In Brugge

The movie, In Brugge, with Colin Farrell was definitely what sparked mine and Vin's interest in going to Brugge, and boy am I happy we went. I don't know if many places I go will compare to Venice but Brugge was a really cool place to visit and definitely the second best place we went to while over here. I'm not too sure how to explain just why it was so great, but it was. The people were very friendly and the food was great which I would say are two big parts in making a place great to visit.

Brugge is a small town, has that small town feel and it is really, really old. There's a couple great big old towers, one I think was built like 700 or 800 years ago and is the second tallest all brick building in the world. The only bad part about that one was that it was all covered except for the top because it was getting restored or something. It was just nice to walk around the old cobble stone streets and wonder around the town. Pretty much every other store was either a chocolate store, with fresh Belgium Chocolatier chocolates that were absolutely amazing, or beer stores with all kinds of different Belgium beers. We sampled a few of the beers and some of the chocolate and both were amazing, I definitely preferred the chocolate. I bought a box of chocolate to bring home with me and it is killing me not to open it up and eat it, we will see if it makes the journey back to the States.

We were only there Tuesday and Wednesday and then left Thursday so we didn't have a lot of time there but it was still great. Tuesday we spent the day just wondering around and sampling some of the local foods. We had lookwurst and fries with a Belgian specialty called stooflesaus on them. Both were really good, lookwurst was like a garlic sausage type thing and the stooflesaus was basically a gravy. Then for dinner we had escargot and the biggest pot of mussels of all time. Again, both of these dishes were amazing as well. Then for dessert we had Belgian waffles slathered in a chocolate sauce, you haven't had a Belgian waffle until you've had a Belgian waffle in Belgium.

Wednesday we actually biked from Brugge to the Netherlands. Pretty much everyone bikes in Brugge and there are a bunch of bike paths in and around the city that lead to all kinds of different places, like other small towns, the North Sea and to the Netherlands. I wasn't too sure how much I wanted to do it but Vin talked me in to it, and I'm definitely happy he did. We got to bike through some of the Belgian countryside and went to this small Dutch town called Stuis. It was really cool to see and do, we saw some windmills and other things we wouldn't of had the opportunity to if we didn't rent the bikes. The whole journey was about 25 miles or so round trip so it wasn't too exhausting, but my butt and knees are still sore from it. After that journey we pretty much rode around Brugge a little more and ate lunch there. This time we had bratwurst and fries and both were just as good as what we had for lunch the day before. For dinner wednesday we had rabbit in the flemish way. It was pretty much a rabbit stew and since it was on most every restaurant's menu we figured it was a local dish and we had to try it. It was actually really good, I never had rabbit before and it was actually really good. If the waiter would have told me it was chicken I would have believed him, so it really didn't seem like that exotic of a dish. We had another waffle for dessert and that was about it for day two in Brugge.

Thursday was mostly spent traveling back to London so not a whole lot to report. Overall, I loved Brugge, there was plenty do, eat and see. As usual enjoy some of the pictures from our time there.

One of Brugge's canals

Another Canal

The Market and Bell Tower

Me at the market

Vin and I enjoying a beer

The monster pot of mussels

Vin with a goofy look near a horse

That way to the Netherlands

Belgian countryside

One of those old windmills I didn't think

were actually real

Stuis

More Stuis

Its not easy taking a picture of

yourself while riding a bike

Brugge at night

Il Mercante Di Venezia

To say the least, Venice is the most unbelievable place I've been to over here in Europe, or anywhere for that matter. It really is hard to describe just how great it was. Everything about it was great, the people, the weather, the city itself, and especially the food. Everyone was very friendly here and most knew some English, so that in itself made it better than anywhere else over here. Then the weather couldn't have been better, it was mid to upper 80's without a cloud in the sky for just about the whole time we were there. And the food really can't be described, on just about any given street there was at least one gellateria and pizza shop, plus a restaurant for dinner, so we definitely had our choice of where and what to eat. We got gellato at least twice a day had unbelievable pizza or calzone's for lunch each day, a snack in between lunch and dinner, and finally a three course dinner each night. For dinner you order a spaghetti dish, a meat dish and a side of fries or salad. Most of the spaghetti was with some kind of seafood, too, which made it even better. One of the specialties in Venice is cuttlefish, which is some kind of fish that shoots out a black ink. They make a sauce with the ink and fish that is jet black, me and Vin both ordered it, were nervous it was going to be weird, and it ended up being one of the best things we ate. If anyone ever tells you they didn't eat good in Italy, or that it is way different than what we eat back at home, they probably haven't really been there, because I didn't eat one thing there that was even just alright. Venice was certainly a far cry from what Paris was like, they are two cities that are pretty much opposites.

Basically our days were spent wondering around the canal laden streets just enjoying the city and eating. Two of the days we went to the beach which was about a 45 minute boat ride through the canals to another island called Lido. It was an experience that I wouldn't trade for anything, I could probably go on for days about how great it was so I'll stop now and just show some pictures.

On a side note we are only in London for the night and leave for Brugge, Belgium in the morning. It is supposedly the Venice of Northern Europe, we will be the judges of that. We are only staying there two days, so I should have another post about our time there thursday at some point.

