Crusin' for a "Bruges"in'

This past weekend I went to Bruges, Brussels...the 'Venice of the north'!  I went with 5 friends, but ended up meeting with countless other Miami students, as about 75% of the campus went to Bruges this weekend!  We left Friday around 3pm and made our way via train through Brussels and eventually to Bruges that evening.  We walked to the hostel, dropped our bags, and went out for our first night on the town.  On the way to the market square, we passed an old church that was all lit up, and in front of it was a stage and bleachers...they had an opera going on!  Not a fan of opera, but it was definitely a once in a lifetime experience!  After going to a bar that is known for its over 300 different beers, we went to the local disco bar...  They played almost all American music, or straight techno.  It was an awesome time, and after that we called it a night.

Saturday consisted of us renting bikes and riding in the direction of the beach...turns out 

we were about 15 km short of the beach, even after riding for about an hour and a half.  We decided to wave off the beach idea, so we turned around and grabbed lunch in the local little town, Damme, Belgium.  We then returned to Bruges, returned our bikes, and made our way up the city central tower, a whopping 366 steps.  The views were 360 degrees, and were absolutely incredible, as you can see in this picture below!  From the tower, we then headed to the famous chocolate shops that can be found everywhere in Bruges.  We then took a boat tour of the city, which was very interesting.  It started to rain right as we got done, so we headed back to the 

hostel for a power nap, and then went out for the second round that night!  It was very eventful and we of course had a ton of fun...how can you not when you're in Europe?!  Sunday morning we got our traditional Belgium waffles for breakfast, then caught the train back to Luxembourg by late afternoon.

We have a long week of classes this week, then going to Oktoberfest this coming weekend in Germany.  Looking forward to yet another great weekend, so I'll get back on next week and let you know how Germany was.  How is everything in the states?  Everyone doing well?  Send me an email and let me know how everything is going!!