Last days of the trip (until the next one that is)

Well I we have been back in England now for a few days so I suppose its about time for me to write a new blog. Following Paris we headed back to Belgium and stayed in the same campsite in Bruges (the first site we stayed at). Heading into Bruges it was a whole new story than last time. The weather has become much colder and all the tourists had gone home so it seemed to be just us and the locals. It was funny to see the main square almost empty and we enjoyed the town as much as we did the first time. The next we took the train into Brussels for the day and found ourselves in the main shopping district within the first 30 min. Megan was happy at least.

After a bit of shopping we headed on to see the cathedral of Saints Michel and Gudule. Inside there are statues on the pillars of the 12 apostles which are almost life size and very detailed. Following that we headed over to Grand Place Grote Markt. This was the city’s first trading forum and dates from the 12 century. It was destroyed in 1695 and took 5 years to rebuild. The Grand Place today looks amazing. It is typically Belgium as it looks a lot like some of the places we saw in Bruges. Not to far from the Grand Place is a statue dedicated to the legend of Manneken Pis. According to the legend this young boy extinguished a fire by urinating on it and therefore saved the city from disaster. As we arrived it was busier than we thought it would be and had to join in the crowd to get a photo of the Statue. After that it was a long walk to see the business centre and the bury fountain, and then an even longer walk to see the basilque du Sacre-Coeur which is the 4th largest Catholic Cathedral in the World. When we first saw it from the street I told Megan it looks close and that it would be ok to walk to it. Well half an hour into our walk it seemed as though we had gotten nowhere. Another 45 min we finally made it there and yes it really is huge. That would explain the deceiving walk. Anyways to our disappointment it was closed.

We wanted to make it over to the Atomium and the Royal Palace but it was getting late and they were really far from each other. We decided to leave it for next time as we still have tickets left for train trips anywhere in Belgium that are good for a year. It was cheaper than getting 2 return tickets by 7 euro.

Anyways the following day we drove back to Calais, made the crossing seeing the white cliffs again, and made it back to Hatfield Heath to a kitchen and a nice warm bed. It does feel good to be back but also a little sad that the trip is over. At least there will be more to come. Well I guess I will leave it at that for now as this is turning into a novel and I will write about the being in England a little later on.