Binder Family Travel Adventures

After spending three days in Amsterdam, we feel like it worked out our flight was switched. Giving that city only one day would not have been enough. In summary, I would say the canals are the best part, Van Gogh was the highlight of the art, and the chocolate and fries were overrated.

We set an alarm to ensure we would not sleep past 8 am today. It worked, we all begrudgingly got up and got moving when the alarm went off.

Then off to train to our next destination, Bruges. Unfortunately the car that picked us up to drive us to the station was in no hurry and the train station was under construction so we had to walk a whole city block to the other entrance because the one we were dropped at was not open…after rushing…we got to the platform just in time to watch the train doors close and the train take off…15 seconds too late…good thing that train runs every hour- so we just had to waste an hour- then we were on our way.

We arrived in Bruges early afternoon, dropped our luggage at our hotel, Hotel Casselbergh, fun fact our hotel is a former royal residence, information from their website; Between 1656 and 1659, Bruges quietly became a royal city. King Charles II of England, Scotland, and Ireland held court in House Casselbergh, accompanied by his brothers: James, Duke of York, and Henry, Duke of Gloucester.

Enough about that. We dropped our luggage off at our hotel and headed out to explore, and Bruges did not disappoint!!

No first day in Belgium would be complete if we didn’t try waffles on a stick, waffles with ice cream, and an assortment of chocolates…

We spent about two hours walking around town. There were public water fountains where you could refill your water bottle. The kids would not drink the water fearing who may drink from them. That was a fun conversation during our entire walk. We spent the evening sitting on a bench people watching and listening to the bell tower every 15 minutes. The kids were able to pet a bunch of dogs. While we had a minor hiccup to start off the day, everything worked out in Bruges.