I am a breathing time machine, I'll take you all for a ride

Sorry I've been lagging with the updates, I will try to get better with this whole blog thing.

Last Saturday IES took us to the small town of Bruges, which is just north of Brussel and a nice, short train ride away. Bruges is very small (about 20,000 resident) and quaint. One of the historical facts the guide told us that stuck out in my mind was that you could use a map of the city from the 1700's to get around today. This totally blew me away. Going to Bruges wasn't exactly like going back in time, the building's didn't look older than others we have seen in Brussels but there was an innate coziness and warmth to the town despite the chilly rainy day we experienced. Our tour was quite short and we were able to spend the afternoon exploring Bruges; mainly sampling chocolate, waffles and beer but we did manage to stop in some beautiful churches as well.

I took this photo inside an old convent, the trees were huge and beautiful and I was a bit obsessed.



A cool pulpit from one of the churches in Bruges

The main square in Bruges

This Saturday I went to the Atomium which is a monument in Brussels that was built for the 1958 world fair and recently restored to its former glory. The top sphere has spectacular views of the city; on a clear day you can see as far as Antwerp. We did exactly that and we lucked out; it snowed the night before and it was clear which made for some great photos.

The view from the top sphere!


I loved all of the lines the Atomium created with the sky

Besides these weekend excursions I've been mainly getting into a routine here and starting to plan some trips (!). Hopefully there will be more news and adventures to come.