After Rotterdam, we headed into Belgium, to visit Bruges. When planning our trip months ago, we had looked up the more historical based places in hopes of beautiful architecture and places that were rich with history, and we chose well! Although the day we visited it was rainy (would highly NOT recommend) which a put a dampner on things slightly, we still enjoyed the exploration, adn after all it is January so we expected it of course. After having a mini breakdown trying to get a car parking space and navigating through the busy streets, we stopped at the side of the road so I could have a little blare (ok, a big blare) I pulled myself together and we carried on, realising we'd parked up next to the car parking space all along... If anyone is thinking of visitng Bruges, the main parking in town is a multi story located next to the the central station and along with your parking ticket, you can get a free return bus journey to and from the cnetre of town, which picks you up directly from the station itself. This made it so easy for us after a hard drive in to just relax a bit and enjoy the day a bit more. The centre of town was absolutely stunning, and truly was the best aspect of Bruges. The historical museum looked incredibly interesting and pretty posh, which meant the prices were slightly too high for our budget which was a shame, next time eh Bruges? You can take a horse and cart ride from the centre that takes you in and out of the cobbled streets- again, our budget stopped us from taking one, but this looked like a perfect way to view the best spots. Admittedly, we ended up leaving Bruges soon after sending a postcard off home and we headed back on the bus, with us not being able to spend money in one of the main cafes in the square, and with the bad turn in the weather (and my homesickness/anxiety/whatever you want to call it) we headed back on the road. We had some time to spare before our next Airbnb host was ready to have us for ther night, so Nick remembered a place h had visited with his Dad (hello Fred) and we took a spontaneous trip to beautiful Ypres. By the time we got there, the sun had started to get out (as it always seems to in the afternoon, typical) and he showed me the Menin Gate. On the Menin Gate is written all of the names of the soldiers who had died near the area from WW1, who's bodies weren't recovered from the battlefield. the sheer scale of names that covered the wall, back to front, was crazy, every flat surface was engraved with the names of countless regiments from all over the world. We managed to find the Durham Light Infranty, which made me feel so connected to home, even 100's of miles away. With the sun setting in the sky, it painted a really beautiful picture of Menin Gate and Ypres, and we had a short walk around the town to admire the cathedrals, It really was one of my favourite parts of the trip so far.
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