Week 10: Belgium

Last Thursday night, some friends and I took an overnight bus (something I hope to never do again) to Belgium. We arrived on Friday at 6AM, and were forced to take refuge in a McDonalds (another thing I hope to never do again) in order to get wifi and search for activities open so early. We spent Friday walking around itty-bitty Brussels and visited the Royal Museum of Fine Arts. It was relatively nice, but we were ultimately very disappointed with Brussels. We saw very few other people, despite being out from nearly 6AM - 1AM; nearly all the shops were tourist chains; we were harassed multiple times; and the city itself just had a weird atmosphere. It was underwhelming, to say the least.

Luckily, we made the excellent decision to spend Saturday in Bruges! After just an hour-long train ride through the lovely countryside, we made it to what is best described as a fairy-tale city. We ate waffles and pommes frites, admired the quaint architecture, explored a number of unique chocolate shops, and enjoyed the unbelievably gorgeous spring flowers and weather. We rented bikes and cycled up and down the river, and later drank some fine Belgian beer and accidentally attended a public all-ages rave. Bruges was an absolute blast.

Have a lovely weekend, everyone!

Tascha