Chocolates, Beer and Bike Rides

After blogging on Friday night, we video chatted with Sharon (which was great fun) and then headed to dinner. We found L'Estaminet in the Rick Steves guide, and we immediately highlighted it, as he described the pub as "Tolkien chic." Naturally, we had to go and he was not wrong -- Tolkien chic is an apt description for this fantastic little pub. The inside was covered in Sherlock-esque wallpaper (the TV show....google it) and old pictures. Old lamps and candles lit the room, and there were hops hanging from the ceiling (I can identify hops now!). The bar was small, and next to it there were shelves of vinyl and they played awesome music all night. Our waiter was incredibly nice and all smiles. We ordered small spaghettis (finally, a reasonable proportion in our price range!)and I ordered a Frambozen (raspberry beer), and Kelly ordered a sweet, dark beer at the recommendation of our server. The spaghetti was baked over with cheese and delicious. Surprisingly, my beer was awesome as well! I usually hate beer, but this smelled like beer, and tasted like a sparkling raspberry drink. So delicious. I even tried another beer after that! Belgium is great! We thoroughly enjoyed the atmosphere of the pub -- and watched a group of friends pull together a bunch of bar stools and crowd around the small bar. It was possibly my favorite place we've eaten in terms of ambience. On our way home, we stopped at another small pub that was down a teeny tiny alley of a street and I got a beer that tasted like strawberry jam, and Kelly got the house beer that you can only get there. Bruges is gorgeous at night. The canals are lit up, and we watched swans swimming, and took pictures of the bell tower reflecting in the water. They were playing music in the markt again, and it was pretty ridiculous and fun.

The next morning, we had a lovely breakfast, as usual. Maggie made us delicious crepe-like pancakes and told us about her garden and two birds who live there and follow her around when she takes the dogs on a walk. Have I mentioned that Maggie is the greatest? The weather was still clearing up from raining all night, so Kelly and I did our shopping around town first. The boy from Dumon recognized us and helped us with our chocolate needs =). The family is so nice! And their chocolate is so gooooooood. We also took a long walk to the train station and an incredibly helpful ticket man helped is find a way to Paris on a Sunday without reservations. He was the nicest person we've encountered working at a train station. I love Bruges. After gathering postcards, chocolate and travel plans, we headed back to unload our burdens and then set out in search of bikes. We rented two nice bikes at the student rate-- Kelly was excited, because hers was actually her size -- and started to see Bruges like the locals (who all ride bikes). We rode through town and went to check out the four windmills at the edge -- so cool. The bike paths were delightful, and we just followed the tree-lined canal all the way to Damme, where we stopped and had sandwiches for lunch. The English menu had "tuny-fish salad" (which I got) with salad and eggs included (which means lettuce and other veggies were on the sandwich). We rode past Damme's working windmill and into the town to the sound of bells. Bells had been going off all day -- I think because it was Belgium's independence day. They don't really make as big of a deal about independence day as we do, but I think the bells were a part of it. Anyways, from there, we rode onto Holland, because we could. The canal led straight to Sluis, on the border, so we did! We took a small detour (turning left instead of going straight at one point), but we really didn't mind, because it was the most beautiful bike ride of our lives. The glassy canal was line with tall, lush trees, and after that it was just countryside and cows, horses and sheep. We even saw geese that actually looked like mother goose. We passed families fishing in the channel, and a couple people swimming! There were no cars, it was a lovely biking/walking path. We were passed up many a time by actual racing bikers, who were very intense. We worked off all the waffles and chocolates by pedaling against the wind and taking a couple detours. We got to Holland, rode a little further and then headed back to Bruges. It was a glorious, and delightful bike ride (saw more windmills too!) and we ended up riding over 20 miles total. As we were riding back into town, we heard the music in the Markt again -- earlier this time in celebration of Belgian Independence -- basically this guy was doing covers of 80s hair bands. It was hilarious. We went to watch for a while, and left right as he started on AC/DC. We went back to our room for a little bit, and Maggie gave Kelly a glass of wine and me a sparkling lemonade (so good) and then we went to dinner. We went to another one of Maggie's friend's places and ordered soup (can't afford a three course meal!) and waffles. We sat in the back room with a couple who had an adorable dog with them (sleeping under the table) and watched a 12 or 13 year old boy run back and forth from the kitchen, full of purpose (it was just him and the owner waiting on people). The soup was alright, but the waffles were perfect in every way. Perfect texture, taste and perfectly ripe strawberries. I also love that in Belgium, they actually melt chocolate as a topping instead of using a sauce. After that, we headed to our room with the intention of just taking a break until going out again, but Kelly totally passed out, so I packed and wrote postcards. I finally had to break out my duffel, so I could fit the chocolate that I bought. Oh well, it's a worthy cause and I've only used a backpack for more than half of my trip, so I'd say that's an accomplishment. And it's not even a backpacker's backpack! Anyways, I got ready for bed and fell asleep, but Kelly got up and went back to the Markt for music and beer. Apparently it was packed and they were playing ABBA this time -- go figure.

This morning, we got up and had our last breakfast with Maggie. I asked her how she ended up in Bruges (as she is clearly Scottish). She said that her mom encouraged her and her siblings to travel, so her brother was working in Bruges. She was 22 (my age) when she visited him and met her husband (a Bruggian) and now she's lived there over 30 years! "You never know what's going to happen!" she said, "look at you -- you think this is just a trip, but who knows!" (mom, dad, don't worry, I haven't fallen in love with any Belgian men). Apparently, her mom used to do antiques, so Maggie opened an antique shop at her house, and stopped only a few years ago. After breakfast, we played with the dogs and gave Maggie huge hugs, as we set off to the bus stop. Whenever I come back to Bruges, I am definitely staying with Maggie. Definitely my favorite place we've stayed. Now we're on one of our four trains to Paris. I'm looking forward to Crepes and meeting up with Jordan! Finally, our trips come together now! I will certainly miss Bruges, but I'll be back. Onwards to France and the U.K.!