Maddy’s post on Dover, England – Brugge, Belgium

We stayed at the Bleriot’s Bed and Breakfast in Dover, which we think was an old house with eight or nine rooms. The next morning, after brekkie (which for me was cereal and juice) we drove to the Port of Dover, got a ticket, and drove the car onto a huge “P&O” ship and after we made sure the truck was safe, went up to the top deck of the boat.

Once inside, we strolled around the thing and found a place where we could have coffees and hot chocolates (on the boat!). As the ship moved roughly through the waves, Raffy and I both fell asleep. Finally, we woke up a few minutes before the boat stopped over in Calais, France, which was where we were going to drive off.

That same day, we stopped over in Dunkirk, France for lunch and it was so windy that I ate my lunch in the car (we usually eat it outside of the car). That night we slept in Brugge, an old historic town in Belgium. For dinner that night, we looked around for a place to eat and chose a place that already had Halloween decorations up. Dad had Moules et Frites (mussles and chips, yummmm) Raf and I got pasta and mum got an onion soup.

(Mum, Raf and I in front of a cathedral, Brugge)

The next morning, we got up, had breakfast downstairs at the hotel, and then went exploring. Walking out of the hotel and onto the street was a bit frantic because whenever you thought it was safe to cross the road, a bike or electric scooter came hurtling past you at a million kilometres an hour! Anyway once we had safely crossed the road, we walked into the old city centre, (which was a big square with cathedrals and other old buildings) where I window shopped so much that if I really bought it all I would end up with a life time supply of Belgian chocolate! Still, it wouldn’t be too bad…

(Raffy and I staring hungrily at a chocolate T-rex)

After exploring the old city square and wondering how on earth they got those ancient buildings so tall without even using one single forklift, we started walking back to the hotel to get the bags and get ready to leave. After a morning of exploring we got in the car and headed off for Amsterdam.

When I’m older, Brugge is definitely on my “to visit” list. It is so pretty and there are so many places I didn’t get to visit that I really wanted to go to. I would like to go inside the hundreds of years old cathedrals and see all the other museums.