2 Months and a Weekend Trip to Brugge

Wow! I cannot believe it's been almost two months since we left South Carolina to start this journey! I have a lot to catch up on to fill everyone in about these last 2 months, but for the moment, I wanted to share about our first little trip since we've been here.

This past weekend we took a family trip to Brugge. Brugge is about 40 minutes north west of Gent, so it was a nice quick trip. Brugge used to be one of the wealthiest cities in Europe because of it's access to the North Sea for exports. However, the canals running through the city silted (became filled or blocked with silt) and that affected their ability to export. Subsequently, the city lost it's appeal and the wealth moved out. Due to the many restorations and historical building and monuments that still remain, it is now a huge tourist destination. Despite the unseasonably cold weather, we had a nice time.

This will be a bit of a photo post...

We started out by having a picnic in a park near the city center.

Picture with a cocoa bean

After some fun at the park, we went to a chocolate museum called Choco-Story. It was interesting to see the background of chocolate, but it was even better taste testing the fresh chocolate that we watched them make!

Watching how chocolate is made.

Once we were done at the museum, we went to check into our hotel (Flanders Hotel) to try to get a little nap before supper. It was not easy as we were all in one little room, but we successfully took little cat naps before dinner.











We ate at a restaurant called Nieuw Museum. I was very excited to eat some great Belgian food!! The menu was a little scary to me as they had mostly meat that I have never eaten before, but we had a great meal complete with yummy dessert.

Cooking the meat right in front of us.

On Saturday morning, we ate breakfast at the hotel and the boys swam for a while before we checked out.








Once we left the hotel, we went to the city center to take a boat ride through the canals to see the city. Cameron loved the boat and was amazed by the trip. It was very interesting to hear more of the history of the city.

After the boat ride and a quick lunch, we walked
around the city a little bit.









We went to Dumon Chocolaterie to get some yummy, fresh made chocolates to bring home.









We also made sure to get some waffles smothered in chocolate and whipped cream before we left. No picture of the waffles because they were gone before I even thought to take a picture! :)

Cameron took this picture of us...he did a pretty good job! :)

They call Brugge the "Venice of the North." Having been to both places, I can't say I agree, but Brugge is beautiful and I'm sure we will visit again.


This was our first real trip since we have been here. It was nice to spend time together and explore as a family. We look forward to many more trips in the months to come!