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3/22/16 | Bruges, Belgium

#bruges #belgium #sunset #city skyline #old city

3/22/16 | Bruges, Belgium

We got crazy lucky to have this whole place to ourselves. Definitely an unusual hostel experience. We’re just grateful that we had a place to stay in Bruges our second night, so we didn’t have to drive back into the fray in Brussels.

#hostel #bruges #belgium #apartment

03/22/16 | Bruges, Belgium

The adorable Blackbird Cafe of Bruges, and an amazing carbo-loaded breakfast. It reminded us of the Blackbird Cafe near our university!

#food #travel #bruges #belgium #blackbird

Bruges: day 8-9, #beernotfear

We had set an alarm for 9:30pm, with the intention of sleeping in a little before exploring Bruges for a few more hours and hopping back on the train towards Brussels. Srna woke up before all alarms, scrolled through instagram, looked for cafes around the hostel for breakfast (and stumbled upon the Blackbird Cafe - so cute), and tried to keep quiet so that Lindsey could get as much sleep as she needed.

S: All of a sudden I got a facebook message from one of my friends that lives in Leuven, that just said “Hey, are you okay?”. I thought to myself, huh.. that’s pretty strange. I went on to respond with, “Yeah, I’m great - how are you?!”... only to stop myself mid-message and think “oh no”. I immediately typed the word “Brussels” into google, clicked on “News”, and watched as news of terror flooded my phone screen. I woke Lindsey up and we sat in bed, trying to get a feel of the situation. I immediately called home to make sure everyone was okay, and they were.

We tried to absorb as much of the information that we could, but it all seemed a little bit surreal. We were in the exact same metro just a day before, passing by the same stop. We had passed that stop over 10 times in the last 10 days. Not only that, Lindsey was due to fly out of Brussels Zaventem Airport in two days. We kept our cool, called everyone we could think of that would be worried, and continued to answer the facebook, text, and email messages that poured in. To everyone that thought of us: THANK YOU. We felt your love and care as we tried to calmly go about our day. We headed to the Blackbird Cafe, and sat down to have an amazing breakfast in the sun. We’re talking as extensive as one can get with breakfast - THREE types of pastries (for each of us), ham, cheese, jams, coffee, orange juice - the works! At this point, Bruges still wasn’t feeling the tension and panic that was quickly spreading through Brussels. With news that all trains were shut off, we realized that we were stranded in Bruges and had to come up with a plan of action as soon as we could. We enjoyed our breakfast and research hotel and hostel options. We lucked out and booked a hostel room for the same night, and once our breakfast had settled, we were on our way to discover our new hostel.

Once we got there, we realized that there may have been a slight problem with the booking, but the staff at Bauhaus were more than accommodating, and provided us with a room in an apartment. (L: it’s possible that the booking problem was user error...my bad!! When I explained to the woman at the reception desk that we were supposed to be going to Brussels, but needed another night in Bruges, she was extra helpful. So grateful.) The apartments are part of the same building complex, they’re just large, with three double rooms each. Our apartment was incredible, and what was even better was the fact that nobody else checked into the other two rooms, so for less than 50 euros, we ended up with a large apartment to ourselves for the night.

We walked to the nearby grocery store, got some necessities (Babybel cheeses, and clementines - and other dinner groceries), and then settled into our apartment. We had a lot to process, and luckily, we found ourselves with a completely free day, so we lounged, meditated, watched TV, read books, and Lindsey even did some yoga. It was quiet, cozy and comfortable.

L: It’s not often that I have an entire afternoon where, not only do I have nothing scheduled, and there’s nothing that I have to do immediately, but there’s actually nothing to do. We all so rarely have that opportunity. Even when we have an unusually free day with “nothing to do”, there are still always things we think we could/should be doing. When Srna and I settled in for the afternoon, I sat on the couch and was struck by the realization: I don’t have to do anything. Nothing. There are no responsibilities that I can fulfill from here. No grading, no class planning, emails, phone calls, writing, nothing. All I’m responsible for right now is making the best decisions considering our health and safety. So I did a guided meditation. And then another one, and another one, and another one. When I’m home, I make time to practice yoga of one form or another (be it meditation, physical yoga, mindfulness in various forms, etc.) every day. But I have to actively make time for it. To have an entire afternoon to devote to practice was the best thing that could have happened in a time where most of the world was responding with fear.

Once we felt like we had gotten enough solitude for the day, we headed downstairs to the hostel bar, ordered a beer and grabbed some playing cards. Srna taught Lindsey to play bridge, and we talked about the concept of “Beer, not fear”. (L: If I had to get a tattoo from this trip, that is 100% what it would say.) Dinnertime rolled around, so we headed back up to our room and devoured the fresh baguettes and groceries we bought earlier. More free time, more TV, dumbing ourselves down with some “Bob’s Burgers” (not that that’s a bad thing, we 100% enjoyed it) - and then heading downstairs again for another beer. The bar was swarming with French kids that couldn’t have been older than 17 or 18. We scoped the place, trying to find anyone we could make friends with, but we really didn’t fit in. Luckily, two is already company, so we were fine enjoying our beer and laughing about what was happening around us. It was nice to keep busy so that we didn’t have to think about the atrocities happening just an hour’s drive away. We also wrote our blog URL on all of the coasters, so if you look us up and find this blog, we advise you to look above the bar and spot the books hanging from the ceiling.

