We have had a lovely time in Bruges this weekend. Some close friends took us there as a wedding present.

They organised everything from where we stayed, to the Eurotunnel, which was lovely as I have far too much too organise in the usual run of things, it was lovely not to have to think about it. It all started at 4am on Friday morning, when we had to get up to get to theirs to leave at 6am to catch the train at Folkestone at 7:50 (I think it was, that’s several days ago !). What an early start, and, of course, I didn’t sleep very well, so that didn’t help. I haven’t been on the Eurotunnel before, so that was all new and exciting.

I must say, I like it a lot better than the ferry. I have to stay on deck in all weathers on the boat as I get horribly sea sick. With  the tunnel, I was just sat in my seat reading my book, very comfortable. We were in Bruges by late morning, ready to unpack and head of out for a spot of sight seeing and lunch. We stopped off at the supermarket in Calais before going onto Bruges and had a lovey poke around there. Got some interesting bits and pieces, and noticed that they have no problem with wonky veg in France!

We stayed here in Bruges, not far from the city centre.  It was a very pretty little house, beautifully done out. Lovely overhead shower, massive bed. A real home from home. I had fantasies of living there, in a minimalist kind of way. No lock on the bathroom door tho, we had to have a code so we knew if anyone was in there. Door closed meant don’t come in! One of the first things we did was to go to the Ice Sculpture Exhibition near the railway station. It is held in a 1200sq metre insulated warehouse, held at -5,so we were pretty cold by the time we came out.  It was simply stunning, huge ice sculptures, beautifully done. There was a massive pirate ship, an ice maiden with lovely wings, a full size slide that you could slide down, am enormous Christmas tree with decorations and gifts. There was even a full size kitchen, with sink,  prep surfaces, frying pans, rolling pins and vegetables. Every bit made with ice! Very difficult to capture it in a photo.

And we visited the Historium, a very interesting experience about the WaterHalle that was on the site – a massive undercover port that barges would unload in, storing their products in the dry, or sometimes selling direct to the market

Everywhere was so clean and tidy, no litter, just the odd cigarette end, and absolutely no graffiti anywhere. Not many cars in evidence either, everywhere was cobbled. Such a lovely city to explore. We had lots of totally delicious lunches and dinners. I bought a purple woollen hat. Mike bought some chocolate and wine. When the weather wasn’t great, we popped into a café and had a coffee, decaff for me, people watched and chatted. I had a great time!