Day Trippin' In Bruges

I went to Bruges yesterday. As you do. It was my birthday in June, and my fella Dan said he'd take me to Bruges - somewhere new, and another country to tick off on my 30 Before 30 challenge.

We went on a day trip, which meant no accommodation costs and no leave needed from work. The tickets were only £37 return each with Buzzlines Travel and despite the early start (7.30am pick up - yikes) I was excited... I'd read my guidebook, packed my thermals (best to be prepared!) and raided my euro piggy bank to buy plenty of Christmas Market goodies.

It wasn't just my first trip to Belgium, it was my first time on the Channel Tunnel, and I must say I was impressed. Everything seemed very organised, and we were across the Channel in less than 40 minutes. Chunnel, loving your work!

We arrived in Bruges at 11.45am, which meant 4 and a half hours to explore before we had to be back on the coach. First stop was a boat trip on the canals. Our 30 minute tour (a snip at E7.60!) took us through the main highlights of the city, and despite the rain (it only rained for 30 minutes all day - the 30 minutes that we were on a boat, unable to shelter anywhere!) it was a lovely way to see Bruges, and personally I preferred it to the other popular option, a horse and cart trip. Our driver (should that be sailor? Boatsman?) gave us a running commentary in both English and French, and I can't think of a better way to have started of our whistle-stop trip.

After the boat we headed to the Christmas Market and spent a lovely hour watching the ice skaters, browsing the stalls and buying up all of the souvineers our hearts desired. My favourite purchase was a delicate hand made lace Christmas tree decoration - Belgium is famous for its lace so I wanted a little something, and the decoration looks lovely on our tree and is something we can get out every year to remind us of our trip :)

We didn't go up to the Belfry in the main Markt square, mainly because there was a long queue and we were short of time, but you have to leave something to go back for don't you?! The entrance fee was E8 and they only allow 70 people up at any one time (hence the queue) so if you're doing a day trip and the Belfry's a must do, head there first.

On our way back to the coach we stopped off at one of the many churches to light candles for relatives we're missing this Christmas, and picked up some delicious Belgian chocs for the journey home (well, it'd be rude not to, right?!) and headed to The Half Moon Brewery, hoping to catch their brewery tour. Too much shopping meant we'd missed the start of the tour, so we settled on a pint of their beer in the bar instead! Belgian beer's an acquired taste and I'll admit not my favourite, but it would have felt wrong not to partake! Down the hatch!

Back on the coach and straight to sleep (thank you, Belgian beer!) we were back on the Chunnel before I knew it, and back in Maidstone for our drop off by 8.45pm. It was a long day, but I thoroughly enjoyed it and am now a convert to coach day tripping! Next stop: Sluis, Holland...

Happy Day Trippers.

Happy Thanksgiving!

I just thought I'd write a quick post to say a big "Happy Thanksgiving!" to my American friends (and any other lovely Americans reading this!)

I've only been to America once, to New York in 2004 (I think it was 2004 anyway!) and I had a great time. It was a long weekend with my family, and we all had fun shopping, walking round Central Park, taking the Staten Island ferry past the Statue of Liberty, waiting in line to go to the top of the Empire State Building, visiting the Guggenheim museum... you get the picture, we did the tourist-tastic stuff. It was ace!

Obviously, there is a LOT more of America to see, and I would love to get the chance to explore more of it. I also heard there's a little town somewhere called Rachel. Need to go there, obviously.

That's brother David, me, and my dad in Central Park. It was COLD.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

Forza Milano!

Dan and I went to Milan in October, for 4 nights. We booked  the flights because they were too cheap to resist, without doing aaaaany research (well, apart from reading my friend Laura's blog post about her own trip there) and then before we knew it, we were 2 weeks away with no accommodation and no idea what we were going to do. A sweep of Late Rooms secured us the cheapest hotel room we could find (we stayed at Hotel Vienna which was ideally located by a metro stop but with nothing much else - except for the most amazing pizza shop - nearby. It did the job though - somewhere to sleep and shower!) and we bought guidebooks to swot up on the action.

The main highlight of Milan itself was the Duomo. The main cathedral is beautiful in the day, and even more stunning lit up in the evening. The square it sits in is buzzing and has a real "European city" feel with people milling around taking photos, pigeons everywhere and traders trying to sell you flashing yo-yos, postcards and the like. I loved the Duomo - as well as being a stunning building it felt very calm inside and you could almost feel the history. We didn't climb up to the roof (I'm veeeery lazy and there were LOTS of stairs, plus you have to pay and we were skint) which I've heard offers a great view, but I didn't feel we missed out at all - there's a lot to see inside the Duomo itself as well as in the square. It sounds obvious, but it's not to be missed if you're going to Milan.

We also went to Sforzesco Castle. I consider myself to be a bit of a castle expert, as I've been dragged round many by my enthusiast friend Reg. Sforzesco was great as castles go - it had a beautiful courtyard with lovely mosaic ceiling tiles and some impressive turrets, but I was a little underwhelmed all in all.  I guess I'm just hard to impress, castle-wise!

I'll be honest, the rest of Milan was pretty forgettable. We had a lovely time just wandering round, seeing things, but nothing that I feel compelled to share. Word to the wise - the San Siro football stadium (home to both AC and Inter Milan) is a looooong walk from what the guidebooks claim is the nearest metro stop. Unless you're doing the stadium tour (we weren't) think hard about how much you want to stand in a car park looking at an empty football stadium... I'd have preferred another pint of Italian beer and a slice of pizza!

San Siro. Well, I'd gone all that way, I wasn't not taking a photo!

To bring a bit of positivity back (yeaaaah, PMA!) I'll move on to Como. We decided to jaunt to Como as it's just a 1 hour train ride from Milan, and cost around 13 euros for a return ticket. We spent a day there towards the end of the trip and it was beautiful - exactly what we needed. The lake itself was really pretty, and the town felt very quaint and less hectic than Milan. Their cathedral is worth a visit - we ate dinner in a lovely cafe right outside - and a walk along the lakeside with an ice cream comes highly recommended  We didn't take a boat trip (although there are plenty, and to other lake towns as well) or go on the cable car to the mountain top for what we heard were stunning views as we were short of time, but it didn't matter - our Como trip was definitely the highlight of the weekend and I'd tell anyone going to Milan that they must visit - I'd suggest a couple of nights in Milan, and a couple in Como (or another lake town - there are plenty to choose from).

 

All in all, I'm glad we went to Milan - I'm always happy to visit a new city and the pizza from the shop next to our hotel made the trip worth it all by itself. I do wish we'd planned a little better and booked at least one night in Como though, and maybe I'd try to make it to the Formula 1 race track in nearby(ish) Monza if I went back too. Still, a good time was had by all - Bellissiomo!

Photographic genius I am not. Do love Dan's expression here though!

Lake Como :)