The next morning we set out to find breakfast. Now you would think I would have learned from our dinner escapade the night before, but I didn’t. Even though there was a perfectly lovely restaurant at the hotel, I really wanted find an outdoor café near a canal to have our Belgium waffles. We circled around and around but most of the café’s near the water were only serving beer, yes beer, at ten o’clock in the morning! I was rescued once again by a boutique hotel restaurant situated right next to a picturesque canal.
Sadly, it was time to check out of the Crown Plaza. We stored our luggage in the car and went back out. We had seen most of the city by then so we decided to take a tour of the Halve Maan Brewery. We got a bit turned around trying to find the place. As we wandered up and down the cobblestone streets I couldn’t help but feel like we were on movie set filming an adaptation of a Jane Austen novel.
Insert bossy director type voice here:
Ok people, we’ve got a hot set here. Let’s set up this shot; camera one ready in the alley?
We arrived at the brewery just before a tour was starting, but we decided to sit in the outdoor café and have a beer to rest our feet for a bit, then take the next tour.
Two beers and a pile of cheese cubes later we queued up. These tour groups were separated by language, which made things move along nicely. This is a working brewery, but part of it is preserved as a museum.
The tour was not for the meek, there were tiny steep stairways that we had to navigate. This would be dodgy under the best of circumstances but keep in mind we had just drank two beers.
As we made our way up we were delightfully surprised. We stepped out on the roof for the most breathtaking view of Bruges.
We wound down the stairs and the tour was over, but there was one more thing your ticket got you…a beer. That makes three!
After walking around a bit more (to wear off the beer buzz), it was time to go.
We wanted to see the coast before heading back to the Netherlands so we decided to drive an extra hour and head west to the beach at Oodsend. We found a place to park near the water.
We walked on the beach and dipped our feet into the North Sea .
Time to drive on back to the Netherlands to our last stop, Eindhoven.
More great commentary to go along with great pix!
Thanks, Ellie!
Again a great tour!
Thanks, Donna ; )
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