Since Thursday night, I have been in Brugge, Belgium. Its located in northern Belgium and is a TRUE fairytale type city. It has amazing architecture, nice people, beautiful parks, and yet, I've developed a love-hate relationship with it.
hate
When I first got into the city, it was raining. This normally wouldn't be a big deal but I have been incredibly fortunate my whole trip and not had ANY rain days. OF course I jinxed this while boasting about my good fortunes in Amsterdam, only to get rain the last three days there, and rain everyday in Brugge so far. So when I got off the station and knew I would have to walk a decent distance to my hostel, I developed the first of my love-hate relationship. Also, this was the first time where I got lost attempting to get to the hostel. Coupled with the fact that I was lugging around a huge backpack, I thought it was going to be a long couple of days here.
love
The city center and surrounding areas are amazing! I can't really begin to describe it, but one of the people at the hostel said, "every corner you turn, you are continually amazed"! Its true. I guess this area never got destroyed, or has been meticulously put back together, but it is what I thought "Europe" would be like before I left. I believe it was awarded the title of Europe's cultural capital, for what its worth.
hate
The rain. It has rained every single day. EVERY SINGLE DAY. Luckily it hasn't been for the entire day, but its been enough to be very annoying. I've had to lug around my jacket shell with me each time I go out to deal with the unpredictable weather. (I hope it doesn't rain when I go to Paris).
love
Such friendly people. Such amazing sights. I took a brewery tour of one of the remaining Brugge brewers; I believe the beer is called Brugge Zot. Amazing beer if you can get your hands on one. The tour was really funny and was hosted by this women who had the DRYEST humor. She would make jokes that would normally be pretty cheesy and rehearsed, but by the end of it, I was rolling around laughing become she would deliver punch lines and have absolutely no reaction.
Also in terms of love, the beer here is WOW. I believe I was told there are in the neighborhood of 700 beers in Belgium! To top it off, they are snobs here and use different cups for just about each. Not sure if it affects taste that much, but its interesting to see the assortment of glasses at the bars.
- SIDE NOTE: I learned (from another beer tour) the way to tell if a beer glass is actually clean. After you have finished your glass, there should be rings of head/foam residue left over on the glass. If you have this, then your glass is clean, if not, then you had a dirty glass. Supposedly glasses need to be cleaned at least weekly with some soda water mix?! Why is this that important? Well, I've been told that "dirty" beer glasses make the beer flat quicker and take away from the taste! There you go, something educational!
hate (the ultimate one)
I went to the ATM yesterday, and it ATE my bank card. I was so surprised I didn't even know what to do. It was really the last thing on my mind, but of course, it happened. Damn you karma...I've even been saying "thanks" and having good thoughts, and helping old ladies cross the roads...well not exactly. Anyways, the people in front of me didn't have problems, the people behind me didn't have problems.
I inserted the card, the machine accepted, but it just NEVER prompted me for my PIN number. As a matter of fact, it didn't do ANYTHING. Luckily I have some cash on me, and a backup credit card to use for the last week, but still, VERY annoying. Tomorrow, I will have to show up to the bank and pray they can fetch it out of the machine and give it back to me. I plan on bringing EVERY document I have to prove my identity...we'll see if it works.
Later on I found out that every bank card in Belgium has a chip on it, but mine doesn't (it only has the magnetic strip). Therefore, the machine couldn't read my card. I buy the excuse, but it should have just returned the thing...not kept it! For those who go to Belgium, BEWARE!
And that concludes my love-hate relationship of the city. Actually, I think if it wasn't for a lost bank card, this would be one of my top three cities to visit.
Tomorrow, I make way to Paris. 10 days left of traveling, and then back home! I'm rather looking foward to sleeping on my own bed!
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