Leaving London to Beers and Bicycles in Brugge

London 4/2/13

The last few days have been some of our lazier ones, but also much appreciated. We said goodbye to Canterbury and caught a beautiful scenic train back to London. We were staying in a different part of town this time around and were excited to see what was in store for us. The hostel was a very comfortable place to hang out and keep up with the locals. At one point the manager of the bar came around offering everybody pints on the house. We spent some time rejuvenating and then ventured out in the night to spectate "Singing in the Rain" on the West End.

On our way there we had the option to take an escalator out of the tube or walk up a flight of stairs. Without looking first we decided to go for the stairs. Big mistake. It is what will from now on be referred to as the minute from hell. It was like doing the most strenuous one minute on the stair machine in front of EVERYBODY. On the plus side, random people cheered us on. As for the theater... 

Wow. Just wow. It was incredibly well done. I (Amanda) can think of more than a few ladies (especially some alumnae from Pendleton High) who would have absolutely loved it. Ah I wish I could share it with you! They made it rain on stage two separate times using over 12,000 liters of water.

 The dancing, singing, and acting were astronomical, enough to make me consider what my options would be as a back-up dancer…

London 4/3/13

To anybody visiting London we have a few suggestions for you. #1 Buy an oyster card! They have been the most convenient way of getting to where we need to be and have eliminated having to stop to buy tickets. #2 Go to the West End, best money you will spend. #3 Take full advantage of the River walkways, parks, and National Museums. They are free and really a great way to take in the culture. We began our day at the National Portrait Gallery. It was way more interesting than either of us originally thought it would be. We got the chance to observe William Shakespeare

the original, and only existing, portrait of Jane Austen drawn by her older sister (which apparently does not look anything like her), the most recent addition, Kate Middleton, and perhaps our favorite room of all, the romantics…including both Shelley's, Blake, and Lord Byron. Gabe also got really excited to snap a picture of David Ricardo and Charles Darwin.

Byron

Shelly

Mary Shelly and Gabe's finger

Ricardo

Coleridge/Keats

Darwin

After leaving the National Portrait Gallery we made our way to Buckingham Palace.

Gabe making use of his water bottle

While taking in the wealth and opulence of the Royal Family is interesting it is also depressing. Imagine what a difference it could make to share just a small portion of what they already have and potentially overlook. With thoughts like these weighing heavy on our minds we didn't have much desire to stick around. We made for St. James Park, which turned out to be a kick in the pants.  We had a really great time trying to determine the different species of birds and feeding the squirrels. The animals were friendly and obviously not afraid of humans.

  After exiting the park we casually strolled past Downing Street, spotted the Parliament Building, glanced at Big Ben, and contemplated the beauty of Westminster Abbey. 

Having already toured the inside our last time in London we chose not to repeat the experience.  That concluded much of our time in London. We spent the rest of the night getting our things prepared to leave the country the following morning. 

London/Brugge 4/4/13

London saw us off with a shower of snow flurries and a quick glance at platform 9 3/4. 

Not Gabe...some random dude...he doesn't know we took this picture.

The Eurostar took us under the English Channel and into Belgium 

We quickly realized how convenient it was that everyone in England spoke English. French and Flemish are two of the national languages of Belgium and while most people speak English, few speak only english leaving us feeling a bit stupid in comparison. That being said everyone is super helpful and after our stop in Brussels we took a quick train into Brugge.

Brugge is known for many things. Like Belgium as a whole, the beer is legendary, the waffles are sinful, and the chocolate is encapsulated creamy goodness. Brugge's own claim to fame is it's beauty which leaves the city itself as a World Heritage site. We followed the directions to our hostel which took us to the city center where we saw the beautiful belfry and cobblestone streets that make the city famous. 

We also got a chance to walk past and over a few canals that were incredibly beautiful.

Finally after a brief walk through the city we got into our hostel "Snuffles". Situated inside of a bar, this hostel has a mix of locals and tourists come through and an excellent beer selection. We hit the happy hour then went to bed fairly early to get our next day started in Brugge.

Brugge 4/5/13

We woke up around 10:00 am, tired from traveling and too late to eat the complementary breakfast but still early enough for the free coffee. After a talk with the front desk person who kindly provided me(Gabe) with some gloves to keep free of charge (Thanks!) we took off on our rented bikes through town.

 The scenes on the edge of town were wonderful. There were canals with swans, ducks, huge trees, and squirrels dotted all around us.

Those are all swans and they are all HUGE!!

There were more than a few beautiful bridges that spanned the canals 

After a while of riding we decided to try our luck getting into the city center for some food. This was a bad idea. Street signs in Brugge are very clear to those who can read them…unfortunately we couldn't and ended up biking the wrong way up the street and were yelled at from several directions before we snuck off down a side street so people couldn't see us anymore. We came back out of hiding long enough to get back to the touristy pretty part and decided to take our bikes back and walk to get lunch.

We found a very pretty little family owned restaurant and got some really scrumptious, filling, local cuisine along with a belgian waffle on the street for dessert. 

The highlight for me (Gabe) was definitely the 1/2 meter long farmer sausage in mashed potatoes *Drools*. 

To round off the day we went back to the hostel did a load of laundry, had a couple of Authentic Trappist ales, made dinner and started updating the blog.

Tomorrow is our final full day in Brugge and it should be good. Not sure all of what we are going to do but stay tuned because I have a feeling it will include chocolate. Signing off for now, we literally just took this picture 11 seconds ago with our new favorite beer Trappistes Rochefort 8. See you soon.