Bruges and Antwerp

I thought it was a little strange that I hadn't spent any time in Belgium yet since it's so close by, so Saturday I did a little day trip to Bruges and Antwerp. It was great weather yet again, and they were some good cities so it was a nice day on the go.

I went to Bruges first. I'd heard really good things about Bruges, and it definitely lived up to expectations. It was a little like Amsterdam - there were quite a few canals and riverboats, and some similar architecture with the narrow houses and tall skinny windows - but also a little different. It's a really small city (although there were still plenty of tourists all around) so it's a little quieter, and it definitely had a little Brussels feel to it too. The two main points of the city were the Church of Our Lady and the Belfry, which were basically two ginormous towers in this tiny little town. The Belfry is also on the Markt square with lots of shops and restaurants and cafes around. I took the opportunity to grab a chocolate covered waffle and grab a beer while I was around there (chocolate, waffles and beer, that's what Belgium does...)

the Markt square

the Belfry

nice scenic view of the Church of Our Lady

They did have some delicious Belgian beer pretty much everywhere you turned. I found this one place which had what seemed to be every Belgian beer in a case on the wall. It's pretty funny how in the US these are pretty much delicacies and here it's just normal fare.

all the Belgian beers...

and just another beer store...

After a good chunk of the day in Bruges I took the one hour train to Antwerp (where I had actually transferred through in the morning) and spent some time checking out that city as well. I think Antwerp was a little less unique as a good portion of the city was urban and modernized, but the old town center was still really cool. They again had a completely out-sized tower (Onze-Lieve-Vrouwekathedraal) and a neat square with the Town Hall and a bunch of cafes and restaurants and such. They were actually setting up for the Antwerp Marathon the next day, which I didn't even know about. The flags and banners kind of got in the way of my pictures, but oh well.

Town Hall and a statue of Brabo (?) throwing a giant's hand into the Scheldt River (?)

obligatory huge tower

Het Steen (literally "The Stone")

Overall there didn't seem too much to do in Antwerp, but that was ok because I was pretty tired after travelling around all day. I decided to call it a day as it was already pretty late. On the way back though, I did see the pretty strange site of a huge inflatable monster lizard. It was some sort of haunted house type thing right in front of the Central Station where you walk into the mouth and through the thing. Ironically it was right next to a pink merry-go-round for the little children.

the monster

cool-looking Central Station

An exhausting but fun day. Now hopefully on Monday I'll get my passport back so I can make it to Russia next weekend...