Because the hostel made us wait until 4 to check in yesterday and there wasn’t a secure location to put our bags (they suggested we leave them in the common room and they would “keep an eye on them” but we didn’t feel that was safe), we didn’t do much apart from going out for dinner at a restaurant called Bierbrasserie Cambrinus after checking in.  Although the food we had wasn’t as good as Le Fin de Siecle in Brussels, it was decent and there was a huge selection of 400 beers to choose from – the drink menu is one inch thick and I had to spend 10 min reading it to decide!  It was a nice relaxing start to our time in Brugge and today we found out what Brugge really has to offer…

We started today by walking along the canals which make Brugge famous for being “The Venice of the North.”  We considered taking a canal boat ride, but after checking out a few different boat companies we decided it would be better to just continue walking – the boat rides aren’t cheap and only last an hour and the canals tend to smell like gasoline from that level because there are so many boats running along them!  Walking turned out to be a better option because we were able to stop and take pictures and check out little shops and restaurants along the way.

Since we were unable to decide on a place to eat, we decided to delay lunch and walked over to the windmills on the eastern perimeter of city center when we finished walking around the canals.  Only one of the windmills, called Sint-Janshuysmolen, was operating at the time so walked over to it to check it out up close.  While seeing something so old (built in 1770) still operating in its location was cool, I’m not sure there was a point in walking up the small hill to get to the base of the windmill – the view from across the street was just as cool and they charge you to go inside to see the small interior. 

We headed back to town center to look for somewhere to eat lunch again and ended up browsing several chocolate stores along the way.  I considered picking up some hand-made Belgian chocolates for my dad, who’s basically a chocoholic, but then I realized it would be a while before I could get them home to him and they might melt and/or spoil in the meantime so I decided not to bother (sorry dad!).  We did, however, buy a bag of rock candy when we came across a store called Confiserie Zuccher, which we noticed because there was a huge line-up to go into the store because people were taking pictures of them making the candy by hand and getting a free sample piece.  At the front of the store I saw that they were selling bags of mixed end pieces of candy they had made for special orders (e.g. weddings) for €4.80 a bag or three bags for €11.  I wanted to get three bags because I love candy, but Paul said it was ridiculous to buy three bags so I settled with one, but as soon as we walked and ate a few pieces, we both started wishing we had picked up three bags – this might be the best candy we’ve ever had!  I’m going to be so sad when this one little bag runs out…

After a late pasta lunch and some time around Market square, in the heart of the city, we headed back to the hostel to get ready to head to Amsterdam tomorrow morning.  Brugge has been a lovely medieval city with lots of scenic spots that make great photos.  I sort of wish we had done what Allie and Ryan did and just caught a train here for a daytrip from Brussels so we wouldn’t be staying at the rather crappy hostel, but I’m glad we made a stop here and our time has been very enjoyable.  Now we head to the much anticipated Amsterdam (a.k.a. sin city) – hopefully we can stay out of trouble!

After chatting with a few travelers at the hostel tonight, I thought it might be helpful to relay some of our thoughts on staying at hostels vs. hotels vs. bed and breakfasts since we’ve recently been asked by a few people which we think is better.  The short answer is there is no one or the other we would pick – it really depends on the place itself.  Hostels generally have more of a social atmosphere and a younger clientele, but we’ve stayed at a lot of hostels that have people in their 30s and 40s staying there.  The nice thing about hostels is they usually have a fully equipped kitchen so you can cook a meal if you want, the bad thing is that it’s almost always shared bathrooms, which can be gross.  B&Bs can really be hit or miss, but we’ve been happy with the two we’ve stayed at so far.  Like I said before, though, at a B&B, you’re in someone’s home so you tend to feel like you have to stay quiet and out of the way.  Hotels in Europe have been fairly good so far, but at a hotel you’ll never meet anybody or get advice about where to go or what to see (unless you’re at a small owner-run hotel like the one we stayed at in Avignon).  The plus side of a hotel is the noise insulation (you don’t get woken up as other people come and go) and the privacy, especially having your own bathroom.  It’s also nice to have someone clean your room everyday, although we generally turn the housekeeping staff away because they come so early! 

