17th October Belgium

Wednesday 17th October Belgium

Today I left for my Trafalgar tour. It was a VERY early rise...4:30am wake up call!!! We were picked up at the hotel, then stopped at two other hotels to pick up travellers and then lastly picked up a few more at the Trafalgar office. The tour is completely full, which means no empty seats! We met our 'Welsh' tour director Patrick and our 'Italian' bus driver Gian Carlos, and I was paired up with another single traveller, Sandra from Seattle. It is also raining this morning.

We headed to Dover to catch the 8:25am ferry across to Calais. Sometimes they do a passport check, sometimes they don't...today they did! Sometimes they will do a randon bag security check, sometimes they don't...today they did! This meant that we missed the 8:25am ferry and had to wait for the next one! We were actually pretty lucky that the ferry was going at all because it was pretty rough out on the water today. Once on the ferry Sandra and I went up to the cafe to get a bite to eat and a coffee, there I met Linda from Canada. Linda and Sandra had met the day before at the hotel they were staying at, and now the three of us have teamed up. The ferry ride took about 90 minutes, then it was back on the bus and off to Belgium.

The first town was the city of Bruges. It was like stepping into a fairytale. The buildings were so beautiful. First we headed to have a quick look at the canals, then it was off to the blood church to see.....but unfortnately it was closed on Wednesday afternoon. There are sooooo many chocolate shops....I have to go back and get some! When in Belgium, try a Belgium waffle right...so of course I did. It was covered in chocolate sauce and cream...it was so good...and hey...I'm on holidays! Next we went to see the Notre Dame church where there is a sculpture of the Madonna and child by MIchael Angelo. It is the only sculpture of his outside of Italy...it was beautiful! After a quick walk around to look at the church it was time to get back on the bus and head for Brussels, the capital of Belgium and where we are staying overnight.

Tonight we did a quick walking tour of the main square in Brussels and saw... where you rub the wrist and make a wish. Then we walked down to where the fountain of the boy who pee's is located. There were a couple of Asian tourists mimicking the statue with their cigarettes while having a photo, when Linda made a comment about the 'size' they killed themselves laughing, and one of them then got out his big camera instead!!! It was VERY funny! Did I mention every second shop here is a chocolate shop? We then joined our fellow Trafalgar travellers at a 'Welcome Dinner' at a Brussels restaurant...and anothe waffle!

The people on the tour are predominantly Australian and mainly from either Melbourne or Brisbane. There were four of us 'single' traveller girls who had booked 'twin share' so I have been paired up with Neva, an accountant from Brisbane. So far everyone is very friendly.

There was not enough time to really explore the beautiful cities of Bruges and Brussels (mainly because of our ferry delay and traffic) which was ashame because there was so much to see. I didn't even get time to go back to the chocolate shops!!! I MUST go back to Belgium!