Bruges

Today I took the train to Bruges. I think I'm getting a cold so I decided that it would be best to go to Bruges today in case I'm sick tomorrow.

I left the hostel at 8 for a 9:00 train. I took 3 metro trains to get to the central train station, and once I got to the train station I was pretty confused. Navigating a train station when all the signs are in a language other than English is pretty difficult. I managed to find the ticket booths, and bought my ticket completely in French. I thought I would just be able to say 'Bruges s'il vous plait' which I did, but then he asked me a question.... I'm sure he spoke English but I wanted to see if I could get through the interaction with just French. The only word I caught in the question was 'simple', so I figured he was asking if I wanted a single or return ticket. I said 'simple' (I wasn't sure if I was going to go straight back to Brussels) and everything worked out. Go me.

I found the right platform and I had about 10 minutes til the train was supposed to come, but then it was delayed 10 minutes, and they changed the platform at the last minute. They made the announcement in French and all I heard was 'Brugge' and 'six' then the sign board on the track I was on changed so I figured I had to go to track 6, which I did, and everything was fine.

I got to Bruges an hour later. The weather was not nice. It was grey, windy, and rained off an on the whole day. There was only half an hour of sunlight, which happened to be the half hour when I took a canal cruise. But I'm getting ahead of myself.

I didn't quite know how to get from the train station to the city center so I followed a crowd at first, then just wandered through the city. I was looking for the bus station because before I left Edinburgh I printed out 2 walking tours that were on the Bruges website, and the first one started at the bus station. I found Markt first, the main square in Bruges. It's very pretty, and there's a big outdoor market there. I climbed the 366 steps to the top of the Belfort, the big bell tower. There's construction being done on it though so you can't see the view from all sides, but what I could see was sweet.

View from the Belfort:

Walking down the stairs of the Belfort:

Market in the Markt:

The Belfort:

Eventually I did find the bus station and I started the walking tour. It was very detailed with a map and explanations of the things I was passing so it was very helpful. First stop was St. Salvatorkathedraal, a big church. There was a service going on so I didn't stay in there long, but I went back later.

Service in St. Salvatorkathedraal:

Next I went back to the Markt and spent a bit more time there. One building there is Heilig Bloed Basiliek, or the Basilica of the Holy Blood. They have 'one of the most sacred relics in Europe', according to my guide book. It's a vial of, supposedly, blood and water washed from the body of Jesus by Joseph of Arimathea. If you wait in line and make a donation, you can pray on it or whatever, it's a pretty big deal. There were a lot of people doing it.

Basilica of the Holy Blood:

People at the relic:

Next stop was the Burg, another big square. The buildings here are really pretty too. It started raining so I ducked into the City Hall (Stadhuis) and paid only 1 euro to go into the museum there. It came with an audioguide so it was a nice way to pass the time until the rain stopped.

Stadhuis:

After that I went into a chocolate shop called Dumond. Bruges is really famous for their chocolate and this shop handmakes it all. I bought a little box of assorted chocolates and all the pieces were incredible. I restrained myself from buying more, but it's hard when every other shop is a chocolate shop.

Chocolate from Dumond:

The tour took me through a few scenic streets after that until I ended up at the Vismarkt, a fish market. It was pretty smelly but cool. By the way, all the streets and houses and canals and bridges and stuff in Bruges are really beautiful and picturesque.

Carriages at the Burg:

Fish market:

It started raining again so I stopped for lunch at a cafe right in the most scenic part of the city, Rozenhoedkaai. I didn't know what to get so I asked the guy and he got really excited that I would try whatever he thought was a good traditional dish. He ended up giving me beef stew and fries (which Belgium is also very famous for). Both were delicious. After dinner I decided to do a canal cruise. It rained just after I got on the boat (there were umbrellas though), but then after that it cleared up for a half hour and it was a very pleasant ride. It was fun seeing the city from the water.

The oldest bridge in Bruges:

Canal tour:

Right after I got off the bus it started pouring so I ducked into Onthaalkerk Onze-Lieve-Vrouw, or the Church of Our Lady. It's famous for a white marble Madonna and Child by Michelangelo.

The weather was still bad after that so I went to a cafe for hot chocolate, and it was probably the best hot chocolate I've ever had. Chocolate in Bruges is very good...

Revived, I started following the second itinerary. It passed a lot of museums that I didn't want to pay to go in to so mostly I just walked along the streets. Eventually I got to St. Walburgha's Church. It's kind of out of the way but I decided on a whim to go in. I walked in and saw that while it's not as grand as more well-known cathedrals, it's a beautiful building. There was powerful music playing so it made quite the first impression. The second thing I noticed was that I was the only person there. The priest came over to me right away and we started talking. He was very welcoming and we talked for awhile about why I was there, and where I'm from and that kind of thing. Then I walked around the church (a few people came in), and when I had finished we talked some more. He seemed very sad that I was only going to be in Bruges for a day. Right before I left I took a picture of the cathedral, and he offered to take a picture of me in the cathedral. Sure why not. So now I have a picture of me in a cathedral taken by the priest.

