Got back from our trip last Sunday afternoon. Finally getting around to updating the blog. Sherry and I had lots of fun. We hit four cities in eight day and seven nights.
In Brussels we hit the big art museum, toured a traditional lambic brewery, sampled some chocolate, stopped by a beer festival, and walked around a lot. Brussels had a pretty international feel to it. Parts of the city center were very nice and others were pretty run down. The north train station, where we arrived, was in the middle of this American style office park, not very European.
Next we visited the Belgian country side in Bouillon. We toured the castle on the first day. At the castle we watched a real falconer give a demonstration (in French) that really freaked out Sherry. The next day we went on a hike. At the abby along the way we bought some delicious chocolate cookies from some nuns. That night we topped it all off with a four course French dinner in this cute little Inn near town.
The next day we headed back to the city. In Antwerp we toured a really cool museum on printing and tried a few Belgian beers at the best beer bar we found during out trip. It was run by a husband and wife and had some seven hundred beers listed in a very disorganized menu. We also met some fellow Americans on a bike tour of Belgium at the bar. Antwerp was nicer than Brussels. It was a big city but still had lots of people biking around they city center.
The next day we head off to Bruges. It was pretty touristy but still very pleasant. We toured another brewery and went to the chocolate museum. Our hotel had free bikes for the guests to use and the city center was very bike friendly. There was a nice bike path around the city center where the wall once stood. The bikes were the perfect way to explore the city and the medieval street layout made for fun biking. (Especially after stopping for a beer.) There were lots of good beer bars in Bruges. ‘t Brugs Beerjte was nice was nice but full of backpackers on a Friday night. Just before we headed back to Brussels we stopped a beer bar that was not in the guide book that actually had Westvleteren for sale. It was definitely priced for tourist but I could not let the opportunity pass by. We bought the “8″. It was a prefect brown Trappist ale, smooth, yet strong, and without tasting like high alcohol beer.
We learned a lot about the Belgians: they like their beer, chocolate, waffles, mussels, and frites. McDonald’s fries taste like frites. Everyone rides on girl bikes. They don’t use a top sheet when they make their beds. Belgian hotel breakfast is: coffee, hard boiled egg, yogurt, croissants, ham, and cheese. The French speaking Belgians smoke more, the Flemish are healthier. And the Belgians make good beer. (I guess I knew that already.)
Most of the pictures are up here. I reached my limit on Flickr this month so more to come.
