brugge

So far, the weirdest thing about this trip is the time adjustment. So in addition to my body thinking it's 16:00 instead of 22:00, the sun doesn't set here until about 22:30. Right now, it looks like 20:00 in Virginia. Basically, I have no idea what time it is, but probably as soon as I lay down I will fall dead asleep.

Today we took the train out to Brugge, about an hour away. It was much more touristy than Leuven, a quality I definitely try to stay away from when traveling. We saw some good stuff, though. I ate a good amount of Belgian specialties, including Freitjes (french fries + mayo. The Belgians are really into this, to the point of having Frituur, restaurants for only this), mussels, and truffles. Expecting to gain weight over (at least) this part of the trip, whatever.

The highlight was climbing 366 stairs in the Belfry of Brugge to a fantastic view of the city. Red roofs forever, and then some windmills:

Tomorrow we're going to Brussels and I am going to eat a Belgian waffle. From what I've seen, the waffle : whipped cream ratio is about 1:1. Belgians really like whipped cream.