12/1 - Brugge, Belgium

We had a new adventure today. We headed out to Brugge, Belgium. Tammie mentioned to someone that we were thinking of going to Brussels, and she was told that we should try Brugge, instead. It's apparently a lot prettier, and there's just a lot more to see and do. Having never been to Brussels...I can't agree or disagree, but I *loved* Brugge. There was a LOT of confusion as to where we were supposed to go, and what we were trying to do...but we finally made it to the center of town. We also took Hannah with us to Brugge. We decided that as long as we were going on day trips, it would be nice to take one of the kids with us each time so that we would be able to spend that much more time with the kids one on, well, 3. There were a few rules about coming with us. Hannah wasn't allowed to say that she was bored, she couldn't complain about walking (cause hey...if Grandma can walk, Hannah can walk), and I don't remember the other rule right off...lol. It was an interesting drive in. About halfway through, Hannah was saying something about drinking a lot of water. At that point, Tammie pointed out that meant that she would need to go to the bathroom a lot. Hannah didn't seem to get it, so Grandma clarified with "What goes in must come out." That opened up a whole new set of information from Hannah! We learned all about what comes out your "tinkle place" your "poop place" and even the "baby place." Wow. We got quite the education! It was quite a trip. We quickly changed the subject, and Hannah then fell asleep.

Once we finally made it to Brugge, it was all kinds of confusion trying to figure out where we needed to go. Even with the navigation system, we couldn't seem to find parking, or which streets we could go down, or anything. We finally found a parking spot, and headed out into the cold to find Market Square where we could catch a carriage ride and a canal tour. We started walking towards a cathedral and the bell tower. We got to the cathedral, and sat to rest for a bit. We then realized that we had no idea where we were going, still. Someone who spoke English walked by and asked us if we knew where the canal tours were, so we had the chance to figure otu where the tourist office was (they had just been there). We left my mom and Hannah on a bench by the cathedral, and Tammie and I headed to the tourist office. We boguht ourselves a map, and got a better idea of where we needed to go. We hurried back to let my mom know that we were almost there.

We walked up a few more blocks and finally made it to Market Square. It was unbelievable! The clock tower, they had an ice skate rink set up, a Christmas Market, and all kinds of old & beautiful buildings. The Burg was the next area we had to go to. It was a couple of blocks away from Market Square, but wow! It was beautiful! I really wish we would hae had more time to look around, but we were trying to make it to a canal tour before it started raining (or got too dark!) We made it to the canal tour, and got just a little bit of rain during it. I was able to videotape some of it, but I don't think that the video does it justice. The pictures are pretty, but there's nothing like being there. We came out of the tour, and went back to The Burge for a bit. I took a few more pictures, but we got to the point where my mom was just done. On the way out, I kept thinking that I should buy some Belgian chocolates at least...cause...well...we WERE in Belgium. I never did buy any from the little shops that were there, though. We were just trying to get my mom back to the car. We stopped in one more little shop to try to get some chocolates, but they were so much more expensive than any of the other little shops. I keep thinking I should have just picked some up there anyway...because if I'm going to eat chocolate, it might as well be the *really* good stuff. I stopped myself, though. We made one more stop on the way out of town, and I bought a small box and a small candy bar there. I haven't eaten them yet...but I kinda wish I would have bought a few boxes at the cheaper price to take home, even. I also wish I would have picked up a Diet Coke with Lemon (since we don't have that in the US anymore). It's good, though...I definitely didn't need the Diet Coke!

We made one more stop on the way home. We needed potty and dinner (definitely in that order). We found a Pizza Hut Express which was apparently just what Tammie wanted. The good news was, it was only 30 cents to use the restroom instead of the usual 50 cents. YAY! It was very interesting to see wine offered in little bottles with the pizza, heh. Just..different. We ordered our pizza, and were on our way!

I tried to stay awake on the way home. Really, I did. I've had issues all week with staying awake unless I'm up and doing something. Jet lag has just completely kicked my butt. Not only did I sleep part of the way home, I also tried to stay up late enough to be able to sleep in tomorrow morning (which makes no sense because I need to get up early enough to shower and get ready for church, but that's a whole nother story).

Ok, I don't feel like playing around with the placement of pictures on the blog tonight...so you guys get a link. YAY!!

http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v138/cocomo78/December07/Brugge/