Feliz Compleanos a BRENNA!!!!

gingerbread buildings in Brugges!!

So after a wonderful stay in Amsterdam, we left on my birthday and took a bus ride to Brugges.  Well, it was supposed to be a short bus ride, however due to the blizzard that was raging during our travel, it took quite a bit longer.   We arrived in Brugges just in time to check into our hostel, grab an adult beverage, and get some dinner before the whole city shut down.  So, that is exactly what we did!  We got to this adorable town around 6 in the evening and took the shuttle into the downtown area.  Now, ladies and gentleman, if you have never had the fortunate opportunity to walk around inside of a snow globe, I suggest you try it.  It turns out it's my favorite thing to do during the holidays!!  We got to our hostel and checked in, put our stuff down, and grabbed a drink in the hostel bar while we planned our stay out.  After that we walked around in the snow for a bit and set our sights on grabbing some dinner.  We stumbled in to a wonderfully adorable local place where the food was great and the Belgian beer was even better.  After that we took about a million pictures of the buildings that had an uncanny resemblance to gingerbread houses and made our way to the only bar that was still open after the ripe time of 10PM.  Everyone was staring at us and it didn't take long before a nice man approached us and quickly informed us that hats were not allowed in their fine establishment.  whoops. we took our hats off and stayed a while.  We pounded a few more beers, grabbed a shot or two and went on to yet another bar that surprisingly was hiding from us during our search for a warm place to go for a beer.  We walked inside and sat down in the only seats that were free.  They also just happened to be right next to the only man in Brugges wearing a skirt.  He was dressed in traditional Scottish garb and had a matching accent to boot.  He asked us where from the states we were from and we told him.  I said I was from the great state of Ohio and he promptly informed me that he had family living in Sandusky, OH.  Crazy small world, no?  We talked for a while on why Ohio was the greatest state in all of the US and after an hour or two we were on our way back to the hostel.  The next day we spent walking around the snow globe and checking out EVERYTHING there was to see in Brugges.  I got a brat which was obviously madatory in Belgium and we saw the amazing windmills that were there.  It was a great city and I can't wait to go back...only in the snow.  And with a significant other because it was just toooo freaking beautiful to explore it without one!  We grabbed a paper funnel full of fries (french fries were invented in Belgium, who would have guessed!?!) which were just out of this world, and boarded the train to Brussels.