3 Countries in less than 3 hours.

Living in Europe definitely has more than a few benefits. One of those being the fact that you can visit and experience many different nations and cultures within a days drive! I rode on the Euro Tunnel train for the first time without any explanation to how our car would get across the channel. :P Little did I know that we drive our car right onto the train and sit in it while we dive a few hundred feet below the water's surface for an easy half hour ride. Val had the great idea of driving our cars onto planes when we fly so everyone gets their own space! Although I'm pretty sure that would take up a lot more space and gasoline...
Anyways, we came out of the tunnel onto French soil! The port is in Calais, France. It was beautiful to drive through the French countryside as we made our way to Brugge, Belgium. I had never been to France and will hopefully get to do more exploring there someday, but we watched a gorgeous sunset before driving over the border.
Brugge is really a cute place - cobble-stoned streets, bike roads, canals, bridges, teashops, clock towers, WAFFLES and homemade chocolate on every corner, and even some horse-drawn carriages! Flemish is the language mostly spoken there (I guess it's sort of a combination of French and Dutch), though almost everyone we interacted with knew some if not perfect English. I'm sure the majority also know more than two or three languages. That fascinated me actually! To be in a place where I couldn't understand a word made me want to learn how to speak in five different languages!
My Uncle Steve, cousin Dan, Val, Audrey and I went out to a nice dinner a few blocks from our hotel. The primer/appetizer they brought out was a salmon puree or mousse; not the most appetizing appetizer to me. But I did try it and gave the rest of it to sixteen-month-old Audrey who somehow loved it! We did get some awesome mushroom soup that was almost as good as my moms. :) I tried a Belgian beer with a Brill fish and potato dish that was all very good. To top it off my uncle and I split a lemon sorbet doused in champagne for dessert. To say the least we were all very happily filled!
The next day us girls (Val, Audge, and I) walked around the cute town and did some shopping. We found some treasures and tasted some great Belgian chocolates (which may or may not make it back home with me.. :P). A smoked ham and goat cheese panini was the perfect meal to tide us over until an afternoon Belgian waffle dessert. Tell me what is better than eating a Belgian waffle topped with icing sugar, whipped cream, and fresh strawberries in Belgium?! It definitely left us with good thoughts of Brugge as we headed back to the UK!

Belgian waffles in Brugge...

...need I say more