Bruges, Belgium

Yesterday was our first group trip. Destination: Bruges (or Brugge, in Flemish), Belgium... aka "the venice of the north."

Once we arrived, the group split in half for walking tours of the city. Our guide was a nice-looking old man with an unfortunate close-talking/spitting combination. You'd back away from the showers and he'd just get closer. Through his thick accent, we still managed to learn a lot and see a lot of the city.

Throughout the day, I kind of kept freaking out about how old stuff was. Buildings built in the 12th century... can you imagine all that has happened there!? After the walking tour we had free time until dinner, about 4 hours.

We all split up for lunch. Jess & I, smart enough to pack lunch as opposed to finding a cheap option in the tourist-y part of the city, ate our sandwiches then wandered through some shops and the streets. We went into the Church of Our Lady and saw Michelangelo's Madonna with Child (another freak-out moment for me, MICHELANGELO!? FORREAL?!, haha)

Then Jeremy, Jess, and I toured the St. John's Hospital, built in 1188 (whattt?!). It was a pretty cool museum, full of paintings and tools used in the hospital. There was one painting from the 1400s of the hospital setting, and again, it was crazy to be in the building that was in the painting in front of you. Some of the paintings still on the walls today, were also hung on the walls in the painting. (I just re-read that and it sounds really confusing, sorry!)

After the hospital we took a canal boat tour, which was fun. It was nice to see the famous brugge swans, crusie around Minnewater (The Lake of Love) and all the sights from the water. I was just enjoying being on a boat. From the boat we saw some of the rest of our group at a bar along the waterfront enjoying their 3 liter beer glass, haha.

We met up with them and saw the "Wall of Beer" showcasing all 750 Belgian Brews. Then headed over to the Belfry Tower, hoping to climb to the top. Unfortunately, they had stopped selling tickets and closed the tower for the afternoon, but we went around and found "De Bier Tempel" which is.. The Beer Temple. Jeremy and I bought a couple bottles of Bruggian brews, and then we bought Super-Classy-Belgian-Beer-Steins.

Then it was time to meet up with the group, Matt & Mary Rutherford, and Coach Kelly for dinner. This wasn't just any JMU sponsored dinner... we had beer/wine, soup, salad, steak & baked potato, dessert...the whole she-bang.

Our full stomachs made for a very quiet bus ride home, probably their intentions...You stay classy, JMU.[[today's pictures: the prettiest view of brugge (according to our tour guide), and my birthday beer stein..as always, there are more on facebook.]]