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Adventures in Tourism: Belgium and Paris

A beautiful field in Bruges, Belgium
Hello!

A few weeks ago, my program went on an excursion to Belgium. It was an amazing and adventurous weekend, but I returned needing to recover. In the meantime, exhaustion, procrastination, depression, and technical difficulties have conspired to prevent me from posting. Fortunately, things are better now, so I have returned to tell you about my weekend as a tourist.

Smiling in front of the Eiffel Tower as though I built it myself

Before leaving for Belgium, I spent a Friday afternoon seeing the Eiffel Tower and the Arc de Triomphe with my friends. (Yes, it took me over a month in Paris to go and see the Eiffel Tower.) To top off our afternoon of tourism, we went to a macaron restaurant called Ladurée, and consumed delicious macarons and tea.

One of my friends captured this image of me imitating a tourist seeing the Arc de Triomphe for the first time.

On Saturday, March 9, we left early in the morning for Belgium. We arrived in Ghent around 12:30 PM and scrambled to eat lunch before our walking tour. Paris can feel a little stifling sometimes, and Ghent felt like a breath of fresh air. The tour guide had many interesting stories about the historical places that we got to see. Pedestrians and vehicles occupy the same road, so our group often had to move to accommodate a car or bike.
This is the original Ghent house of guilds. During medieval times, a wall was built that inadvertently blocked the guild house. At some point, people found the plans for this guild house, assumed that it had been demolished, and rebuilt it. Several years later, a medieval wall was demolished and the original guild house was rediscovered.

This sculpture is on the former jail of Ghent. It recounts the story of a man who was sentenced to prison without food or water, and survived by being breastfed by his adult daughter.

This statue's sword was stolen by a university student. It took several years for anyone to realise that the sword was gone, but they replaced it and launched an investigation once they did. The university student panicked and abandoned the sword in an alley. Now, the statue has two swords.

After our tour of Ghent, we drove to Melles and toured the Delirium Brewery. This brewery prides itself on its sustainability, and its beers have received many accolades.

We then drove to Bruges, where we stayed at a nice hotel. In the morning, we went on a chocolate and historic tour of Bruges. I loved the nature and delicious chocolates, and bought a few bars of chocolate to bring home with me.


A delicious Belgian waffle

Overall, it was an enjoyable trip. Bruges and Ghent are both in the Flemish part of Belgium, which unfortunately quelled any dreams of moving there one day since I don't speak a word of Flemish. However, I was happy to find that the people there are very friendly and often speak English. I have been looking at pictures and missing my trip ever since.

Anyway, let's hope for happier days and more blog posts (possibly some non-study abroad ones) in the future.

Best wishes,
Lydia

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