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Tuesday, September 22, 2009

Beautiful Belgium!


On the fourth evening of our trip to Europe
Fred & I took a BEAUTIFUL train ride to Belgium


We rented a car so we could see the country
and were able to see more than half of Belgium in one day.

We stayed in Brussels and our drive took us to
Gent, Brugge & the coast.

When we arrived in Brugge we stopped to ask a passer-by
where we could see a medieval castle.
Her answer still makes us laugh
"The whole town is medieval! (Silly us)
Just keep driving until you see the medieval arch.
The city of Brugge is right beyond it."


The arch leading to the city of Brugge






Our two main goals in Belgium were
1 - To see a castle
and
2- To eat CHOCOLATE!

As we were coming up to the Brugge exit
Fred spotted a sign which gave
directions to local attractions.
One of the icons on the sign was a castle with a flag.
So we followed the signs.
Much to our dismay the signs never
led us to a castle.
We asked people on the street where the castle
of the town was and they would reply
"I didn't know there was a castle here!"
To which we would answer "Oh yes, we are following
the castle signs, BUT we can't find the castle!"

After looking for a good half-an-hour I took a closer
look at the 'castle' icon.
"That isn't a castle with a flag!
It's a factory with a smoke stack!!"


This is the closest we came to seeing our castle.


We achieved goal #2 in a BIG way.
We took a wrong turn on the way to the coast,
and THANK GOODNESS we did!
We came upon this little shack with at least three
big tourist buses parked outside it.
The sign out front said
"Chocolate Factory Store - Chocolates made fresh daily".
Eureka!!


Not only did they have every flavor of chocolate
you could image; banana, cherry, orange, raspberry, etc.
they also had gummi candies - 'made fresh daily'.
I also found my pickle flavored lays
potatoes chips there.




It was a BEAUTIFUL day on the coast.
We didn't lounge in the sun though.
Too of much of Belgium to see.
We ate lunch at a fun contemporary ice cream parlor.


Belgium was truly BEAUTIFUL!
Can we go again - tomorrow?!!

5 comments:

Jessica Adams said...

You can go again if you take me with you. It looks incredible.

I am glad you had fun and got to see so many awesome things! I am totally jealous.

...Oh and I thought that sign said "Home Made Tobacco" so thanks for clarifying.

The Fred & Stephanie Lewis Family said...

The tobacco was the first thing we saw too!! You are too funny.

Sharee said...

I loved your pictures from your trip. Truly beautiful. So fun to see what you are up to.

Sarah and Jeremie said...

How come I wasn't invited? Did you not tell me when you were leaving on purpose? Dad always lets me go.

Amanda said...

How amazing! What a fun trip to be able to take with your hubby, i loved reading about all of your adventures, and looking at your pictures :)