The first day in Belgium was spent by taking a train an hour to Bruges. We were going to drive there but since it was so hard to park in Brussels we decided to just take the train and not bother getting the car out.

Bruges is a very cute city. It was a lot bigger than I thought it would be. It was a little rainy but not too bad. We took a boat trip on the canal which was very interesting. Our driver was very good at explaining his city and the history. They built the city before the canal was there and then they let the water in. Bruges also didn’t have any damage from the wars so the town is very old but everything is in very good shape. As with a lot of European cities, the houses used to be taxed based on the number of windows. Some of the houses still have the windows bricked over even though they don’t tax on windows anymore. Also, some of the houses will have a very small window at the top. Those windows were for pigeons to bring messages during the war.

Bruges is a great day trip option. The boat canal trip was fun and short. It was pretty impressive that they take the boat under some of the bridges. Some of the people had to duck to not hit their head. I don’t think I ever get bored walking by all the chocolate and waffle shops. I have never seen so many chocolate shops in one day!