We were up early to drive to Ebbsfleet to catch the Eurostar to Brussels. It was on time arriving but arrived in Brussels about 15 mins late. We then found the train that would take us to Bruges. It was packed and we had to stand the whole way (about an hour).
Once in Bruges, we caught a taxi to the hotel where we booked in and dropped our bags off before going off to explore the city.
Bruges is a very pedestrian friendly city and nothing is too far away from anything else. The hotel is on one of the canals and we followed the canal into the city centre. We stopped for a bite to eat at quite a nice café - we had a baguette and a drink each - and then went for a wander around some of the local tourist attractions, starting with St Janshospital, a large building that used to be a hospital in the middle ages.
We then went to Onze Lieve Vrouwekerk, which has one of the few Michelangelo sculptures outside Italy. It also has some excavations showing graves beneath the church. From there we went to the Basilica of the Holy Blood, where they have a phial containing the dried blood of Christ.
We went back to the hotel and up to our room. Its okay, but its certainly not a four star like we're used to, and if its a superior room, I'd hate to see a standard one.
Shortly after we went out for something to eat - Bruges isn't a great place for veggies - and we ended up at a café having omellette and chips.
After that we returned to the hotel for the night.
