Taking my Parents’ Advice

I like to think I take my parents’ advice more often than not.  I am very fortunate to have parents that taught me and encourage me to be independent but they also don’t hesitate to give me advice when I ask for it (and sometimes when I don’t as well).  Getting my parents’ advice for traveling in Europe was very helpful since my dad lived in Belgium for 18 months before my parents got married.  Dad traveled quite a bit while in Europe and mom visited a few times so I figured they knew what they were talking about, especially regarding Belgium. 

When planning my post-study abroad traveling I really wanted to go to Belgium since my dad had lived there for a bit.  I don’t remember if it was a suggestion to go to Brugge or just a mention that it was one of my parents’ favorite cities but we decided to go to Brugge for one of the days we were in Belgium.  I’m very glad we did.  It was a very nice little city and was a nice change in pace after spending the day before walking around Paris. 

Brugge, Belgium 

There were a good number of tourists in Brugge but locals were still present.  One adorable old lady old lady saw Sarah taking my picture and stopped to ask if we wanted her to take our picture.  Since Belgium doesn’t seem to have one language that is more common than the others she listed 3 or 4 different languages so she knew which to use to talk to us.  She also pointed out the oldest house in Brugge which was right on the main square. 

Picture taken by the adorable old lady

While in Brugge we got waffles because you have to when in Belgium.  I got a delicious waffle drowning in delicious chocolate syrup.  After that it was time to move on to the food and beer suggestions from my parents.  We had fries with curry sauce which were delicious (we ended up getting more today in Brussels).  The first night we were in Brussels we got some beer at the hostel bar (yeah, the hostel had a bar which was pretty great and not nearly as creepy as the bar at the Paris hostel) but they didn’t have either of the kind my parents suggested.  We made sure to find a place for dinner that served both kind that my parents suggested and my goodness, Belgian beer is good.  I ended up getting more beer at the hostel that night.  Of the 6 kinds I tried, the raspberry and peach beers were the best. 

From telling Joe he was impressed that I had started liking beer.  I told him that I liked good beer.  I may just be my father’s daughter after all.  Maybe after getting back from Europe I’ll be more likely to try different kinds of beer but I’m sure they won’t compare.  (Really there is only one way to find out, right?)