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OK, so, before I begin my recollection of today's activities, please be advised that if you are highly nutritionally minded you may to look away at some point, as today Esther & I took full advantage of Belgium's reputation for amazing chocolate, beer, waffles, & frites! Yes, that's right, all of them. And it was AMAZING!
The first item on today's agenda was the chocolate factory, as you do when you're in Belgium! But we got distracted on the way by a sign outside a store proclaiming to sell the "best ever hot chocolate". Well now, that's a pretty big claim to make, so we decided to test this so-called "best ever hot chocolate" for quality control. Turns out that was absolutely no exaggeration whatsoever. Think of the scene in the old (& best) Gene Wilder version of Charlie & the Chocolate where Augustus Gloop falls in the chocolate river - well it's like that, like molten chocolate amazingness!
We also then discovered a lovely market in the centre of Bruge selling fresh fruit & vegetables, lots of flowers, giant chunks of meat, cheese galore, & small yum potato gems of goodness…but more on that later! It's easy to get distracted in Bruges given that you can walk from one end to the other in about 20 minutes & pretty much anywhere you want to go in 5 minutes walk away from where you are at any given point. It's been described as the Disneyland of Europe, & it kinda is like that really! All small, quaint, gorgeous little houses & winding, narrows cobblestone streets - it's a little kitsch but kinda looks like it's been frozen in time…
OK, so we did actually finally make it to the chocolate factory where we learnt all about the history of the glorious stuff before watching a demonstration of how to make pralines with the hollow moulds then squeezing the praline in then sealing up the bottom with chocolate. The guy doing the demo was amazing & simply asked around the see what languages people spoke before conducting the whole thing in a mixture of French, English, & Dutch! Oh, & of course the best part was the sampling at the end - definitely another tick of approval! :)
After a bit of a chocolate overload & some sugar high jitters I decided to switch to potatoes…tiny, baked, soft, yummy, potato things in spices & other yum stuff that were just generally yum! They're a type of round Belgium "frites"…sort of a twist on what we'd normally think of as fries…I'll be trying the more traditional kind of fries tomorrow at the Frites Museum! :D
I then went back to our hostel briefly to join Mum, Matt, Nigel, Lija, & Tom on a skype date around the dinner table in Perth…and Esther once again fell into the H&M trap! Swear to God I leave that girl alone for 2 seconds and she comes back with a new hat/dress/pair of sunglasses…haha Anyway, they tried in vain to taunt me with the Nanna's apple pie & custard they were having for desert at home in Perth, but I just went out afterwards & had a true Belgian waffles with caramel & whipped cream, which I feel trumps that hands down any day! (Ner nerny ner ner! :P haha)
After chocolate, waffles, & frites, I had only beer left to complete by Belgian gastronomic experience, so we headed to De Halve Maan (the Half Moon) brewery for a tour, which was lead by a lovely local with a very dry, witty sense of humour. The tour ended with a free glass of beer for everyone, after which we were feeling a little hoppy (ha ha yes I know - her joke not mine! :P). We also went to another little bar, which is frequented by locals & is tucked away down a little alleyway (Helvetica style) to try some fruit infused beers - Esther had raspberry & I had peach. I'm not entirely convinced there was any beer in that drink at all…it kinda just tasted like fruit juice/cider/soft drink haha But hey! It was certainly tasty!
So feeling very full & satisfied, we rolled back to our hostel to sleep off our day of indulgence & get ready for tomorrow's cycling tour, which should help kick-start a mini detox. Although we will be having frites at the frites museum in the afternoon, which will be kinda like our version of going to a methadone clinic…I mean, you don't just wanna pull someone off ALL Belgian deliciousness cold turkey after all!! :P
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