Brugge

Hi there!

I've been traveling a bit and just been kind of scattered in general, hence the inability to sit down and collect my thoughts for more than a minute or two. Ah, life.

We did go on a what amounted to a beer-buying trip to Belgium lately.

I do not like to drink beer. I dislike the stuff and prefer the grape and the distilled versions of grains. I am easily persuaded to go on road trip adventures though and I am sympathetic to the cause- good beer is hard to find in Paris and people go to great lengths to acuire the good stuff. A few hours north of Paris, you hit the Belgium border and our buying spree begins. The beer is cheaper than bottled water here.

Belgium also seems to get the brunt of the gusty driving rains from the North Sea. Paris seemed downright balmy compared to it.

We centered ourselves in Brugges, a medieval city filled with gorgeous old streets and canals.

It's a breathtakingly beautiful city. Its labyrinth of cobblestone streets were easy to get completely lost trying to navigate, but the pleasant surprises that come with getting completely lost was exactly what I wanted.

The 13th century bell tower dominates the main square of the city.

Sometimes these rainy days surprise you with a brief bright hit of sunlight, leaving the world saturated with color.

Belgian chocolate is really different from French chocolate- it's sweeter and creamier- and it's everywhere.

But it's pretty obvious from the fact that every cafe and bar had a beer menu the thickness of the NYC phone book, this was a serious beer town.