One of the fantastic things about living a mere 10 minutes from the Euro Tunnel is that it's very easy to go to the continent and come back in the same day. Last Sunday, my husband and I sat on the couch planning a variety of upcoming things (visits from family, our younger sons birthday) when we came up with the idea of going to Bruges for the day. We've never crossed and come back in the same day because we've always gone further afield (Brussels, Paris, Luxembourg, etc). Google maps says that Bruges is an hour and fifteen minutes from Calais - so challenged accepted, right?
We chose not to tell our boys what we had planned. Instead we packed up the things we needed (mostly baby items!) as they slept Friday night. We woke them up just before 5am Saturday morning. Out the door, in the car and out of the driveway by 5:15am. Checked in and waiting to be called through customs by 5:30. We boarded, hung out in the car and were in Calais getting petrol before 8am (France is an hour ahead of the UK). We passed the Belgian border and made it to Bruges around 9am, relying on memory and not GPS for once!
We had from about 9am until max 5pm given that we had to get back to Calais for our 19:50 train home. The day started with a search for Belgian waffles, which we had promised the boys. We wound up the same restaurant we went to 2 years earlier with my dad, step-mom and sister. Everyone indulged - our table was full of chocolate sauce, whipped cream, ice cream, cherries, coffee, juices. It gave us all a bit of a kick that we needed after waking up so early.
 |
| Spencer looking down the canal. |
From breakfast we decided to find a boat tour by wandering through the streets and knowing that we'd find it eventually. Getting a bit lost and wandering is always worth doing, especially in smaller cities. We ended up wandering along the water for awhile before choosing one of the "Canal Tour" operators. Cash only, which meant we set off to find a cash machine.
 |
| From the boat. |
The boat tour was wonderful. Bruges has 4 locations where you can get onto a boat tour, and each is licensed to own 5 boats so up to 20 are moving about the canal at the same time, all filled with tourists...but still lovely and worthwhile. It gave us a different perspective of the city, while the boys just loved being a boat (our daughter happily ate rice cakes for the half hour).
 |
| The bell tower comes into view. |
 |
| The view from the bell tower. |
After the boat tour, as we were walking back toward the main square, the bell tower came into view. I asked the boys if they'd like to climb to the top. Of course they did, these same two boys climbed the Eiffel Tower 2 years ago and that's twice the steps! We waited in the queue for about half an hour - we should have done it when we arrived as it opened at 9:30am but oh well, now we know for the future. The climb was interesting - windy, steep steps, occasionally with nothing to hold onto. The view was stunning. My new "thing" of going up as high as possible has been so worth it (my recent trip to Slovenia and Italy will be posts in the coming weeks!) and I love that the boys feel so accomplished and proud of themselves when they come back to the ground, look up and go "I climbed that!"
 |
| Inside the Friet Museum. |
Next up we walked out to The Friet Museum. It smelled amazing as soon as we walked in so walking around it just worked up our appetite. I was holding the baby, who was a tad grouchy, so I didn't get to read as much as I would have liked but I did learn a few things. We made our way down to the cafe that boasts wonderful chips...and they sure were. 4 orders of chips were eaten pretty quick!
 |
| Chocolate Museum! |
We followed lunch at the Friet Museum with the Chocolate Museum. Baby finally fell asleep. The boys were hunting for clues to a puzzle they had to solve for a prize. Josh and I got to read a bit more than we were able to at the chip museum. We chose not to wait 15min to watch a demonstration because we were running out of time! We stopped in the gift shop for the boys to pass over their completed puzzles (they got a chocolate lollipop) and I bought a mug.*
We made our way back to the main square, stopped in a few shops (chocolate and beer) and then decided that even though we had about 30-40min before we
had to leave, we may as well go. Sometimes the Eurotunnel will offer to bump you up to an earlier train if there's space so we were banking on that. Instead, we wound up stuck in traffic, which added about 30min to our travel time so good move on our part to leave early. We were not offered an earlier train, yet by the time we changed the baby, bought some water/milk and hit up duty free (cheap wine!), it was time to go. Back on the train, home a few minutes after arriving.
As I initially said, we had never gone and come back in the same day. Now we know how much we can and can't get done (Bruges has so much more to do!). We could leave earlier, come back later. We have options, and this won't be the last time we hit 3 countries in one day.
*
I collect mugs when I travel. They don't have to say the city name. I'll post about that some other time
No comments:
Post a Comment