Picture the priest took of me:

Eventually I ended up at the windmills. I saw two of them, and they're pretty cool for windmills. Those were the last things I wanted to see and the weather was pretty bad so I decided to go back to the train stations. It was 4 pm by then so I decided not to go to Ghent, which I had considered. I just didn't care about Ghent enough to make the effort.

One of the windmills:

Luckily I got to the train station right before a train back to Brussels was leaving, so that was convenient. I made it back with no problems, and took the metro back to my hostel. I bought some food at a corner store, took a shower, and read for awhile.

I don't know what to do tomorrow. I wanted to go to the coast and go up the whole Belgium coast on the tram (the longest in the world I think) getting off at all the little towns along the way, but I think it might rain the whole day so that might be kind of miserable. So I guess I could go to Ghent and/or Antwerp, but again the weather will be bad and I might as well save money on the train ticket and I might be feeling sick... But there's not really anything else in Brussels that I want to do, so I'm kind of stuck. My bus to Berlin doesn't leave til 11 tomorrow night. Plus I have to check out of my hostel in the morning. Hmmm I would be fine just going to an internet cafe, getting caught up on uploading pictures, then going somewhere to read, but that's not enough to do all day. I don't want to waste a day but I don't want to spend a lot of money. I wish I could go to Amsterdam for the day but that's way too expensive. Oh well, I'll figure something out. I'm enjoying relaxing though, it's nice to take a break after heavy traveling.

Brussels Day 1

Sorry if there are typing errors in this post, the keyboard I'm using is very difficult.

So I made it to Brussels with no problems. It was kind of rough waiting for the bus in the rain at 5:30 this morning but it worked out. I got to my hostel at about noon, got settled in, then went out to explore the city.

It's pretty difficult finding my way around a city where people don't really speak English and signs aren't in English, but I managed. I had to metro to the city center and basically I just got on the first train I saw and it happened to be the right one, then I managed to get on the right transfer... That was lucky. Anyway, after a bit of wandering after getting off the metro, I eventually got going in the right direction. The first thing I saw was La Bourse, Brussel's Stock Exchange. This would seem cooler if I could post pictures.

La Bourse:

Next I found the Grand Place, a really, really impressive square. The buildings are incredible, it's really beautiful. I wandered around there, checked out the flower market that was going on, and tried to get a tour at the Town Hall but the English one didn't start until 3:15.

Grand Place, Town Hall:

Grand Place, Maison des Ducs de Brabant and flower market:


Grand Place, where Victor Hugo lived:

I got a bit lost after that, and ended up wandering around a street with a lot of shops. I figured then was as good a time as any to get a famous Belgian waffle, so I did. It was delicious. As I was eating it a lady came up to me and started speaking in French, but I figured out that she was asking where I got the waffle and I was able to point her in the right direction. That was the first of many encounters that happened today when people thought I spoke French. I learned pretty quickly that I shouldn't say "bonjour" when I walk into a store because people really think I know what I'm saying... I also used this period of being lost to buy my souvenir magnet. Anyway, eventually I found what I was looking for, Galeries St-Hubert. It's basically just an upscale mall, but the bulding is incredible.

Galeries St-Hubert:
My Belgian waffle:

there I wandered til I found Mannekin-Pis, the symbol of Brussels.

Mannekin-Pis, symbol of Brussels:

Next I went to Notre-Dame de la Chapelle, a nice looking church.

Notre-Dame de la Chapelle:

Then I walked south for awhile to find Quertier Marolles, where there's a famous flea-market. I guess I got there too late because most people were already packed up. Oh well.

Finished flea market:

That area is right next to Palais de Justice, a huge, really imposing building. I would not want to go to court there. There were lots of policemen wearing ski masks walking around carrying machine guns, so that was exciting. There was also a nice view of the city from there, since it's on a hill.

Policemen:

Palace of Justice:

Next were the Sablons. First the Place du Petit Sablon, a little garden with lots of statues. There are a lot of statues in Brussels, they're everywhere. And some of them are really weird.

Petit Sablon:

Next to that is Place du Grand Sablon, a big, cool looking square. Notre-Dame du Sablon is next to that. It's a really impressive church. All the churches I saw today were impressive. Brussels is really famous for its chocolate, and one of the most famous places to get it is at Wittamer. That store is in Place du Grand Sablon so I went in to try to buy some chocolate. I was overwhelmed by the variety of choices (and I couldn't read the descriptions as they were in French) so I just asked the lady to pick some out for me. She asked me how much I wanted to spend and what kinds of chocolate I liked and ended up picking out 6 chocolates for me. They were all fantastic.

