We drove to Bruges and arrived at the Grand Hotel Casselbergh in time for dinner.

We went to a nearby pub for some Belgian beer and moules frites (with mayo of course).

The next day we had the best hotel breakfast with Belgian waffles, and then headed out to explore. Blaine really wanted to climb the 366 steps to the top of the Belfry so we booked some tickets and then took a quick peak at the Stadthaus and the Basilica while we waited. Sarah did not feel like a climb so she and Andrew went in to see the Stadthaus museum.

Blaine and I made it to the top just in time for the 11am bells! It was LOUD! But very cool to see all the workings of the bells.

After the Belfry we walked over to the canal for a boat trip.

Then we went for lunch at Mr. Waffle and Sandwich!

After lunch we did a bit of a walking tour and saw the old hospital and stopped in to the Church of Our Lady to see a famous Michelango Madonna and Child statue.

Sarah and I stopped into a shoe store to get her a new pair of more supportive sneakers — she’d been complaining that her feet hurt during the first half of our trip. Here she is in her new Nike Airs!

Lastly we went by the Chocostory museum, which seemed like a bit of a scam to be honest. Parts of it were interesting — we learned about the different kinds of coffee beans and also the history of chocolate consumption. And there were free samples at the end!

For dinner we went to a brasserie and Andrew and I shared a 5 course tasting of the classic dishes of Belgium — mussels, rabbit, beef, pork and vol-au-vent.

We loved our hotel in Bruges — it was only for 2 nights so we were all going to be in one room, but it turned out the one room had a big loft upstairs with twin beds for the kids so it was fine.

On Tuesday the 9th we left Belgium and drove back to France to drop the car in Lille and catch our train to London. We left time to check out Lille, walked around a bit, got some frites for a snack, and went to see the Cathedral. It’s relatively modern and was only completed in 1999 — the facade is not terribly impressive from the outside but it’s pretty on the inside.

The Cathedral was built to house a statue of Mary and Jesus which supposedly has miraculous properties?

Then it was off to the train station for some lunch, followed by another unexpected meal on the train!