I headed over to Brugge for the weekend via a travel company called Tracks. The trip got off to a bad start due to our bus being vandalised, finding a replacement bus, changing buses halfway to Dover and a girl on the tour leaving her passport on the other bus. It didn't really matter as we arrived in Brugge early in the afternoon. With three hours free to explore the city before being taken to our hostel, I teamed up with South African Kim and American Kate who I'd met on the bus. We decided to go for a little wander around the main part of Brugge before taking a canal boat ride to see the sights and buildings of Brugge from the water. The canal ride was just lovely and despite the freezing weather, something I'd recommend anyone do when in Brugge. We were taken to our hostel and given the option of going out to dinner with some of the group, which we took them up on. A lovely 3 course meal followed and then we headed off to a bar to sample the other Belgian delicacy - beer. As a non-beer drinker, I thought it'd be pointless for me to even try some but I'd forgotten that Belgians produce over 300 kinds of beer. Imagine my surprise when we entered the pub and were handed a menu of beer! Yes, a menu of beer. There was no food or any other beverage on it, just the beer. So I decided to take a chance and try a few - the chocolate beer (pretty good) and the raspberry (yummy!). So yes, even a non-beer drinker can find a decent beer to drink in Belgium! Sunday was a lovely day and I headed out with Kate and Kim again to explore more of Brugge, wandering the streets and into chocolate patisseries to purchase the other Belgian delicacy - chocolate. All too soon though it was time to meet the rest of the tour group and get back on the bus. On our way back to Calais to catch the ferry, we stopped at the Tyne Cot War Cemetary which is an eerie place to be, full of unnamed soldiers who were killed during WW1. A large number of these men are Australian and as I was there the weekend before Rememberance day, there were lots of processions and wreaths there, only adding to the eeriness of it. We had a brief stop on Ypes, a nearby town completely decimated during the wars and rebuilt later to reflect how it once was, took a tour of the war museum here and then it was time to head back to Calais, catching the ferry across the chanel, and returning to London. Brugge is a beautiful city and I would recommend to anyone to go there. Having seen a few European cities now, it reminded me of a cross between Venice and Amsterdam, but more beautiful in terms of it's architecture than both of them. It is very relaxed and a great place to go for an enjoyable weekend away.