Greetings from Belgium, the land of waffles, chocolate, shoes, and people that are able to speak English!It was nice to be able to use our native tongue again as we made our way to Ghent and Bruges, two beautiful, quaint towns in Belgium. Spoiled by the beautiful weather we had during our stay in Paris, we found it overcast in Ghent, but explored nonetheless. Our hostel was near a medieval castle in the center of town and Abby, Coleman, and Lori cooked a delicious dinner for us by the canal. By the time we finished and had our first taste of Belgian waffles, the shops were mostly closed. We explored the architecture and squares of the town, got a good nights' sleep, and awoke early to do our shopping. The weather cleared up and we biked a gorgeous 35 miles (plus a little off-roading) along the canal to the city of Bruges. The sun was out, as well as the farm animals - our HEY COW! count is currently 117, our HEY SHEEP! count is off the charts, and we were constantly braking for goose-crossing. We spent the evening enjoying another delicious dinner cooked by Adina, Cal, and Mike, and hung out around the hostel playing frisbee.
The morning we were to leave Belgium, Jenny took the trippers into town while Cliff bought train tickets to Amsterdam, and the morning was spent shopping (mostly chocolate) and climbing the belfry. We've had our fill of chocolate and waffles, and are excited for the new food, people, and customs that our next adventure brings – onto Amsterdam!
