If there was any doubt about the charm of Bruges, all that was erased on our second day. My day began with tea in the square, then waffles with Joanie and Jordan at a small stand on a side street off the main square, which had been recommended by the owner/receptionist at our hostel (who is originally from Bruges, so it stands to reason he'd know all the best spots). They were so amazingly delicious we pretty much just stood there in silence and scarffed them down. After that, we had pretty much fallen in love with this town. So the bike ride that followed was just icing on the cake...or waffle. Ben met up with us, and the four of us cycled for about an hour and a half, which was just about all we needed to circle the outer boundary of town and explore a good portion of the small cobblestone side-streets.
After our "best idea ever" (it really was the perfect way to see Bruges), we went to the most spectacular shop I've ever seen. The place was tiny, but packed from wall to wall and floor to ceiling with every kind of meat and cheese imaginable.
It smelled so good inside that you couldn't possibly leave without wanting to buy half the store--and eating the other half right then and there. The place was called Diksmuids Boterhuis, and the owner (Isabelle) was so nice and helpful--so long as we weren't touching her cheeses!
Finally, after mulling over our choices and with considerable help from Isabelle, we loaded our bags up with all sorts of sandwich ingredients and found a bench to picnic on.
Later on, we decided to hop on a canal cruise for a waterside perspective of Bruges. We learned several interesting things about the city from our informative captain, including that a piece of property on the canal would (in one example) cost 2.8€ million! I guess our newly formed dream of living in Bruges will have to wait quite a while longer.
Since one can never have enough chocolate while in Belgium, we poked our heads into yet another chocolate shop. Like several other shops, this one had some interesting things displayed in their storefront window--all made out of chocolate, of course.
The night was capped off by an awesome beer tasting at our hostel with a New Yorker named Kai (far left in the photo, always making a funny face for posterity), who has been living in Belgium for five years and was very knowledgeable and energetic about beer (my kinda guy). After sampling Duvel, Orval, Westmalle, Chimay, and Brugs, we each chose one beer to have our own bottle of and then proceeded to join Kai and his girlfriend on their previously scheduled pub crawl. Much drinking and merriment and friend-making ensued (our newest friend from the beer tasting and pub crawl was Mark, from SF), and we once again found ourselves getting to bed at a ridiculously late hour, yet still wishing it would never end and that sleep was optional.
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