On Saturday we had a class trip to Brugges. We all met at the Central Station at 8:30am to catch a 9:00 train to Brugges. Inevitably, people got lost so this process was a fiasco, but finally, we were all on the train and good to go. It was a very cold, but sunny, day so I was sure to have lots of layers on. First things first, the trains in Belgium are amazing. Being used to the smelly, loud, and bumpy train that I take to work everyday in Boston, this was like heaven. Comfortable seats, smooth ride, silence, and tons of bathrooms in case nature calls. All in all, the train ride took about an hour. It was cool to see the Belgian countryside, and it reminded me alot of Sweden, minus the rolling hills. It was mainly farmland with a few villages here and there.
When we exited the station at Brugges, I immediately took a liking to the city because I saw that the bike racks 
were full. I'm talking probably close to a thousand bikes were parked at the station. Sweet! Our first task was to walk along the boulevard, which was once a wall to protect the city, to Our Lady's Church. And just like that, Brugges became my favorite city ever. This place is absolutely amazing. Entirely cobblestone streets, horse drawn carriages, old buildings, waterways, bakeries. It seemed as though it wasn't actually real. Everywhere you turned was the potential for a postcard shot. Ridiculous! We viewed the church, which was pretty large, and made our way to St. Jan Hospital, which is now a museum. We also had our first student presentation on the Plague, which was pretty interesting but weird because it occured where we were now touring... After that, we went to a different church, called Onze Lieve Vrouw, to see a sculpture made by Michelangelo, and to see the tombs of Charles the Bold and Mary of Burgundy. We then broke for lunch, and a bunch of us went to a little cafe to relax. I brought a salami sandwich (yeah JJ and Ted, you better be jealous), so all I ordered was a local beer, mainly so I could get the bottle cap from it, but I also wanted to give it a try. It was called Bruges
Zot, translated to mean Bruges Fools. Pretty tasty, but not my favorite. Garrett ordered some sort of meat, which he thought was going to be cooked and on a plate etc, but it ended up being the Belgian version of a Slim Jim, guess thats what you get when you don't know exactly what you are ordering haha. After lunch we climbed to the very top of a bell tower, and got a pretty sick view of all of Brugges. It was a pretty ridiculous climb though, up hundreds of flights of narrow staircases. I got some sweet pictures from it. Then we had another student presentation on the cloth industry, but were interupted by a drunk man in a rabbit costume......weird. The rest of the time we listened to Delsemme mumble about just about everything, but finally we made it to the Begijnhof, a community within the city that requires you to be silent when you enter it, as nuns live there and require silence. It was pretty sweet, kind of reminded me of a mix between Harvard Yard and Amish people.... All of the buildings were white and the grass was covered in tulips (which you can't see cause they aren't in bloom yet, but it is apparently pretty sweet.)
were full. I'm talking probably close to a thousand bikes were parked at the station. Sweet! Our first task was to walk along the boulevard, which was once a wall to protect the city, to Our Lady's Church. And just like that, Brugges became my favorite city ever. This place is absolutely amazing. Entirely cobblestone streets, horse drawn carriages, old buildings, waterways, bakeries. It seemed as though it wasn't actually real. Everywhere you turned was the potential for a postcard shot. Ridiculous! We viewed the church, which was pretty large, and made our way to St. Jan Hospital, which is now a museum. We also had our first student presentation on the Plague, which was pretty interesting but weird because it occured where we were now touring... After that, we went to a different church, called Onze Lieve Vrouw, to see a sculpture made by Michelangelo, and to see the tombs of Charles the Bold and Mary of Burgundy. We then broke for lunch, and a bunch of us went to a little cafe to relax. I brought a salami sandwich (yeah JJ and Ted, you better be jealous), so all I ordered was a local beer, mainly so I could get the bottle cap from it, but I also wanted to give it a try. It was called Bruges
Zot, translated to mean Bruges Fools. Pretty tasty, but not my favorite. Garrett ordered some sort of meat, which he thought was going to be cooked and on a plate etc, but it ended up being the Belgian version of a Slim Jim, guess thats what you get when you don't know exactly what you are ordering haha. After lunch we climbed to the very top of a bell tower, and got a pretty sick view of all of Brugges. It was a pretty ridiculous climb though, up hundreds of flights of narrow staircases. I got some sweet pictures from it. Then we had another student presentation on the cloth industry, but were interupted by a drunk man in a rabbit costume......weird. The rest of the time we listened to Delsemme mumble about just about everything, but finally we made it to the Begijnhof, a community within the city that requires you to be silent when you enter it, as nuns live there and require silence. It was pretty sweet, kind of reminded me of a mix between Harvard Yard and Amish people.... All of the buildings were white and the grass was covered in tulips (which you can't see cause they aren't in bloom yet, but it is apparently pretty sweet.) And then our tour was done and we headed back to Brussels.
I urge anyone and everyone to go to this city. It is amazing. I can't say anything else about it.
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