Weekend #4: Ghent-Bruges-Brussels

This was definitely my favorite weekend thus far. I was able to use my Eurail pass for the first time, which was great. It was so easy, so much easier than I expected. The train was so much more relaxing than flying. It was so nice to be able to sit back and listen to my ipod without any turbulence. Our first stop for the weekend was Ghent. A small, medieval city in between Brussels and Bruges, Ghent was beautiful. Our stay was extremely short, only 3 hours at max, but it was lots of fun. We got out of the train station, which looked like a castle, and walked to this gorgeous park.

There was so much green, especially since it was drizzling. The trees had that beautiful darkness to them, the way they look when their bark is damp. After the park, we headed to a modern art museum. It was only 1 euro to get in and it was awesome.

After Ghent we headed to Bruges. We arrived after dark and caught a bus from the train station to our hostel. Just driving through the city, I could tell I was going to love it. The buildings were lit up so beautifully and everything looked like it belonged in a fairy tale. We grabbed dinner at the hostel restaurant after we checked in. I ordered Vol-au-Vent, a traditional Flemish dish of creamy chicken stew over a flakey biscuit. It was AMAZING! On top of that, we got 10% off our bill since we were staying in the hostel. Can't beat that!

My Vol-au-Vent. The photo doesn't do it justice.

After dinner we took an evening stroll through the city. It was so quiet, barely any tourists on the street. We used the maps provided by the hostel to navigate our way to the main square, following the canals on the way. Bruges is known as the Venice of the north and the most romantic city in Belgium and I can definitely see why. At night, all the buildings and canals are illuminated by lights and everything looks like it's glowing. 

Like I said, everything glowed.

The town hall at night.

A view of the Bell Tower from the Town Hall Square.

Johnny and I in front of the town hall.

The bell tower at night.

I don't know what this building was but it was gorgeous!

Didn't test it out but we take their word for it!

A church tower we thought was made of stone and 

then on closer inspection realized it had tarp covering it!

I need to take a second and talk about the chocolate. OH. MY. GOD. I love chocolate. I don't really mind a twix or hershey bar, it's all pretty much the same to me. But after eating the chocolate in Belgium... I don't know if I can every eat another hershey bar. It was indescribable. So delicious, you could taste every single individual flavor. During the day on Saturday we went in a random shop and each picked out about 3 or 4 pieces. It was only about 1.50 euros each and it was the best 1.50 I've spent since being here. I wish I had gotten more to take back with me. I did buy a box at the grocery store (it's even cheaper there!) to bring home, so get ready! Hopefully it'll still be good by the time I get home!

Words can't even describe how delicious it was.

There were some very strange window displays!

I want to live in this city.

Saturday afternoon we decided to do the typical tourist deal and climb the bell tower. One of the reasons Bruges has become such a popular tourist spot is the movie In Bruges with Brendan Gleeson and Colin Farrell. I had of course seen the film before coming to Bruges. For those who don't know the film (spoiler alert!) it focuses on two hit men who are sent to Bruges by their boss supposedly to do a job. In the end, we find out that one of the hit men has to kill the other for whatever reason. But the main thing you need to know is that the whole premise of the film is that they don't want to be in Bruges. They hate it. It's actually really hilarious after seeing the city because I loved it. Several pivotal moments in the film take place either in front of or in the bell tower. So climbing it was a must. It offered breathtaking views of the city.

The main square from the bell tower.

On our last morning in Bruges we took one final walk on our way back to the train station and stopped in a few candy places just to browse. So yummy looking!

And of course I had to take my picture for Liz! I chose the bell tower as the backdrop for this one, since it was my favorite thing we did in Bruges.

Miss you!

Once we got back to the train station, we caught a train to Brussels. I used the Eurail again and it was just as easy as before. Once we got into the city, we navigated our way to the hotel, crossing through the Grand Place, or main square, on the way. So of course we stopped and took some pictures!

Again, everything looked like a fairy tale!

We dubbed Brussels "The City of Children" because when we arrived there were literally hundreds of kids 10 years old or younger in the Grand Place. It looked like they were all on field trips with groups like girl scouts or boy scouts. Johnny stopped to take a picture of one little boy playing on the sidewalk and was completely unaware that these three mischievous kids were making fun of him behind his back! I snapped a picture, catching them in the act. When Johnny turned around and saw what had happened, he laughed and laughed. The kids then realized we had seen them and they started laughing. It was hilarious.

Catching them in the act!

After we checked into our hotel, we headed back out for an evening stroll. One of our professors here at the castle had told us that we had to see Brussels at night so we made a point to go out. Everything was lit so beautifully, just like in Bruges. 

The Grand Place at night.

More Grand Place.

Our hostel in Bruges had these hilarious travel maps with great tips for cheap things to do. We picked one up for Brussels and one of the recommendations for a place to go was, get this, the top level of a parking garage! On our way out for our evening stroll I checked the map and sure enough, it was right on our way. So without telling my friends what I was up to, I lead them to this parking garage. We took an elevator to the top level and were so glad we did because the views of the city were amazing.

Grand Place from the parking garage!

The last thing we did that night was walk to see the statue of Mannekin Piss. It's basically this fountain that looks like a little miniature boy peeing. It was pretty funny and it's apparently the "national symbol of Belgium" so it was a must-see attraction!

