Bruges

Saturday morning Em and I went running (not the best picture - it is hard to take a picture while running, plus Em wants everyone to forgive her for disgracing her body with a BYU t-shirt - she wanted to bring a shirt that could be thrown away) at a park near mom and Loel’s house. It is only about a mile away and is huge and really nice. It felt really good running and the temperature was perfect.

After breakfast we headed off towards Bruges. On our way we stopped at a local farmers market near mom and Loel's that had tons of fresh fruits and vegetables and various spices. Mom and Loel bought tons of fresh vegetables to make some salads and Em bought some spices.

Bruges, like Amsterdam, has its own unique feel. It had canals running through it also yet it is older and feels more medieval. Most of the buildings are stone and it isn’t the best biking city as there aren’t really bike paths – just cobblestone streets. There were a couple sites we wanted to see but for the most part we just wanted to wander the city.

After orienting ourselves on a map, we realized that we were really close to the Choco Story museum. We had wanted to go there so we decided to do that first. It is a museum about the history of chocolate and they give out samples. It actually turned out to be pretty boring as it explained – in great detail – the origins of chocolate

and every tool and plant that was involved. We kind of skimmed through that to get the end where there was a live demo. That part was interesting as a man made chocolate in front of us and then gave us a sample – the chocolate tasted so good, Em and I’s favorite.

The guidebook we have contains a ‘sites’ section and for Bruges it also had an ‘Experiences’ section which was all about the different foods to ‘experience’ there. So we ended up spending a lot of time eating different foods which we loved! We had another Belgium waffle because the first one I had (the first day we got in Belgium) I didn’t love because I was fairly full and I am glad I gave them a second shot. It was so good – it was lighter and more flavorful than the one I had gotten before. We also

got ‘The Best Hot Chocolate in the World’ which mom and Loel’s mission president had recommended and it lived up to its name. Most of us agreed that we had never had better hot chocolate. We then got some chocolates at a Leonidas shop (one of the many shops on pretty much every street) and in the evening we got Gelato – getting a new Ferraro Rochur flavor that was great.
Aside from eating…we did tour the Church of Our Lady which housed one of Michelangelo’s only sculptures outside of Italy, it was pretty cool. And we also did a boat tour that let us see more of Bruges.

Em and I really loved Bruges – it was really pretty and nice and had a great historic feel to it. We would both love to come back to it and Amsterdam.