An exhasting trip to Brugge!

 **Note: You will see a new watermark. Thanks a ton to my super artistic Godmother, Cindy for coming up with the design and my mom's friend Howard for making the design a reality on the computer. You guys are awesome!**

We took a day trip to Brugge, Belgium. No, really, we took a day trip to another country. How cool is that?! But it was a long day, to say the least. We had to be at the coach bus meeting location at 2:30am. That was pretty much terrible. But somehow, we got ourselves out of bed and made the drive over.

As soon as getting on the bus, Lee, the professional sleeper, fell asleep. I managed to fall asleep off and on, but those buses are not the most comfortable. After about two hours, we reached the Chunnel entrance. The Chunnel takes vehicles under the English Channel into France. It is a weird experience. The Chunnel is basically a train for cars. You drive onto the train and then have to turn off the vehicle. There are no windows so you're basically in a cattle car. Luckily, it only take about a half of hour because it can get really, really hot on there.

After driving back off the Chunnel, we only had about an hour left to get the Brugge. After arriving, the bus driver told us that the bus would leave at 6:30pm so be back before then. Since we arrived at 8:30, we had the whole day, which was just perfect.

It took us quite a while to get into the main part of the city, for the first hour, we wandered around lost, the usual for us. But honestly, you can't complain about getting lost in this city, it's just beautiful.

city is along canals

random statue

Finally, we meandered into the city centre and the buildings and colors were just awesome. Since it was still early for all the tourists, the main area was not busy at all. We decided to go to a main attraction first, figuring that it would get really busy later. We climbed 366 steps to the Belfry, the bell tower. This is the time that I finally admitted to myself that not only do heights scare me, but so do climbing up narrow stairs. People were going down while we were going up so somebody always ended up trying to flatten against the wall so others can pass. That was really not fun. As usual, the stairs got more narrow as we went up.

The top was totally worth it! It was an absolutely beautiful view over the city! And there were multiple bells in the tower that played different notes, so they actually played songs. It was cool.

the tower

so many bells

the view

After climbing down from the tower, we wandered around the main centre, exploring the beautiful buildings. We also went to find ourselves some frites (french fries), one of the foods Belgium is known for. We got large frites and two cheeseburgers.

Of course, the frites were fantastic. The were crisp, fresh and just the right amount of salt. French fries will never the the same again. And the burgers were good too. They were fried! Totally did not see that one coming. Maybe it's the norm here?

horse and carriage rides

love the buildings

After spending a good amount of time in the centre, we went to check out the windmills on the outskirts of town. They date to the 18th century and are so typical of this area. We really loved seeing them.

walking through the town

We saw a town gate, in the outskirts as well then headed back to the centre.

Next we headed to the Church of Our Lady. If you have seen The Monuments' Men (which is a great movie!) then you know what I'm about to talk about. We say Michelangelo's Madonna and Child. It is the only sculpture of Michelangelo that left Italy during his lifetime. The reason it was in The Monuments' Men is that during WWII, Hitler stole it for his collection of art. The US managed to get it back and returned it to Brugge. It's not very large but is extremely detailed and am amazing piece of history.

Our next goal was to find some Belgium waffles. Waffles are a dessert here and are fantastic! It took us forever to find some that looked like what we wanted but it was so worth it! We both got fresh waffles. Mine had chocolate sauce, strawberries and fresh cream. Lee's had chocolate sauce, strawberries, fresh cream and bananas. Oh my gosh. I could eat those forever!! Love, love, love.

And next, we were off to find another food item.Chocolate. We went to a store called Chocoholics. So much good chocolate!! We bought some to bring home and bought a few gifts for some lucky family members. Yum! Also, Lee bought some chocolate alcohol, which we haven't tried yet...

Obviously, between the frites, waffles and chocolate, we were in food heaven. This place knows how to make food.

Also, it has the coolest benches. They are made from dragons! This just shows how cool this town is.

 

in this amazing city, Lee STILL found animals to take pictures of

Finally, we started to head back to where our bus picked us up. On the way, we happened upon some people playing the bagpipes! We haven't made it to Scotland yet, but it sure made me excited to go.

 
This is honestly, such a cool town. We both really loved it! I can't wait to take Lee to Brussels now too (I've been before). Belgium is a fantastic little country with great food, friendly people and beautiful buildings. 

Wandering Windsor Castle

Our last Saturday trip was to Windsor Castle! It is the world's largest and oldest working castle. In other words, the Queens still spends time at the castle to this day. It was built by William the Conqueror in the 1070s and throughout the years, kings and queens have added different parts to the castle.

 We headed up with a friend, Cadua and met with two more friends at the castle itself (Bekka and Smiley). It's only about two hours from our house. Once we arrived, we parked in a large car park but had some difficulties since everything is smaller in Britain. Good thing Lee was driving and if I'm being honest, he's good at parking. We made our way up to the castle, meeting up with our other two friends. 

After getting tickets, we had to go through a security check. It was just like at an airport. It seems weird but makes sense since the Queen does still live there for parts of the year. The castle is beautifully maintained. It's hard to believe that the castle is over a thousand years old!

Lee and Cadua

We headed into the chapel first. It is absolutely beautiful (no pictures inside allowed). Ten British monarchs are buried at the chapel in the castle: Edward IV, Henry VI, Henry VIII, Charles I, George III, George IV, William IV, Edward VII, George V and George VI. And the best part? I am directly related to Queen Elizabeth Woodville through a kid from her first marriage. After she became widowed, she remarried King Edward IV! So guess what!? She was buried there with him! It truly was amazing to see! I got to see that she really, really lived, that she lived, breathed and is buried in a wonderful place. It was a great experience to see my family history up close.

Now, another person that I was excited to see was King Henry VIII. He had a small grave with his favorite wife, Jane Seymor. I am so intrigued with that period of history so I was just mind blown that I got to see him too!

The chapel itself is beautiful. It has amazing ceilings and the coffins with extremely intricate. Everywhere you looked, there was somebody important buried. You also had to be careful of where you stepped since there were many graves under you as well!

outside of chapel

not too close!

Next we headed to Queen Mary's doll house. We had to wait in line for a little bit but I thought it was worth it. This is in no way an ordinary dollhouse.It is absolutely huge! And it is insanely detailed with like miniature masterpieces, way better furniture than I have and a ton of rooms. It also has running water and working electricity! How spoiled can you get?! To say the least, it was impressive.

Straight from the doll house, we wandered into the State and Semi-State apartments. We got to see where queens and kings stayed and where they (to this day) host leaders from around the world. It was way cool to see places where our Presidents have been to meet with the English royalty.

Of course, everything was way over the top. It had gold leaf everywhere, intricately painted ceilings and ornate furniture. There was also a ton of weapons and gifts to the queen and other royalty. Like there was guns gifted from Napoleon or sword given to the Queen from India. They were super detailed and the guys really loved looking at them. Bekka and I would walk away for a few minutes, come back and all three guys are still huddled talking about a gun of some sort.

Another thing I found cool was all the china (like fancy dinnerware china). They had some from hundreds of years ago. We found one glass case that was empty and the note said that they were on loan to Buckingham Palace for a State meeting! So cool that they still use that stuff.

I cannot tell you the splendor of Windsor Castle. It has so much history that is just wonderful to see. It has been used for close to a thousand years for a reason.

admiring the view