Belgium….check!

So yesterday I was so sleep deprived, running didn’t happen but today I found a really nice place to run. There is a park in Lille called Parc de la Citadelle that is awesome for running. It isn’t like all the other parks I have seen in France thus far that are lovely and picturesque but so small for running that you just do circles. This park was larger and had many different trails that I can explore! WOOO

Lille is in northern France almost on the border of Belgium so we figured we would take this opportunity to see another country. Multiple people including Neana advised me to go to Bruges over Brussels so we took that advice and were quite pleased with it.

The buildings in Bruges have amazing style with so much character. I think it is called gabble style buildings that was what I found so charming. We didn’t really do much of anything while there but I loved our visit anyways. We ate at this little restaurant called Craenenburg where we all had soup because it was frigid out today. We were definitely not in France proven by this dining experience because they were rushing us along and gave us our bill with our food and even brought the next people over to take our table and we hadn’t even left. It was just so different then in France where they never rush you when it comes to eating. You will never even get your check unless you request it. You couldn’t literally sit in a café all day and not be bothered.

Belgium is very well known for their chocolates and I literally don’t think I’ve ever been somewhere with some many little chocolatiers before. Ever few steps there was yet another one! It is hard to choose which one to pick when the options are endless. I ended up sampling some at Stef’s chocolatier for the sole reason that my sister’s name is Stephanie! And Stef has proven to make some mighty good chocolates!

There were also tons of cute little lace shops because Bruges has long been known for its homemade bobbin lace. We walked by the canal and were enjoying admiring the city but it was just far too cold for us to last much longer so again we took refuge indoors and got to sit right by a fireplace and drink some hot chocolate. Inside this restaurant the ceiling was adorned with these very weird spinning wreaths. I can’t say I’ve ever seen anything like it.