For comparison sake, here’s a list of our accommodations so far:
1. Lisbon, Portugal – Rossio Hostel; loved everything except the showers
2. Porto, Portugal – Rivoli Cinema Hostel; great but no social atmosphere
3. Madrid, Spain – Barbieri Internation Hostel; worst place we’ve stayed so far
4. Barcleona, Spain – Itaca Hostel; great private double room that felt like a hotel
5. Montpellier, France – Les Arbousiers B&B (Jean-Luc & Ann d’Auzac); fantastic hospitality & a big spacious room, option for home cooked meal for dinner
6. Nimes, France – Campanile Nimes Centre; not close to anything but ok budget hotel
7. Avignon, France – Hotel Boquier; nice owner-run small hotel
8. Nice, France – Ibis Nice Centre; first stay at this budget hotel chain, no frills but very clean & fairly new
9. Lyon, France – Ibis Lyon Centre Perrache; bigger room & cheaper than Nice
10. Geneva, Switzerland – City Hostel Geneva; dorm-style hostel so no social atmosphere,  private twin room w/nice bunk beds, Wi-Fi broken
11. Bern, Switzerland – Bern Backpackers Hotel Glocke; great except for check-in policy sucked and there weren’t enough bathrooms
12. Lucerne, Switzerland – NH Lucerne Hotel; a step-up from Ibis, bigger & more luxurious room but not worth regular price
13. Strasbourg, France – Hotel Le Grillon; 2nd worst place we’ve stayed, very dirty, felt like I was in an attic, shared bathrooms
14. Rouen, France – Ibis Rouen Centre; standard small Ibis room but not close to city center!
15. Le Mont-Saint-Michel – Hotel Formule Verte; very basic budget hotel but ok
16. Caen, France – Bristol Hotel; cramped over-priced budget hotel, bad Wi-Fi
17. Paris, France – Ibis Paris Gare de L’est; typical Ibis but a bit older
18. Munich, Germany – Ibis Muenchen City; typical Ibis, bathroom a bit small
19. Berlin, Germany – Best Western Hotel City Ost; not in city center but commute was no problem, a bit better than Ibis, bathroom was nicer
20. Hamburg, Germany – Ibis Hamburg Alster Centrum; again typical Ibis
21. Dusseldorf, Germany – Ibis Dusseldorf Zentrum; not close enough to center
22. Cologne, Germany – Station Hostel for Backpackers; room was nice, bathroom was gross, didn’t socialize with anyone at the hostel
23. Luxembourg – Novotel Luxembourg Kirchberg; much nicer than Ibis but not worth regular price
24. Brussels, Belgium – lucdelux B&B; small basic room but comfortable
25. Brugge, Belgium – Lybeer Travellers’ Hostel; 3rd worst place we’ve stayed but good social atmosphere & really good Wi-Fi

One of the best things about travelling is the friends you make along the way, especially the ones you really keep in touch with and try to see again (let’s face it, most of us will only see each other once in our lifetime if we don’t live in the same area).  We’ve met lots of people during our travels so far, but there have only been a handful we’ve regularly kept in touch with since.  I think today we’ve added two more to that list – Allie and Ryan from Florida who are in Brussels for their honeymoon and are staying at the same B&B as us

We met Allie and Ryan yesterday when they first checked in, but didn’t really talk to them until this morning when Allie came down to the kitchen while I was washing the dishes.  I’m not sure if Luc wants us to wash our own breakfast dishes (he didn’t say anything yesterday when I washed the dishes), but I can’t stand seeing a sink completely full of dishes so I’ve been washing everything after eating breakfast.  Allie heard me from their room upstairs and came down to see if it was Luc and we ended up chatting for a good hour about all kinds of stuff before heading out our separate ways to do some sightseeing.

Paul and I headed to the European Quarter of Brussels, which hosts several institutions of the European Union (including the official seats of the European Commission, Council of the European Union, European Council, and the second seat of the European Parliament).  Like Strasbourg, Brussels is sometimes considered the capital of the EU because of its concentration of EU institutions, but there doesn’t seem to be one official capital of the EU now that I’ve done some more reading (when looking up Strasbourg I had read and believed that it was the capital, but that doesn’t seem to be officially true). 

