Het Brugse Ommeland

Off to find Belgium waffles in Bruges! Or Brugge? As I researched, I was confused on which city to visit or if they were the same place or not. Even navigating was tricky, because the train listed both names. Come to find out it goes by two names depending on which country you come from. The Dutch and German call it Brugge, while the French and English call it Bruges.

What a beautiful city! Windmills, boating on the canal with swans, playing at the park, strolling the cobblestone streets, drinking local beer (often cheaper than water or soda around here) and eating waffles were just some of the things on our agenda for the day.

We wondered towards the city center taking in the architecture, history and the constant smell of waffles & chocolate that swirled around us. We sat in the Market Square people watching as horse hooves clopped across the cobblestone. Addy and I love that sound!

Dozens of chocolate specialty shops surrounded us as we explored the town, so of course we tried some. Well, everyone except for Adalynn of course. She could not relate to this city's love of chocolate. They even have a museum called the Belgium Chocolate Story here! My favorite chocolate in Belgium has been the bar Demi gave me earlier this week, but the caramel filled truffle today was very good too.

We tried two waffles today. The first from House of Waffles while on the go. It was dense with something caramelized on it's surface that made it heavenly. We added whipped cream and strawberries on top for the girls. We let Addy pick the toppings since she did not have any treats because she loathes chocolate. This waffle was rich and full of flavor. Delicious! Later in the day, we tried our second one as we dined in at Lizzie's Wafels. They brought out little containers for the girls pre-wafel that had animal crackers and candy that resembled circus peanuts. Seth ordered pancakes and waffles for us all to share. Both were ginormous and almost too much for the five of us to finish. Both were delicious, but the first waffle of the day wins for me. The pancakes came with a brown sugar crumble powder. The pancakes were crepe like but with a bit more fluff. Sooo yummy!!! I would definitely order those again!

Next, we hopped on a boat to see Bruges by water on the Zeebrugge (aka Boudewijn) canal. We rode under the lowest and oldest bridges of Bruges. Swans and cygnets stood on the banks nearby and few ventured into the water. These birds are protected here. According to the boat captain, if you kill one of them, you get five years in prison. That is serious! The boat ride was informative and relaxing. Many of the buildings here are original, as they were lucky enough to avoid the bombings during the World Wars.

We enjoyed the sunny, breezy 18 degree (trying to teach my brain to convert to Celsius) weather as spent most of our day outdoors. We played at the park, ran over bridges and climbed stairs to see a windmill.

After this full day, we were all tuckered out and ready for one more chill day in Belgium before we are off to see another country.Read more