Notre-Dame du Sablon:

Chocolate from Wittamer:

From there I went to the Palais Royal. Awesome building. The more European palaces I see the more Buckingham Palace looks like a dump. Unfortunately it's closed to the public but the outside was spectacular. There are gardens in front of that which I walked through. They probably look more impressive when everything is in bloom.

Palace:

Then I went to Cathedrale Sts-Michel-et-Gudule, I think the most famous church in Brussels, and for good reason. It was beautiful. I have pictures of all these churches, I was glad that photography was allowed. Speaking of photography, I think a lady took a picture of me in there. I was just sitting in a chair looking around and she definitely took a picture of me...

Cathedrale Sts-Michel-et-Gudule:

From there I walked for a while over to the Quartier Europeen, which is where the main buildings of the European Union administration are found. They were pretty cool, but I don't know enough about the European Union to know exactly what goes on in each building. There's a park behind those (Parc du Cinquantenaire), with a very impressive gate. That was fun to walk through, the architecture here is incredible.

The Triumphal Arch:

It had been grey and threatening to rain all day but it cleared up at this point. It was about 5:00 so I got a vegetable pie thing at a store then picked up an orange from a grocery store for dinner. I ate at Parc Leopold, a lovely park. The weather was nice and it was very enjoyable.

Where I ate lunch, with a view of a European Union building:

I took the metro back to my hostel after that, and decided that I should do laundry (the wet weather in Ireland made me go through my clothes pretty fast). That was an adventure. Luckily there's a laundermat just around the corner from my hostel, but unluckily all the directions are in Dutch. Yikes. Eventually I figured it out though, it was a bit confusing. I sat in there reading while my laundry was going, and at one point a lady came in and said something to me in French. I had no idea what she said but it seemed like she was explaining why she was doing something and she was smiling so I just smiled and nodded which seemed appropriate. As she was leaving she just started talking to me in French and I just pretended like I knew what she was saying, hoping the whole time that she wouldn't ask me anything. I guess I was pretty convincing because she had no idea that I didn't understand her. It was pretty awesome.

It's 8:30 now and I'm on the computer in my hostel. I think the rest of tonight will be spent reading and planning tomorrow. Depending on the weather I'm either going to the coast, or going to Bruges and Ghent. Both will be done eventually, I just don't which trip I will do on each day. Hopefully I'll get to bed early becuase I'm pretty tired.

Dublin Day 4- A Rainy Tour

Today we did a free tour through the Wicklow Mountains to Glendalough and Kilkenny. It was free because the hostel we're staying at also does tours, and you get this one for free if you book at least 2 nights with them. Unfortunately the weather today was the complete opposite of yesterday. It was rainy and cold and gray, but it was still a good tour.

It started off at 8 this morning, and pick up was right in front of the hostel so we got to sleep in til 7 which was nice. The bus headed south, and only about half an hour outside of Dublin are the Wicklow Mountains. Really beautiful, but I'm sure more beautiful in sunny weather. The tour guide said they're more brown than usual because Ireland has had uncharacteristically terrible weather this year, like with snow which they never get.

We went through a lot of tiny villages where a lot of movie stars live, like Daniel Day-Lewis and some others, but that was the only one I remember.

The first stop was at Glendalough. This is where many scenes from Braveheart, and that one scene from PS I Love You, and scenes from a lot of other movies were filmed. It was beautiful, but pouring rain. We were stopped there for an hour and a half and had the option to either go hiking or sit in a cafe, so of course Emily and I went hiking. We got soaked, but it was totally worth it. We hiked through the woods a bit, then came upon a lake, then went through some more woods, then came to a beautiful lake with mountains. So cool.

Hiking in Glendalough:

One of several waterfalls:

Awesome lake:

When we got back to the visitor's center after hiking we dried our socks and shoes a little in the hand dryers in the bathroom. It helped a little, but we were soggy for the rest of the trip.

As we continued driving through the Wicklow Mountains (on the Braveheart Trail), it started snowing. Yeah, it was that cold and gross outside.

The next stop was at another portal tomb, like the ones we saw yesterday. This one was younger than the others (1000 BC I think?) but bigger. We had to tromp across a field to it in the rain, but whatever. It was weird because that one hasn't been excavated, so they don't know what's under it.