Not all that impressive if you ask me. It was very silly.

So much chocolate!

This was a great weekend overall. We had a great time, ate some wonderful food, and saw three beautiful cities. We even got back to the castle in time for classes on Monday! A very successful weekend. 

Just to clarify, every picture I have posted on this blog so far has been taken either by me or by someone using my camera. Johnny takes many wonderful pictures but I haven't stolen any from him...yet! 

Weekend #3: Stumbling Through Stockholm

Sweden was never on my list of places I wanted to visit while I was here. I had considered it since a friend of mine from high school lives in Sweden but I had no real intention of going. When we first got to the castle, there was a booking frenzy. Everyone wanted to know where everyone else was going and jump in on the trip. That's what happened with Sweden. A large group of people had planned out the trip and my friends and I basically said, "Why not?" So we went to Stockholm.

We arrived very late at night, tired and hungry. Nothing was open at the airport of course but we met up with my friend Hanna who helped us get on the right bus into the city. After a long bus ride, we were finally in Stockholm. Again, nothing was open. Except for McDonalds. Of course. For some absurd reason I asked for ranch dressing with my french fries. As you might assume, the woman had no idea what I was talking about. Cue embarrassed, exhausted American.

The next morning we woke up in our "internet hostel" to the lovely sight of snow falling. The above picture is the view out of the window. The hostel was definitely an experience. There was no reception at all. We were given a code for the front door and a code for the room. It was fine, just a place to sleep which was all we needed. I'm just glad we had the room to ourselves and didn't have to room with random strangers.

Right down the street from our hostel was an AMAZING bakery! We saw it while we were walking to the hostel at night and decided to come for breakfast the next morning which was a great decision. I had an apple cinnamon roll thing that was so delicious. I also bought a little loaf of bread. It was very cheap and smelled like sugar inside. So it was perfect. 

These are cream puffs made only for Fat Tuesday. The Swedes kind of treat them 

like Halloween or Easter candy though and start making them right after Christmas. 

Everything in the bakery was so yummy looking. The apple-cinnamon roll 

I got is in the basket with the darker purple cloth, kind of off to the right side.

These tea tins reminded me of one my mom 

has at home so I had to take a picture. :)

The best part about our first night and the morning of our first day in Stockholm was that we had our own tour guide who could speak Swedish! It was so wonderful to see Hanna again and catch up on our busy lives. She gave us great advice about what to do and really helped with the confusing currency rate. I wish she could have spent more time with us. Our visit was short but very sweet. Especially because she came to the bakery with us!

Hanna and I in the snow.

Our first stop after seeing Hanna off was the Old Town. Stockholm is situated on several small islands (fourteen, I think) and Old Town is exactly what it sounds like, the old center of town. It was very pretty, with narrow alley ways and lots of restaurants, souvenir shops, clothing stores, candy shops, you get the idea. 

Snow was still on the ground but had stopped falling.

A chocolate soccer ball!

So much yummy looking candy!

I only took pictures, I didn't try any. Stockholm was very expensive.

We found a store with a TON of teddy bears! If I could have 

had my way as a child, this is what my room would have looked like!

This mitten reminded me of one in a children's book that 

my mom used to read to me. Unfortunately, I don't remember the title.

I loved all the sweaters.

On Friday night our group met up with some other castle kids at a free concert nearby our hostel. It was very interesting to see the super enthusiastic Americans dancing right up near the stage and the somber Swedes just watching. I was surprised they didn't dance. But we had a great time, it was free, and the music was interesting. Definitely an experience.

Don't remember the name of this guy but he wasn't very good at all. 

His light show was cool though which is why I took this photo.

This was Glasser, an American band (I think). They were great.

I decided to start a new tradition with my travels. I brought this little creature sculpture that Liz made for me before starting college and I thought it would be nice to take a picture with it in each place I travel to. So below is the first installment of that project! We're posed next to a miniature of the Royal Palace in the Old Town.

Me and my creature!

Saturday was a day of adventures for us. I was very concerned about people getting lost on this trip so I printed out maps for everyone and counted heads countless times. But on Saturday I was able to relax a little. We all walked to an island near Old Town and discovered a random tall ship that was permanently docked and housed a restaurant. So of course we had to go on board and explore!

The random tall ship/restaurant.

Johnny at the wheel, which wasn't really the wheel.

A nice view of Old Town from the ship.

Our whole group with Old Town in the background.

After discovering the tall ship, we proceeded to walk along the coast of the island until we got to a bridge that lead us to an even smaller island with a tiny castle on the top. It was apparently an ice-skating club but the island was open for people to walk around on. We found a beautiful view of the river and Stockholm. It was the perfect picnic spot, minus the picnic. We spent a good deal of time there taking pictures and relaxing.

The mini castle.

Our picnic spot.

Minus the picnic :(

There was an empty amusement park across the river.

Overall, Stockholm was a great trip. Expensive, but I budgeted myself well. And it was great to reconnect with old friends and spend time with new ones. I really enjoyed myself and was SO glad no one got lost! Stay tuned for Weekend #4: Ghent-Bruges-Brussels!