Here's to the crazy ones. The rebels. The troublemakers. The ones who see things differently. While some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius. Because the people who are crazy enough to think that they can change the world, are the ones who do...
Visit Bruges
So okay. I'll 'fess up. The main reason that I desperately wanted to go to Bruges is the same reason that many people now want to go to Bruges - after seeing the awesome movie that is In Bruges. That movie is a veritable love letter to the beauty and atmosphere of a quaint Belgian town that (and I'll be honest), I had never even heard of.
I finally made it over as part of a whirlwind stop on my Drive Across Europe - This was an epic 3 week long drive from London to Athens, with stops in as many countries as possible along the way. Unfortunately, because we were on a rather tight timeframe, we were not able to spend more than half a day experiencing the delights of Bruges.
We spent about 4 hours wandering around Bruges, soaking up the atmosphere and taking lots of photos. My first impressions of Bruges were that it was much larger than it appeared to be in the film and much much more touristy (probably because of the film!) There were lots of quaint little cafes and bakeries, lots of old, fascinating-looking buildings, and an absolute plethora of chocolate shops, of course. Between samples of Belgian chocolates, delicious cups of hot chocolate and most importantly, real life Belgian waffles, a sugar coma was very nearly induced!
Bruges has a fantastic atmosphere, a real buzz about it, and I wish we could have spent some more time there to really get a feel for the place and to actually experience some of what Bruges has to offer. Sadly, due to time constraints, lots of tourists and long queues, apart from walking around and gawping at everything, the most real interaction we had in Bruges was with the parking meter! I definitely would love to go back to Bruges and spend a proper weekend there. But until then, I'm glad that I got to cross it off my list!