The Trifecta: Beer, Chocolate, and Fries

The cutest (and rather expensive) chocolate shop in town
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Our last European adventure before departing for Africa was a 2-day stop in Brugge, Belgium.  We booked 2 nights in a small B&B, but after our last B&B experience (a small room above a Chinese Restaurant providing "Little Debbie" snacks for breakfast), we were not about to get our hopes up.

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toasting the last night of a very successful European adventure

It turned out to be a great success.  After being picked up from the train station by our host, Andre, we driven to the B&B where we we given a town map and an orientation in which I was told there are 55 chocolate shops in Brugge.  After getting a bus pass, we immediately set out to explore.

Me and a windmill
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Brugge is cute, adorable, charming, delightful, all those cheesy words plus more.  We enjoyed every minute we spent there, other than the couple minutes on the last day when we were running to catch a bus and I tripped on a curb, causing me to land in a pile on the sidewalk.  I managed to scrape my left palm, tear a hole in Brian's new Marmot rain jacket held in my right hand, and also land hard on my right hip.  It was all good other than that.

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3 down, 999,997 to go....
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The first night there we enjoyed some Belgian beer - they are famous for it and have about 1 million different types.  That number may be a slight exaggeration, but 2 hours ago I sold my Lonely Planet guidebook so I am unable to fact-check.  Next, I hit the chocolate shops and got a nice assortment of treats - hazelnut praline, raspberry  covered in dark chocolate, toasted coconut covered in milk chocolate, dark chocolate  ganache,  I could go on and on....  After that we shared a pile of special Belgian fries covered in a glob of mayonnaise.  I don't know why, but by bedtime my stomach was making some crazy  noises.

Brugge by night
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Our second day was spent catching up on computer work as well as wandering around town visiting more chocolate shops.  For our last evening in Europe, we decided to splurge on a nice dinner and eat somewhere where the food wasn't served on a plastic tray.  We decided on a small candle-lit restaurant on a side street and had  wine, salad, and steak, toasting the last night of a very successful European adventure.

Anne