Day 26: Bruges, Belgium (Chocolate and Waffles galore!)

Today we traveled to the town of Bruges in Belgium and it was a generally low key day.  The bus ride was very quiet (everyone was sleeping) and it rained a bit on our way, but wasn't raining when we reached Bruges which was good.  I did see a Belgium motorcycle gang pass us as we were driving and they had pretty cool jackets with "Outlaw Belgium" on the back. I didn't get a picture though because I couldn't get my phone out fast enough.  

As we entered Bruges we ended up having to wait for a bridge because there were boats going by so it moved to let them through and then moved back so we could drive across.  

The town of Bruges is actually really cute and most of the buildings seem really old.  We saw a couple old cathedrals and governmental buildings, but I don't really know anything about them because we don't have a guided tour here like with the other cities (we are only here for today and leave for Paris tomorrow morning). 

We did get to go to a chocolate museum though to learn about the history of chocolate, starting with the Mayans and Aztecs and going all the way up to how chocolate was made in Belgium and how it is made today.  

We also got a cool demonstration on how they make chocolate and got a few samples that were super good! 

There was also a quiz to find our chocolate match and mine is Milk Chocolate with some sort of caramel or hazelnut filling (so if you want to buy my chocolate, that's the chocolate most suited to me). 

After the tour I went out on a mission to find some waffles and I did! I got one with strawberries and it was covered in honey and really good, I don't think waffles at home will ever be the same again. 

Then I bought some Belgium chocolate at a local chocolate shop and I actually got to talk to the woman who made the chocolate I bought. She was super nice and we talked about how US chocolate isn't good and she told me that when she went to the US and tried chocolate it wasn't good and she ended up going to the store and buying ingredients to make her own chocolate for her family while they were in the US. I thought it was so funny and she assured me that the chocolate I had bought was 100% chocolate with no extra preservatives or anything like that.  

After I ended up heading back to the hotel room to get to bed early because the next 3 days in Paris are going to be non stop.