Monday, 28 April 2014

From Brussel to Bruges


Hello Blogging World!!

I am home from yet again another wonderful travel adventure! This weekend my Au Pair friends and I packed into a car and took a road trip through Belgium visiting Brussel and Bruges along the way. What an adventure it truly was!

Friday morning we meet in the city of Krefeld and by 11:30 we were on the road. We arrived in Brussel in the afternoon, parked the car and headed into the city to do some exploring. We walked through the Grote Markt Van Brussel and grabbed some beers in a local Pub. We then found the “Manneken Pis” and as expected were baffled as to why the statue has such popularity. After indulging in some famous Belgian waffles and chocolate we were headed to our hosts’ home. We cooked dinner and shared conversation over tea with our host, his friends and the other surfer that was staying the night. It was great to be able to meet so many travellers and hear their travel stories and experiences.  

Saturday morning after breakfast and an hour of braiding each other’s hair we were headed back to the center of the city. We wandered Brussels for a couple more hours, visited the Atomium and then were on the road again, en route to Bruges. We arrived in Bruges in the evening, found our hostel and then grabbed dinner. Later on we decided to check out Bruges night life and were disappointed to find out there is no such thing as Bruges night life. We found ourselves in some local bars and pubs and later finally decided to call it a night.

Sunday morning we spent wandering the city. From canals to antique homes and cobblestone streets, Bruges was truly beautiful and enchanting, definitely one of my favourite cities.

In the afternoon we decided to start heading back to Germany blissfully unaware of the adventure we were about to face… About an hour into the drive we noticed the engine of the car was abnormally hot, afraid that it would overheat, we took the next exit and decided to give the car a break for a while. After heading back on the motorway again we noticed our break did very little to help the engine and we were experiencing the same problem. So we took the very same exit and decided to seek out some help. If it wasn’t for the kindness of strangers we would probably still be stuck in the middle of Antwerp.  A few frantic phone calls, help from three separate strangers, two bottles of oil, one bottle of water and three hours later we were finally on the road again!! So the moral of the story is to ask your dad to teach you about how cars work if you plan to drive long distances…lesson learned! J
Credit must also go out to my brave friend who had the guts to drive us all and endure such car problems.

Grote Markt Van Brussel


 Speculoos Spread Waffle
 Manneken Pis


 At our Hosts place
 Belgium has so many different Beers!!





 A very dangerous place for a Chocolate addict like myself

 At the Atomium

 Bruges













 Uh ohhhhh

 
"We think too much and feel too little. More than machinery, we need humanity. More than cleverness, we need kindness and gentleness."

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Hitch Hiking Meter

I decided to keep track of the Kilometers I've Hitch Hiked!
Inevitably, as the kilometers accumulate so will the stories, experiences and memories I make.

393 km-- Dusseldorf, Germany to Strasbourg, France (2 rides)
393 km-- Strasbourg, France to Dusseldorf, Germany (6 rides)
728 km-- Dusseldorf, Germany to Copenhagen, Denmark (5 rides, 1 ferry and one night with a wonderfully hospitable family)
864 km-- Copenhagen, Denmark to Dusseldorf, Germany (10 rides)
42 km-- Copenhagen, Denmark to Malmo, Sweden (1 ride)
42 km-- Malmo, Sweden to Copenhagen, Denmark (1 ride)
1, 200 km-- Berlin, Germany to Zagreb, Croatia (11 rides and one night camping out on a rest stop on the Autobahn)
162 km-- Zagreb, Croatia to Plitvice Lakes National Park, Croatia (2 rides)
180 km-- Plitvice Lakes National Park, Croatia to Opatija, Croatia (3 rides)
1, 140 km-- Icici, Croatia to Kaarst, Germany (5 rides)
434 km-- Düsseldorf, Germany to Magdeburg, Germany (4 rides)
434 km-- Magdeburg, Germany to Düsseldorf, Germany
471 km-- Freiburg, Germany to Düsseldorf, Germany (3 rides)
76 km-- Düsseldorf, Germany to Königswinter, Germany (2 rides)
76 km-- Königswinter, Germany to Düsseldorf, Germany (3 rides)
558 km-- Berlin, Germany to Düsseldorf, Germany (4 rides)
558 km-- Düsseldorf, Germany to Berlin, Germany (3 rides)
502 km-- Thessaloniki, Greece to Athens, Greece (4 rides)
762 km-- Athens, Greece to Korce, Albania (5 rides)
48 km-- Korce, Albania to Stenje, Macedonia (2 rides)
58 km-- Stenje, Macedonia to Ohrid, Macedonia (2 rides)
121 km-- Strugga, Macedonia to Tirana, Albania (3 rides)
94 km-- Tirana, Albania to Skodra, Albania (2 rides)
209 km-- Skodra, Albania to Dubrovnik, Croatia (9 rides)
1, 713km-- Dubrovnik, Croatia to Düsseldorf, Germany (13 rides)
1,095km--Düsseldorf, Germany to Warsaw, Poland
313km--Warsaw, Poland to Oswiecim (Auschwitz), Poland
128km--Oswiecim, Poland to Zakopane, Poland
109km--Zakopane, Poland to Krakow, Poland
562km-- Berlin, Germany to Düsseldorf, Germany

Total to date-- 13,465 km hitched!