Portal tomb:

Our next and final stop was in the village of Kilkenny. We stopped there for 2 and a half hours. First Emily and I got a great lunch at the National Craft Center, or something like that. Then we walked to the cathedral, but we didn't want to pay to go in, so we just ducked our heads in to see it then left. It was beautiful, a typical European cathedral. Then we walked to the castle, which was pretty cool. We did pay to go in there. We still had about 45 minutes after that, so we got coffee and hot chocolate at a little cafe until it was time to go.

Kilkenny Castle:

Kilkenny Cathedral:

I slept most of the bus ride back, so that was enjoyable. Emily tried to go to the evensong at St. Patrick's when we got back (I had already gone so I decided to change into dry clothes instead- we didn't have time to do both), but turns out it was just a prayer service because it's Holy Week. She said it was still really nice though.

Now we're just uploading pictures and stuff in our trusty ol' internet cafe. I don't think we're going to go out tonight. We did find a pub with good music and a good athmosphere last night so that was fun, but it's too expensive and we're too tired to go out for a third night tonight.

Brussels tomorrow!

Dublin Day 3- Tour to Cliffs of Moher

Today was fantastic. Tiring, but fantastic. We got up at 5:45 pm and just got back (it's 9:30 pm). We had incredibly good weather, really unusual for Ireland, especially at this time of year. I might not be able to finish this post tonight because the internet cafe where we are closes in 15 minutes, but I'll finish it tomorrow if I don't now.

We got to see the sunrise this morning over the river, and that was really beautiful. One perk of getting up early... We got to the bus with no problems, but it left a little late because they were waiting for people who didn't know to change their clocks forward one hour last night.

The first leg of the journey was just a shuttle bus to Galway, so we basically just drove straight across the country, which took about 2 and 1/2 hours. The scenery was pretty, basically what you would think of when you think of Irish countryside.

We got to Galway a little after 10, and left for the actual tour at 10:30. We traveled through a lot of really cute little villages, seeing sights along the way. The guide was really good; he talked the whole time about everything we were passing and the places we stopped.

When we entered into County Clare we went into the Burren, a mountain range. They were really strange mountains, all covered in grey rock. They call it a "lunar landscape". A lot of ancient civilizations lived there so there were ancient, ancient burial mounds and stuff everywhere.

We passed by Galway Bay, which was really beautiful. It was low tide, and when we went past it on our way back tonight it was high tide, so we got to see it in two different ways.

Galway Bay:

Galway Bay:

As we drove through the villages, we were sometimes stopped by animals, like sheep and cows, wandering around the roads.

Sheep causing a traffic jam:

We made a stop at a fairy ring. These are ancient rings of trees that form a sort of raised grove, and they're considered very sacred and there's a lot of mythology associated with them. We were allowed to walk along the raised edge of the circle, but not go into it.

Fairy ring:

Next we stopped at two portal tombs, one from 2,500 BC and one from 4000 BC I think. They've found a lot of bodies and artifacts and stuff in that area, it was pretty cool, and the scenery was incredible.

Portal tomb:

Our next stop was at Kilfenora to see some famous celtic high crosses, which were pretty neat.

Famous Celtic high cross:

Then we drove through Lisdoonvarna, the sight of a huge matchmaking festival every September. I guess it's a pretty big deal...

Famous matchmaking bar in Lisdoonvarna:

Finally we got to the Cliffs of Moher. Let me preface this by saying that I've really wanted to go to the Cliffs of Moher for about 4 years, and I was not dissapointed. What an incredible sight. It was so awesome. You can walk along the edge of the cliff for about 2 miles and the views from every angle are incredible. We spent 2 hours there, and got lunch there as well. Awesome. I was so thankful for good weather!

The Cliffs of Moher:

Emily and I at the Cliffs of Moher:

Me:

Guy fiddling on the cliffs:

Another video of the cliffs:

We turned around then to go back to Galway, and we took the coastal road back. It was just incredibly beautiful, I can't describe it. Really, really beautiful. We were along the coast for most of the ride back to Galway and it was gorgeous.

Stop at the ocean:

Galway Bay at high tide:

When we got to Galway we had 45 minutes until our shuttle bus left for Dublin, so we got a good dinner then got on the bus.

Galway:

The driver showed the movie P.S. I Love You on the ride back. A pretty good movie, but it was especially cool because part of it was filmed in the Wicklow Mountains, which is where we're going tomorrow! I think the weather might be bad, but I'm excited. We're going through the Wicklow Mountains to Kilkenny and Glendalough, where many movies, like Braveheart, have been filmed. Should be pretty awesome. It leaves at 8 and should get back around 5, so we're going to try to go to evensong at St. Patrick's Cathedral after we get back. Right now we're going to find a pub with some live music. Last night we found a place, but it was more of a show than folk music, so we're going to try again. Ok this place is closing so I have to go.

Update: We found a pub with live music, and here's a video from it: