We visited the medieval city of Bruges today, primarily to visit the Ice Palace attraction. The Ice Palace holds a collection of sculptures made from, yes you guessed it, ice; based on different themes, stories and art. My favourite sculptures were the ones based on the world of Harry Potter. They built a schoolroom out of the ice, complete with Harry, Dumbledore and Hedwig. Funnily enough, Hagrid was missing - not enough ice perhaps for a giant?! There were scenes from The Lord of the Rings, artic animals, Heavenly ice art, rooms that contained ice fire places (go figure) and generally a 'wow' sculpture around every corner. There was a really 'cool' (ok enough with the ice jokes...) slide for kids - climb to the top of the icy tower and slide down very quickly. But down worry fellow oldies, they even have an ice bar where you can order ice cold drinks (ok I can't resist..!) and sit in ice chairs. I forgot to ask if they had ice wine though (a real drink, honest). There is also the obligitory art piece that children must have a photo taken with (and everyone fights over). In this case a gorgeous polar bear who moved. I was kinda tempted to fight for a photo myself...

This place is great, a must if you visit Bruges in the winter. Just wrap up warm. It's -5 degrees in the Ice Palace and so cold that when you come out in to the open air of ooh, 1 degree, that actually feels very warm!

There are various eating huts serving Shnitzel (but not with noodles?!!), burgers and the most enormous bratwurst you have seen. (Crass joke deliberately omitted!).

Also visited Bruges town which is very pretty and once you step inside, feels like you have gone back in time 100 years. There are cobbles on the streets, old fashioned, quaint shops with bay squared windows selling beautiful Belgium chocolates and intricate lace, and lovely loping horse and carriages will take you around the town in style. There is a park in the centre and a canal - all that was missing was the appropriate clothing and you could be back in the 1900's.

There is a 'new' part of the Bruges and it's a disappointment to return to the Noughties and see the normal high street shops.

Overall, Bruges is a lovely place to visit and I would definitely go back.