Enjoy

He sure hates taking pictures

The Grand Canal

A Gondalier

Per Rialto

(the main bridge of the grand canal)

Me on the Rialto

The lagoon between Venice and other islands

Night on the Grand Canal

More Grand Canal

He was happy about this shot

as you can tell

Ahhh, the beach

Hey Jules, Do You Know What they Call a Quarter Pounder with Cheese in Paris...?

Kind of wierd, two McDonald's references with the last two post titles. Well, Vin and I made it back to London after two and a half days in Paris and five days in Venice. I'll split the two cities into two posts, so this one will be about our time in Paris.

There actually isn't a whole lot to say about Paris. It definitely was not as accessible for an English speaker as I would have thought. There were very few people that knew any English at all, so it was a little difficult while there (to get the most out of Paris I think it is best to know at least a little French). However, we made the best of it, and it is a place definitely worth visiting at least once. We saw pretty much all the sites the city had to offer and did it all by foot, we definitely put in some kilometers because we walked from end to end of that city, and it certainly isn't small.

The first day we got there around eleven or twelve, got a cab to take us to our hotel, which actually only ended up being a few minutes from the train station. Then we bought a map, tried to plot a course to the Arc du Triumph and Eiffel Tower. We actually ended up walking past Moulin Rouge on the way. Our walk to the Arc ended up being a little longer than it should have been because we got a little lost but we ended up getting there anyway. I don't think there are any straight streets in the whole city of Paris. The street plan is a mess, they are all curvy and their names will just change at random points sometimes, but we eventually got used to it and became decent navigators of the city. So we saw the arc and then walked on to the Eiffel Tower. Both were really cool, and we had a crepe, which was unbelievable at the foot of the Tower. After that it we started our journey back to our hotel, which brought us past some more old buildings to look at on our way back.

The second day we spent most of the day at the Louvre where we saw the Mona Lisa, she really does seem to be looking at you from just about any angle you look at her, Vinnie confirmed it. The museum is ridiculously big, it would probably take a week to get through the whole thing. After the Louvre we went to the cemetery where Jim Morrison is buried and saw his grave. I've wanted to visit it since I read his biography in 10th or 11th grade and saw a picture of it, I couldn't believe I actually had the chance to do it. Seeing it was definitely my number one thing to do in Paris, so I had to convince Vin to go to the cemetery since it was kind of out of the way. After that it was time to walk to the train station to catch our overnight train to Venice.

On our way back from Venice today we had a few hours in Paris again, so we visited Notre Dame. It was actually free to go in so we looked around there for a while, it is definitely an impressive church. However, after being in Venice we realized just how dumb the French are, so we were kind of over the city. So we pretty much went from the train station we got in to from Venice, to Notre Dame, to the train station to get back to London.

Overall my thoughts on Paris are that it was definitely a cool city to visit, but I really don't feel a need to go back. The people were kind of rude, it was hard to find something to eat because the menu's were all in french and who knows what your going to get when eating French cuisine. What we did eat, eclairs, croissants, baguettes, and sandwiches were all really good, but our options were limited for sure. The French definitely do know their pastries and breads. By the way the answer to the question in the title really is a Royal w/Cheese, I took a picture of the menu, it is not just a funny quote from Pulp Fiction. There are plenty of pictures to look at, so enjoy.

Moulin Rouge

Arc du Triumph

Eiffel Tower

Close Up

Some coffee to start the day

In front of the Louvre Pyramid

The Museum is all underneath the Pyramid

and in that building that encircles that square

Notre Dame

Oh yeah Here's the answer to the title question:

Those Golden Arches

Our Street

Kind of a lazy Saturday, we've kind of just been hanging out at krieger's place, getting ready for our trip tomorow. We got a pork shoulder for pulled pork a bunch of sausage and I'm also making mac and cheese, so we should have a pretty good dinner on our hands. We ended up getting the Indian food for dinner last night, and it was great. I couldn't tell you what we had exactly but we got four dishes and rice and split them, to get a good variety. We had two chicken dishes, a lamb dish and a prawn dish. The prawn and one of the chicken dishes were super spicy and it was funny to watch Vinnie squirming as he ate them, seeing as how a mild wing is normally to hot for him. After dinner we went to a pub, had some hearty beers and some laughs. It was fun, and I definitely wasn't expecting to hear some of the music they played. The night ended with Sweet Home Alabama, it was funny to see all the English people singing and dancing to that song.

On the way home from the bar we stopped to get some McDonalds, and boy was it a heck of a lot different than any American McDonald's. We always joke around about McDonalds back at home and call it our local McDonalds Restaurant and joke around about it being classy and bringing dates there and stuff, but here it kind of is. The place was packed, and there were a lot of guys bringing girls there and sitting down and enjoying a meal from McDonalds. We all had a pretty good laugh about it because you wouldn't even consider doing anything like that back at home.

Well thats about all I have right now, me and Vin leave for Paris tomorrow then on to Venice Monday night, I'm pretty sure our hotel in Paris has the internet so I will at least make a post from there and we will see about from Italy. Not many pictures this time but after the next week I'm sure I will have tons!

Clapham Junction