Our first European Adventure: Brugge

So we decided to get out of our crammed hotel room and head out on an adventure for the day. Everyone has told us how beautiful the city of Brugge is, so we decided to head up there knowing that it will probably be one of the cities we will be touring often with ALL of our visitors (hint hint.. to all of you). We headed out to the train at about 8am. Allie was very excited to ride the train. It was a beautiful hour and half ride. The countryside is so pretty. Simple. The houses are all the old brick homes. So cute. We stepped off the train ready for the day. We didn't know what time our train was to head back to our town that night so we quickly found a person that worked at the station. I stated "Bonjour" with a smile (a habit I have gotten into now living with all the people in the south who don't speak any English) I quickly got a glare back from the man. Rob asks "do you speak English?" And with a very annoyed tone in his voice he states, "I speak English much better than French." Ummm sorry sir. As we finish our conversation we walk away and Rob asks me what I said to him, in which I said "all I said was Bonjour". Rob looks back at me, "Lindsey they hate the south of Belgium here (which is the French speaking part of the country). They speak Flemish here and everyone probably speaks English as well." My bad. It felt like when I stepped out of the train I had entered into a totally new country. The difference between the people in the south and north is like speaking of someone from america and mexico. The people in the south are very "frenchy" (my word I know). A big group of them are not very friendly and most of them really don't speak English, but the people in the north know about 3 or 4 languages and are very friendly. Interesting. You learn something new everyday I guess..

So away we went to the city. I have been dying for a cute cafe with yummy lattes, a thing that is not found anywhere near our town. As we took in the beautiful sites and buildings I was secretly looking for a cafe. We arrived at the adorable street that was packed with people. Every other store was either a chocolate shop or a cute cafe. Hello I was in heaven! So we stopped for a snack and a latte. We enjoyed a yummy Belgian waffle and latte (amazing) and continued on our way. There were horse and carriages riding all down the street, which Allie was gawking at. We stopped into a couple chocolate shops admiring all the beautiful chocolates... until we came to this one shop... yup they had "exotic" chocolates... Allie was making her way over asking what everything was until I quickly say "Look Allie a chocolate bunny!" Phew.

All the buildings were amazing. The history is amazing. Allie LOVED the old Churches. She kept saying "Mommy I'm gonna find Jesus on the cross first!" Even when we got to the town hall building she searched it for a Jesus on the cross...

If it is possible to eat our way through a city we certainly did. We enjoyed a yummy lunch of; beef stew (rob), shrimp croquettes (Allie), and a sandwich on a baguette (me of course). After walking some more we had to enjoy another latte. Allie was eyeballing the horses so we headed over to see how much to ride. We found the line to be very long and cost about $45.. so we decided that would wait till next time. Allie just wanted to be a princess in the carriage :) Next time for sure. Each street we went down had a different theme; chocolate stores on one, lace shops on another, shoe stores on another and so on. We watched this woman who had to be in her late 80's making lace. It was fascinating. I have never seen lace being made and was it crazy. A skill that takes a lot of patience and looks very confusing. Brugge is known for their lace and chocolate, so as you can guess the stores had the most detailed beautiful lace. As our day was coming to a close we had to stop at a little ice cream shop for a cone and sat at the fountain. Allie of course ordered "the pink kind". After enjoying our ice cream we made our way back to the train though the park where allie states "Mom why is everyone napping in the grass?" :) We successfully found our way back and onto our train.

It was truly a great day. Rob and I just kept saying how fun the day was. Allie was amazing. We didn't get back to our room till almost 9 that night. She walked for hours that day and was just as amazed at everything as we were. She is definitely a natural site seer. I'm still waiting for my camera charger to come in the mail so I will be shooting LOTS of pictures when that happens. We are heading to Paris on saturday. Allie is beyond excited. She is very much into Madeline right now and Madeline lives in Paris by the Eiffel tower. So Allie is VERY excited to see the Eiffel tower.

We are trying to make the best of being at the hotel. It gets pretty exhausting being in the hotel, but we are trying to travel and be out and about as much as possible. We are viewing a home that we have been waiting to see for over a week now on thursday and we have high hope that this one may be it... so we wait to see. We did look at a home today that would definitely work if the other one falls through. Decisions decisions. Keep us in your prayers as we continue to look for a home; for patience with each other and for one to come quickly. :)