I chose this picture for two reasons: one is that I quite like it, and two is that I quite enjoyed meeting those guys in it. I had just come from Amsterdam and was feeling pretty sick (a theme on this trip, unfortunately). I had just heard so much about Bruges from friends that I squished in a two day stop. I tried to do a bit of sightseeing the first day and wandered around the city centre. I was so drained though and didn’t last too long, before stopping to eat. Afterwards I decided to go back to my hostel and rest a little, but it was so sunny and warm, I opted for a beer on the patio. That’s when a slightly creepy situation occurred with a drunken customer talking a bit too intently with me, made me move inside where I felt safer. It was that move inside that led me to meet a new friend, a young local guy. I ended up chatting to him and his friend most of the night and we made plans to meet the next day. Early the next morning, we met at the hostel and spent the whole day together with two of his buddies. It was rainy and grey but we still had a lot of fun; they showed me around town and gave me lessons on local food and beers. I also got them go up the Belfry clock tower which, despite them living there, they had never gone up. We also went to the Saturday market where one of them bought a live chicken! “Chicken”, as I named it, got us a lot of weird looks from passersby and a lot of laughs. This picture above was taken at the windmills, which was really cliché but probably my favourite part. We finished the day with a group dinner, and some more beers (when in Belgium…). I called it a fairly early night though, as I was headed to London in the morning and wanted to be rested. Bruges is an adorable and quaint little city and definitely worth seeing. For me though, those boys in that picture are what made it a great stop on my trip.

August 23-25, 2013