We had a brief look at the buildings, which are quite modern looking and nice, and then headed off in search of the main reason we had come to this area – the “best fries in Belgium” according to the guidebook Luc had given us.  We found the fries place, called Maison Antoine, in a square called Place Jourdan, and decided to order a cone of fries with dip each, which was totally unnecessary – we could have shared a cone and still had leftovers!  Again the fries were tasty but very heavy, and we found ourselves wishing Belgians knew how much more amazing their fries would taste if they covered them with cheese and drenched them in gravy (a.k.a. poutine in Canada!).   Maybe we should move here and open up a poutine place?!?!

When we headed back to the B&B in the afternoon, we saw Allie and Ryan again and talked to them for a while in Luc’s dining area until we decided to head out for some dinner together.  Luc had recommended Le Fin de Siecle to them as well, but they hadn’t had a chance to try it so we decided to go there again since we didn’t mind eating there for a third night in a row and we felt that Allie and Ryan had to try it.  They tried the dishes we had the first night and Paul got the carbonnades again while I tried the roast ham, which Luc had said was a traditional Flemish dish.  We also tried two new kinds of beer – Rodenbach, which has an interesting tangy flavour, and Westmalle Tripel, which is a very strong beer that isn’t available everywhere.  Although the ham was probably my least favourite of all the dishes we tried, it was still cooked amazingly well and all four of us gave our dinners rave reviews.  After a 3rd straight meal, it is official, this is the best restaurant we’ve eaten at! 

After dinner I spent a bit more time with Allie and Ryan playing poker using random Euro/American change as chips while Paul finished up his work.  We’re not sure if Luc is happy about us socializing since it means we make a bit more noise talking, but we’ve tried to keep our noise level down and we don’t think it’s unreasonable for us to hang out in each other’s rooms!  Regardless, tonight was lots of fun and it was a really refreshing change to have some new friends to hang out with – we haven’t really “hit it off” with anyone like this since Bern which was more than a month ago!  I’m thinking a trip to Florida might work its way into our travel plans in the future…

After a day of walking around the historic town center of Brussels, I am happy to report that there are some really clean and really nice parts of town, but it smells like pee in lots of areas!  Perhaps the fact that a statue called the Manneken Pis (Dutch for little man urinating) is a famous Brussels landmark should have given me a hint of what to expect…

We started our day at Grand Place square, the central market square of Brussels and probably the nicest square we’ve been to so far.  The Town Hall and guild houses surrounding the square are in impeccably good condition, decorated with gold trim and elaborate carvings, and it seems like they’ve put a lot of effort into keeping the paint fresh and the stones clean.  As I went around taking pictures, Paul had a craving for ice cream so we picked up a Belgian waffle with chocolate ice cream, our first taste of the famous Belgian sweets.  It was as good as expected, but a bit too chocolaty for me that early in the day so I only ate one bite

While taking pictures, we noticed a group of three monks from Thailand and when we looked their way they said hi and struck up a conversation with us, asking where we were from and what we were doing in Brussels.  We conversed with them for a bit (when we said we’re heading to Thailand next year they told us we should visit their hometown which is near Phuket) and then headed towards the museum area, which Luc had told us had some nice gardens and interesting architecture.

On our way, I decided to try an order of French fries with mayo, another food item that Belgium is famous for.  While the fries here are definitely better than the ones we get back home, we find that eating fries alone is rather boring and we don’t know how anyone feels good after eating an entire cone of French fries – after half the cone I felt like I had a pool of grease forming in my stomach and I started looking for pigeons to feed some fries to.  Oddly enough there were no pigeons around so I had to throw my leftover fries in the garbage when I finally admitted defeat and decided I wouldn’t be able to eat the entire cone.

We finished off our sightseeing by stopping by the Manneken Pis, which really is just a statue of a little boy peeing on top of a fountain.  There are several myths about the significance of this little boy, mostly related to some story about him saving Brussels by peeing on something (e.g. a fire), but I don’t think that there is any real reason he is a famous landmark of Brussels.  At the time we saw him he was just a naked little boy peeing, but apparently he has over 600 costumes and is very often dressed (we did see postcards with pictures of him dressed but we thought they were photo-shopped!).

