Belgium

Last weekend we jumped on the super fast Eurostar train and ducked over to Belgium for James's 26th birthday (yes, he is getting old isn't he!) The trip only took 1 hour and 55 minutes and it seemed like it went even quicker than that.

The first day was spent in Brussels, where we walked around town looking at old churches and buildings. We found out that a celebration was about to start that very afternoon, which they called 'The planting of the tree'. Apparently it was the 700th year that they had been doing this and there was a parade going throughout town, finishing in Grand Place. So, we found a good spot on the street to watch the parade go by and then followed it into Grand Place, where there was quite a crowd. It was quite interesting, but I must admit, we never saw them plant any plant. What they did was carry a huge chunk of a tree through the town and then hoist it up in the air once they got to the end of the parade... quite strange. I suppose it's more symbolic than anything.










Grand Place

We also came across The Glass Pyramid, which we were highly disappointed with. We had heard so much about it and were not very impressed with it in real life.













The Glass Pyramid

The next day, we caught a train to Bruges. Here we visited the Markt and the Burg, which are pretty much two big squares of of old buildings around a big empty space. A particular building in the Burg actually holds the Basilica of the Holy blood! (Just a few coagulated drops of Christ's blood apparently). We didn't go inside though, as it was closed at that particular time, so instead we just stared at the building for a while and took a few pictures.













Where the holy blood is kept

We then took a canal tour through the town, which was a good way to see the sites. Before we set off, the driver claimed he could speak every language and made a point to find out what languages people spoke on board (this I understood). But throughout the tour, I didn't understand one single word! James suggested we hire some bikes and follow the horse and carriage tours around town to see the sites and 'do some skids', but unfortunately we ran out of time for that. Damn.













Canal Tour

Throughout the weekend, James tried quite a few different local beers, ranging from 9%-14% alcohol. Enough to get you smashed after just one! I tried a very small selection of chocolates, and would have tried a whole heap more, only they were ridiculously expensive. The ones I did try ranged from a champagne chocolate through to your plain chocolate praline. I recommend avoiding the really fancy ones though, as they always let you down.

It's pretty amazing, the places you can go in one weekend while living in London. When we arrived back home on the Sunday night, we felt as though we'd been away for a whole week, but it had only been two nights. And as usual at the end of a trip, we were buggered.

In about two weeks time, we're off to Spain for the 'La Tomatina Festival'. The one where you throw a whole heap of tomatoes at everyone in the streets. That should be lots of fun... Until then, good bye for now :-)

Leah and James