Day 1- Belgium

I thought holidays were supposed to be relaxing!!! After traveling for approximately 30 hrs, I was finally at my Hotel in London. I had a very pretty room and it was wonderful to have a warm shower, some dinner and check what time I wa to meet the tour group the morning, thinking it would probably be about a leisurely 9.30am. What a shock it was to find out that I would get a wake up call at 3.30am!!! breakfast at 4am and departure at 4.30am. 

Apparently this was because you can no longer drive into France easily because of the terrible refugee crisis. There are now large barbed-wire fences around Calais and the port and a refugee camp growing daily with people walking across Europe hoping to get to Great Britain. You could see them walking across the fields and along the roads with everything they owned on their backs, singly or in groups. Very sad.

Our first stop was in Bruges - what a beautiful village. It is surrounded by a moat built in the Middle Ages and you can still see the remains of the wall which was built inside the moat. There are 20 market squares and 30 churches (now been converted tino museums) in such a small village. We had a deluge while walking around Bruges, but it didn't dampen my spirits. I, of course, had Belgium Frites for lunch, delicious, and bought some Belgian Chocolates to try. Mind you, if I had been a bit smarter, I could have just gone into each of the many shops and tried the samples which they were very glad to give you. It is definitely a place where Imcould spend a lot more time.

We then drove on to Brussesl, it had been rebuilt since the war. It has an amazing square, looking very old but all new and pristine and there was a weekend beer fest in the middle of the Grand Place.we visited the Mannequin Pis, a tiny but famous statue in one of the squares. It looked to be very successful. We had dinner and then to our hotel where our bags were already in our room. It is a very modern hotel and I had a great sleep ready for the next big day.

The White Cliffs of Dover followed by many photos of Bruges

Bruges is surrounded by a moat and once also a wall which has been take down now.

The trees are leaning towards the sun and the boxes are an art installation done by a Japanese artist.

A very typical house in Bruges.

Maria and I in front of the last wooden house built. You are not allowed o build in anything other than brick. You can see in the photo above his one how they decorate in brick.

The cloth guild tower - it has 360 steps.

You can see that we had beautiful weather.

God frites for lunch.

Built for the world expo in Brussels.

The Mannequin Pis a very famous statue in Brussels, of course there is a legend but it's too long a story to tell here. There is an art gallery that house all of the clothes that have been made for it and presented by other countries over the last 100 or so years.

City Hall

Beer fest in the Grand Place.

Welcome dinner.

My very welcome bed.