Brussels, Belgium, July 2012

We stayed through the weekend in Brussels before ending our NL-Belgium week holiday.  It does not compare to the quaint charm of Bruges and Ghent, but we enjoyed it nonetheless.  Highlights included a trip to the Comic Strip Museum (came home with some Tintin in French and English), seeing the Manneken Pils (the statute of the little boy peeing) and sampling more beer and Belgian chocolate.  A friend of ours from California lives in Brussels so we were lucky to have her as our guide one afternoon.  We drove out to the Atomium, then over to the fields of Waterloo.  We had a great dinner together, catching up after not having seen each other for over 3 years!  

Bruges, Belgium, July 2012

We took a day trip from Ghent to Bruges (it is less than an hour by train).  Bruges is a beautiful town, but many more tourists than Ghent (and fewer Belgian people live in the center of Bruges compared to Ghent).  We took a canal cruise, did some chocolate shopping and visited the last remaining brewery in town.  We loved strolling around town, although by evening it was raining so that put a bit of a damper on our exploring.  One highlight was our visit to Rose Red, a wonderful bar/restaurant.  Their beer list had over 100 beers, featuring many trappist varieties.  I was amazed at how knowledgeable the staff were.  They could tell you about every beer in surprising detail.  Definitely a place worth checking out if ever in Bruges!

Check out this dog just chilling, watching the boats go by from his window perch!

Ghent, Belgium, July 2012

From Amsterdam we took the train to Ghent, Belgium, where we stayed for 3 nights.  We chose Ghent because it is in between Bruges, Antwerp and Brussels.  We had also heard that it is less touristy than Bruges and since it has a university, a but more lively.  We loved Ghent!  It was one of our favorite places in Belgium.  The canal, the buildings, all the great beer, the awesome vegetarian meal we had, our wonderful hostess, sharing it with our friends from San Jose....we would go back in a heartbeat!