We got up pretty early and made sure everything was packed in our suitcases. We then had to carry our suitcases down four flights of stairs. Yikes. Talk about a workout. We decided to take the tram instead of wheeling our suitcases over to the station. We actually made it to the proper platform with a decent amount of time, so when the train came we were the first ones on and were able to get good seats where our luggage would fit and we could sit comfortably.
It was a 3hr train ride to Brussels, but we left early so we it there at a decent time. We did end up taking a taxi from the train station to our hotel - mostly because we couldn't figure out how to buy bus tickets and it was quite a long walk to get there, so we couldn't go with our suitcases.
We dropped our bags off at the hostel (check in isn't until 3, so we put or stuff in a locked room), then walked back to Centraal station. (About a 25 min walk).
Luckily, the train to Bruges was less than an hour, so we didn't have to ride for too much longer. And it was worth it. The city was beautiful. There were lots of cute houses (some in canals), old buildings and chocolate shops.
We spent or time walking around and going into churches and little shops. We did stop in one museum-type thing where they had a nice courtyard with a lady playing harp. I also accidentally went through some of their Picasso exhibit (which was cool).
We walked all the way to the main square that was really lovely. We sat there for a while looking around and enjoying the view.