Europe Trip: Bruges

February 7, 2014

If I thought Amsterdam was picturesque, Bruges was a fairytale. Winding streets, sleepy canals, tiny houses and shops leaning up against each other like old friends. It drizzled rain the entire time we were there, but that, too, was charming in its own way, as we listened to the rain drum on the roof as we fell asleep or watched it sprinkling down onto the cobblestones and canals outside as we nestled up snug in a cozy pub or restaurant.

We arrived in the afternoon and took a bus into town from the train station, where we left the car. A friendly bus driver pointed us in the direction of our hostel, and we found St. Christopher's Bauhaus without too much trouble. The hostel was fantastic. It had a lovely bar downstairs, and somehow we had been put in one of the shared flats rather than the usual dorm room, so it was basically the equivalent of a nice apartment for the night.

After a late lunch, we dashed out in the rain into the downtown area to see if we could catch a museum or see the church before they closed. We were ultimately unsuccessful—they had all closed just ten minutes before—but we did get to wander around and gawk at the nearly awe-inspiring quaintness of Bruges. We also stopped by the Chocolate Line, which is generally considered to be the best chocolate shop in Bruges (and therefore, the world). And I could see why. The flavors there were fantastic—they had the usual delicacies like nougat and coconut cream and peppermint, but they also had delicious mixtures infused with lavender, laurel, earl gray tea, and so much more. Some of them even I was too intimidated to try, such as the wasabi praline, or the beet root truffle.

I picked out a small assortment of unusual chocolates from their very varied display, and we made another mad dash through the rain to go back to the hostel (by this time, it was quite the downpour).

We ventured out again for dinner, and then happily wandered back downtown to find a pub that I wanted to visit to try some Belgian beer. The beer was fantastic. We tried a blonde from the local brewery, De Haalve Maan, a Gueze (a very traditional, acidic beer), a Rochefort trappist ale, and a Kwak. For hours we sat sipping on our beers and talked about whatever came into our heads, warm and happy in the cozy pub. It was the perfect end to the perfect day.

Today, we slept in a little, ate breakfast at the hostel, then went to choco-story, the chocolate museum. It was fun and informative, going over everything from Mayan and Aztec customs with chocolate to the history of its spread and integration into European culture, to styles of hot chocolate cups! At the end, there was even a chocolate making demonstration.

We ate lunch, fetched our luggage, and meandered back through town on our way to the train station. We stopped by the Chocolate Line again to stock up, and went to two different beer shops to pick out some different beers to take back. Much to my great delight, I even found a bottle of Westvletren 12, almost legendary in its rareness. Supposedly the “best beer in the world”, you can only buy it from the monastery itself. That means that any shops wishing to stock it have to place an order months in advance and then send a car to pick up a maximum of three cases. At 15 euros for a bottle, I have trouble believing any beer could live up to the price, but I'm still excited to try it and share it with my friends back in China.

We stopped by the Church of our Lady, and also looked for De Haalve Maan Brewery, but it was unfortunately closed for remodeling. Satisfied and enchanted by Bruges, we made our way to the train station.

On the way, we stopped at a bench in a park at the edge of a canal to rest our feet from the long walk. As we sat there, golden light from the lowered sun pouring over us and sparkling across the water, I couldn't help but think of a quote from Vonnegut: “I urge you to please notice when you are happy, and exclaim or murmur or think at some point, 'If this isn't nice, I don't know what is.'”