City Hall. Around the Markt were streets of shopping areas. Another thing I learned today was that “straat” means “street” in Dutch and German. That’s why many of the street names are like “Leeuwstraat”, or “Steenstraat”. We checked out a few phone service provider stores and found that “Orange” had the best deal, $15 for 4 GB. What a good deal right? We also learned a new thing, that they require to see your passport upon purchasing any sim cards. Of course, both of us didn’t carry our passports so we decided to go back to our hostel after lunch and canal tour to buy the sim card.
Walking around Bruges was like walking in a storybook or fairytale. It is surrounded by canals, and often coined “Venice of the North”. To me, it reminded me of Beauty and the Beast where Belle was singing along the streets and buying a loaf of bread. It’s a cute little quaint town with unique features and nooks.
You can walk around different parts of Bruges and come across many different architecture and kinds of buildings. We wandered around finding little alleys and cute places to photograph.
Another one of my favourite pictures that David photographed 🙂
We also had our first Belgian waffle! About 5-6 Euros for a strawberry and chocolate Belgian waffle. It was so delicious!
Canal Tour: We went for a 30 mins canal tour for 8 Euros. Our first canal tour together! It was really nice and we got to see other parts of Bruges that we haven’t visited yet. We came across an art installation in the canal of a whale made out of all the plastics found in the ocean!
For lunch, we went to a little patio restaurant outside by the canals where I had Carbonara and David ordered an eggs and grill cheese sandwich. I really liked my Carbonara! After that we headed back to get our passports to walk back to the Markt area to buy our sim card. Long story short: we ended up with a 500 MB sim card and got ripped off. Very ridiculous and not fair..but I won’t get into that detail. I was also able to find a little shop that sold Cuberdons!! I was really excited as I heard it was a Ghent specialty. I tried the strawberry Cuberdon for myself and got some to bring home for my friends and family as souvenirs. I also checked out The Chocolate Line shop, it was pretty cool! For dinner we went to a place nearby our hostel called De Pon (I think), it was a very retro inspired place owned by a couple. We had mussels and beef stew (Belgian tradition). Since it was a long day and David needed to rest, he insisted that I venture off on my own after dinner to go on my own little adventure and check out Burg Square at night. At first I hesitated but I agreed and was excited! We went back to our hostel and I got ready to go for my night adventure. When I left our hostel, David showed up at the staircase and decided to follow me! I told him to go back to rest but he didn’t listen…sigh. So we spent the night strolling around Bruges, but I was secretly really glad he came with me. Europe is quite romantic to walk around at night with the cute buildings, architecture, canals, and swans. It could be a lot warmer though! These past two days I’ve been walking around with my cardigan (not the summer weather we had anticipated!).
Bruges at night
You know you have an Instagram boyfriend when he takes a photo like this (: David was very proud of this shot, he said it’s “the photo of the year” haha and I don’t disagree!
Thanks David for capturing this photo of me, it’s my favourite 🙂
One of my favourite memories from today was just wandering around with David taking pictures and discovering little unique alleys and buildings. Another memorable moment was when I turned around at the staircase and there he was, not letting me go on a night stroll alone. Tomorrow we will be leaving Bruges and going to Rotterdam!
Hello! Welcome to our blog and my first official post! Here we will be sharing our journey and misadventures.
Day 1 Arrival & First Impressions
Today is the first day being back home from our one week trip in Europe. Although I’m not battling jet lag, I’m feeling quite dazed out. I’m currently sitting in my room listening to Shallou’s album “Souls”. I’ve always wanted to document my travels in a blog, so here it is. Bear with me as I try to vividly recall and share my daily journeys, adventures, the laughs, the lows and mishaps in Europe.
Day 1: We arrived at the airport early, but not too early. Our flight was at 5:55 p.m. at Pearson Airport and we had to take a bus that takes us to the gate. That was a first for me at this airport. Our first flight was to Dublin and then a transfer from Dublin to Brussels. This was also the first time we took a plane together, so I felt a lot of things. Nervousness, excitement, and all that because it was our first time travelling together! Smooth flight, I watched A Wrinkle In Time (highly do not recommend) and I also beat David at Trivia! *proud moment* 5 and a half hours later..we arrived in Brussels, Belgium finally! Both David and I did not get any sleep on the plane and were very much sleep deprived.
Upon arrival, there were two major things we learned:
There are no Vodaphone Data Sim Cards at any vending machines. They actually do not sell data Sim cards this way anymore, and you must show your passport when you buy a sim card from a phone provider.
A comma is equivalent of a decimal. So when it says 10,50 it really mean 10.50 Euros.
We took a train to our first stop: Ghent.
The train ride was about 35 mins from the airport, and there were frequent trains. We grabbed a bite to eat at the airport (a sausage roll in pastry). It hit the spot. As we arrived in Ghent, I was really impressed and in awe with the architecture surrounding the canals. This was the first time I felt like I was in Europe.
Ghent, Belgium
To our luck, there was no rain like it had forecasted. David and I wandered around taking a lot of pictures even though we were very sleep deprived and dead inside. We then stopped by a restaurant with an outdoor patio where you can see the canals called “De Witte Leeuw”. I ordered a Lasagna because I felt like it, and David ordered a lunch sandwich (I think). After lunch, we walked around and took a train to Bruges!
We checked into our hostel and wandered around Bruges during the evening to find a place to eat for dinner. It was pretty late, around 9pm, so it didn’t seem like many places were still opened. We found a little restaurant with a canal view outside. I had my first Belgium beef stew, and David had the mussels and frites. It was nice and quiet by the canal, and as we were eating we saw some swans swim by! After that, we wandered back to our hostel while stopping for a few photo ops and then finally got some rest! I can’t believe I’m here, in EUROPE and travelling with David. I remember going to sleep feeling really lucky and happy that I get this opportunity to travel. This once was a dream of mine to visit Europe and here I am…
C & D Sees & Dos 