DAY 5- Friday, April 15th

Amsterdam was so yesterday man. It was time to take the 11:23 train to Bruges, Belgium. I arrived at my destination at 3, and the weather had taken another turn for the worst- cold, dark, rainy. Yup, my three favorite. It took me a while to figure out which bus to take from the station in order to get to a stop near my hostel, and after (literally) standing in the rain for a while, my common sense prevailed and I found the correct bus. What I would do without the detailed instructions inside my Let’s Go guidebook, I do not know. I’d probably still be stuck in Bruges somewhere.

By the time my bus arrived near the Bauhaus Hostel after a 10 minute ride, the rain had curtailed and the sun was peeking through the storm clouds. Once I checked in, it took me a good 10 minutes to find a toilet on the premises. I found one on the top floor, and I didn’t find the one on my floor, which was very well hidden a half a level down from me, until the next morning.

It was already too late to visit any museums- they all close by 4 or 5pm, so I walked around the city and tried to take in as much as I could. Bruges is known as one of the most romantic cities in all of Europe, but it didn’t do a decent job romancing me, that’s for sure. It’s also renowned for its lace and, well, you must all know how much I love and appreciate fine lace. Some of the architecture was interesting, and there were plenty of gothic looking castles in the area, but it didn’t blow me away by any means. Perhaps I was already a tad travel-weary from my stay in Amsterdam, but I enjoyed the change of scenery from Turkey. Almost no building in Izmir is older than 30 or 40 years old- either the old architecture was damaged in earthquakes or they tore them down to build duplexes and high-rise apartment buildings made of concrete and cement. The whole city, it’s just cement as far as the eye can see. And in still-developing neighborhoods (and there are many), there’s rebar all over the place.

I had some savoury beef stew and fries at a small restaurant recommended by Let’s Go called Chips and Ice. I was the only customer in the joint. It was the first time I had meat since I landed in Europe. The previous 4 days I had subsisted on the hostel breakfast, french fries, and falafel sandwiches from this inexpensive chain restaurant called Maoz Falafel. Everything was so expensive in Amsterdam so I stuck to two meals a day and didn’t eat all that much.

After the meal, which I found more than filling, I just walked around some more, snapped a few photos of interesting looking buildings, and made my way back to the hostel to call it a night (I know, real thrilling, huh?). I was a little bored myself. It didn’t get dark in Amsterdam or Bruges until 9pm, which threw me, since it was only the middle of April. If it’s bright this late at night now, how late is sundown in the middle of June?! Anyway, I started reading my highly entertaining book about the 1986 Mets and called it a night.