In the evening, we headed out to the area by Sainte-Catherine, where we had gotten off the tram yesterday, in order to try another restaurant Luc had recommended for moules frites, another Belgian specialty.  Unfortunately, when we tried to order we found out that mussels aren’t currently in season in Brussels!  Since most of the dishes were between 20-30 euros per plate and the only thing we really wanted on the menu was mussels, we decided to leave and went back to Le Fin de Siecle for a second time.  This time I tried the roast lamb and Paul tried the rabbit cooked in Kriek.  Again, both were superbly cooked dishes, but I don’t think anything can beat the carbonnades dish we had yesterday!  Le Fin de Siecle is definitely one of our favourite restaurants of all time, though, and it seems like they can’t cook anything wrong!  I wish we could eat like this everyday…

After a good nights sleep at Novotel (four star really does make difference!), we made our way to Brussels this afternoon where we encountered the most confusing transit system so far (worse than Berlin!).  Our directions to our B&B said to take tram # 3 and it took us half an hour of wandering to figure out where to catch tram #3 – instead of having one central tram/bus stop at the train station like most cities, there were about 6 different tram stops all over and around the train station so we had to run around checking each stop to see which tram stopped there.  Tram # 3 turned out to be in the least obvious place possible, underground where the metro was, and we couldn’t figure out why it’s called a tram instead of a metro because they look identical! 

We followed the directions we were given by Luc, the owner of the B&B, and got off at a station called SAINTE-CATHERINE where we used google maps on Paul’s blackberry to walk the rest of the way to Luc’s townhouse-style home.  As we walked, I noticed graffiti, litter, and the smell of urine everywhere, which totally grossed us both out.  I had pictured Brussels to be really nice and well-kept, but from what we’ve seen it’s one of the dirtiest capital cities we’ve been to so far.  Hopefully other parts of the city will be prettier, but Luc tells us the dirtiness is quite normal and it actually used to be worse!

This is the first time we’ve stayed at a B&B since Montpellier and I am reminded of the pros and cons of using a B&B versus a hotel.  Cost wise, if you compare with a budget hotel chain like the Ibis, B&Bs are about the same price, sometimes slightly higher (if you get a special advance booking rate at the hotel), but they give you a breakfast which the budget hotel usually doesn’t.  Our room at Luc’s is basic but nice enough, and, like Montpellier, we find that the bed is one of the softest and most comfortable we’ve had on this trip.  The disadvantage of a B&B is that you’re in someone’s home, so unlike at a hotel, you have to be conscious of your noise level when you come and go, watch TV, listen to music, etc. 

As far as B&Bs go, Luc has been as accommodating as one could ask for – he has said we can use the kitchen if we want (and even left some fridge space for us to store things!), provided us with a handy guide book for Brussels and gone through all the sights/attractions we should check out, and breakfast (fresh bread and cold cut meats & cheese) will be left out for us to get whenever we want as he leaves early in the morning for his day job.  The wi-fi works well so Paul is happy, and Luc has a dog named Zizi who’s really tame and lets you pet her, so I’m happy because I’m really missing my dog, Aspen, who’s staying at my family’s house. 

After getting settled in, we headed out to try some Belgian food at a restaurant Luc recommended called Le Fin de Siecle.  He told us that the restaurant does not have a sign with it’s name so it might not be easy to spot, but “it’s on a street named Rue des Chartreux, next to a furniture store.”  We found the street no problem, but there were several restaurants without signs and they were all in close proximity to the furniture store!  Thankfully we were able to look up the exact address on Paul’s blackberry and once we knew the unit number, it was no problem to find the correct restaurant.

Luc’s recommendation turned out to be a big hit – we might even say it’s the best food we’ve had so far this trip (better than Voyageur Nissart!).  Paul tried a dish called carbonnades, which is a Flemish beef stew cooked using Chimay beer, and it was the most amazingly tender and flavourful beef we’ve ever eaten.  I tried a Belgian dish called stoemp, which consisted of mashed potatoes cooked with mixed vegetables topped with Belgian style sausages and gravy.  Although I preferred Paul’s beef to my dish, the sauce for mine was really really good and the sausages were really flavourful too.  With our dinner we drank a total of four beers, trying out Kriek (a Belgian beer fermented with cherries), raspberry and peach flavoured beer, and Gueze, a type of Belgian lambic beer.  We liked all of the beers we tried, but my favourite is definitely the peach – it’s so refreshing and tasty with just a hint of beer flavour!

So far, Brussels is worth coming to just for the food and beer!  Hopefully the sights will show us a nicer side of the city than what we’ve seen so far and I really hope it doesn’t smell like pee everywhere we go!