So last night I did the 10 euro beer tasting that a tour company ran at my hostel. It was quite good! We tried five different beers and in between each one I met some other people from the hostel. We tried Duvel, Zoot, Westmalle, Chimay Bleu and one starting with 'B' that I can't remember. The strongest of them was 9.5% alcohol and I found out if beer is more than 12% alcohol it's technically considered to be wine! Some of the beers were Trappist beers (I can't remember which) which means they're brewed by monks. These are said to be the best beers in the world and six of the ten Trappist beers in existence are Belgian! Also found out a random fact - did you know that we say "cheers" and clink glasses while maintaining eye contact because back in the day people did it to suss out if their drink had been poisoned? By clinking the glasses it was hoped that some liquid would splash into the other person's drink so if it were poisoned they would die too. There you go!!
I talked again with the Argentinian couple and then spoke to a girl from France and a girl from California. After the beer tasting I didn't end up on the pub crawl. An American guy called Jorge who I had met at reception earlier knew the guy behind the bar and got me free beer for the whole night! People I stayed at the hostel which was great because when I got tired I just went straight up to bed :)
The not so great part of free beer was the headache I awoke with today, but that's ok! I had a bit of a lie in as I haven't had the opportunity recently.
Then I went walking. I walked around the main squares again. It was 23 and sunny today - wow! I wore a skirt, a singlet top and my flip flops (replacing the word thongs because I get funny looks over here if I say it!!!). Summer is comingggg!
In the Burg Square the Wednesday market was going on. Lots of people selling fruit and flowers. I then went and bought Belgian fries for lunch. Oo they were good!!
Next I went and did a canal tour. It went for about 30 minutes and was nice and relaxing. Saw the funniest thing whilst on the boat. An Asian family got on and there was a mum, a dad, a daughter and a son who looked about my age if not older. But hilariously they had on the daggiest shirts I have ever seen that said "I'm Dad", "I'm Mum", "I'm boy" and "I'm girl" followed by "we are happy" with a picture of a cow. What the ?!? Mum and Dad, want to get a set for when you're over here??? Haha, it was terrible.
The captain provided an audio commentary and I learned that the canals here range from 50cm to 3m deep. There used to be lots more but they filled them in with sand and animal skin, even in the main square! So the main square is actually quite lopsided as a result. We saw swans and cute little bridges. The weather was absolutely brilliant. We also sailed past the town brewery and you could smell the beer being brewed!
Afterwards I just walked around really. I like getting a little lost and discovering random things. Saw a small park and some pretty buildings, then went to Astrids Park and lay down in the sun listening to music for a while. Mum always tells me I attract strange people that want to talk to me for some reason, and she was right again today. This strange looking guy a bit older than me came over and asked if he could sit with me. Well I could hardly say no, how awkward. I sussed out the situation and decided it was ok because my bag was locked and attached to me and I was in a very open public place with other people around. So we sat there awkwardly for half an hour while he tried to ask me questions. I'm fairly sure he was a druggie, he was very shaky and it was just a vibe I got. So for the purpose of our half hour conversation when he asked me I said yes I did have a boyfriend and yes I was in Bruges with friends. After half an hour I made up that I had a tour booked and excused myself. I'm sure he meant well but still, bit weird.
After this I went and sat at the main viewpoint of Bruges. Unsure of the name of it but it's the one on all the postcards. Dad has sent me a photo of when he and mum were in Bruges so I recreated it like I did a few weeks back in Bath! Felt like they were there with me :)
Got back to the hostel and the internet wasn't working so I headed back to the same spot because there's wifi, and I'm actually there again now because the internet still isn't working. Bit unimpressed with this hostel to be honest, the people on reception are pretty rude. I can exist without internet obviously but just went downstairs to ask what's going on and got looked at like I was an alien!!!
Tonight I did plan to have a night in watching some TV but unless I want to stay sat outside I don't know if I'll be able to!! Oh well.
By the way, my friend Troy who I'm meeting in Brussels on Friday is on his way. He's just left Singapore - so excited to see a familiar face from home!! We are doing a battlefields tour together to commemorate the 100th anniversary of Anzac Day.
Love to all
Claire
Xoxox
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