Arriving in Bruges

Out the window in the Chunnel!

I arrived yesterday afternoon hungry and more importantly, thirsty for some Belgian bier. Unfortunately, the city did not have my needs in its interest. This city runs entirely on tourism - old city is only one square mile and there isn't any business or financial area - yet it has a weird relationship with it. Four million tourists a year are hated by the locals for not knowing how to get out of the way of the many bikes, taking pictures of the Markt, and generally acting like tourists. Within a few hours of being here I had been yelled at, lied to, and spit on for being a one. Since it's the low season and mid-week, most of the small cafes were closed, so I walked around for hours looking for dinner and a good bar.

But: holy crap do I love the beer. I've been here only 24 hours but I've had more Belgians than I can even find in Boston. Importantly, I finally tried the 6th (of 6) Belgian Trappist breweries, Westvleteren.

I'll be back

A very picturesque city

I spent the night and morning with them,
but have no idea how to spell their names

Last night I met a couple Spanish physics students on holiday, and we went out for late night drinks and this morning walked around the city. We climbed the 366 steps of the bell tower, and decided not to pay the 6 euro for either the chocolate museum or the frites museum.

Since then I've been meandering, trying beers here and there and getting a feel for the city. There's a surprising Australian contingent in the city, so the big Australia Day party is happening over at the Bauhaus later.

I finished reading Fall of Giants this afternoon. At over 1000 pages in hardback, it's the longest book I've ever approached, and I read it in 10 days - mostly sitting in bars of coffee shops. I guess that gives you an idea of how much beer and coffee I've been drinking.