After a strange day of rest and turmoil, we called it quits and got some sleep. Breakfast at this hostel starts at 8, so we set an early alarm, gathered all of our belongings, and headed downstairs to the bar. We ate toast, hard boiled eggs, a number of spreads, and had some much-needed coffee. The next few hours were spend reading / watching Vlogbrothers videos, while we waited to be picked up and taken back to Brussels.

#bruges #brugge #brussels #belgium #beernotfear

03/21/16 | Bruges, Belgium

Making awesome new friends at the Lybeer Hostel, in Bruges!

#friends #travel #hostel #bruges #lybeer

03/21/16 | Bruges, Belgium

Foodies in Bruges

#bruges #food #foodie #travel

03/21/16 | Bruges, Belgium

Srna’s “I’m-so-excited-to-be-here” face.

#S #bruges #belgium #travel #portrait

03/21/16 | Bruges, Belgium

Lindsey and her camera, taking in the views.

#L #bruges #photography #bw

Bruges: day 7

3/21/16 | From Brussels to Bruges, Belgium

Another day of travel before us, and having spent the two days prior just hanging around Brussels, we were ready to get up and go, go, go! A breakfast of protein biscuits, almond butter, coffee, and some thai food leftovers had us feeling energized as we headed out the door, and to the metro station. The metro stop we usually use is Schuman, just one stop away from Maalbeek, the metro stop that witnessed a deadly explosion just a day after we were there. We’ll dedicate a whole post to this event, but for now - let’s resume with our Bruges adventure.

We boarded our train to Bruges, and with headphones is, we soaked up the landscape around us for about an hour. It’s such a change to see windmills, horses and cows, after dodging cars that are driving way too fast on the streets of Brussels. Once we got to Bruges we exited the train station and started walking. The streets of bruges are small, narrow, and laid out like a maze. They all look similar, but only in the sense that they carry a deeply rooted charm. Homes reminiscent of gingerbread houses lined the streets that lead us to our hostel. We took photo after photo or cobblestone streets filled with locals on bikes, as well as tourists hiding behind large paper maps. In this sense, Bruges felt like a movie. Srna said that she wished it was summer and she could run around the cobblestones in lacy sandals and floral dresses. To that, Lindsey responded that she would love to walk around this city in the midst of winter. Snow on rooftops, steamed up windows, and flickers of fireplaces all around. We agreed that both of these images painted magical pictures, and continued to wander and daydream through the fairytale lands.

We got to our hostel, checked into our beautiful room, took a little self-guided tour of the lounge, and almost immediately left to go explore more of Bruges. Our hostel was just a minute away from a shopping street, so we stopped at a few clothing stores as we were making our way down to the historic part of town. We happily walked away with a few bargain pieces from New Look ; two dresses and a workout shirt. We were on a roll. As the shops became fewer, and large, grand churches began surrounding us, we spotted a frozen yogurt shop that was empty because it was pretty cold outside. Nevertheless, we are not ones to turn down fro-yo, so we popped in and filled our little bowls with yummy toppings.

We made it to the Markt, which is the main square in Bruges, and we sat outside with our fro-yo, enjoying the sights around us. On one side was a row of restaurants filled with tourists, on another was the famous 12th century Belfry and nearby stood the Provincial Court. We were immediately attracted to a sign that said “Salvador Dalí museum”, and with absolutely zero hesitation we walked right in. There were a lot of paintings, illustrations, and even sculptures to admire. Srna’s favorite part was the screening of “Un Chien Andalou”, a silent movie known for a really disgusting scene where a woman gets her eyeball sliced (we know, it’s gross - fun fact though: they used a real eyeball for the scene, but that one belonged to a cow). Hungry but happy, we walked out of the museum and kept wandering and exploring the many narrow streets, pretty streams and hidden shops in Bruges. We stumbled upon a choir that sang by one of canals, and we laughed about how they reminded us of our Alma Mater’s choir, the Laurentian Singers. Upon stopping to grab lunch at a random sandwich and salad shop, we realized that the lady behind the counter was in a grumpy mood, but only after Lindsey asked for a salad and she sharply responded “I don’t do salads anymore today” in a thick Dutch accent. Either way, we ate our lunch and continued to wander (are you sensing a theme here? Our feet were more than sore).

We talked about the concept of being a traveler versus being a tourist, and that’s something we really embraced on this trip. Rather than having a list of monuments to see, we took all the little side-streets, witnessed the incense-lighting rituals of a steel drummer, and found our way into a Nepali shop where we bought handmade journals, and other soul-warming objects. We also saw the monuments, but we only looked them up after stumbling upon them.

For that evening, we had decided to splurge and go all-out on a typical Belgian dinner. We’re talking mussels with garlic, frites, white wine, and even a cheeky little (and by little, we mean big) Crème Brûlée. We talked about people in our lives, both past and present, and acknowledged the magic of this amazing trip. After consuming the copious amounts of food on our table, we rolled to a nearby pub, only to see our hostel buddies leaving. We took their lead, headed back to the hostel, took a brief rest, and made our way downstairs to the bar/lounge/living room, where guitar strums and sultry vocals filled the open space. We sang along, and felt like we were back at the Annex once again, our beautiful performing arts home up at St. Lawrence University, where jam sessions are a nothing out of the ordinary.

We stuck around once the music subsided and ended up making a handful of friends! We met Jared and Ethan from Pittsburg, Morton and Will from England, some buddies from Argentina, LA, San Diego and Toronto, which we’re so sad we didn’t retain the names of. We all got to know each other, shared stories of strange hostel bathroom experiences (one including livestock), and talked about our favorite films. Srna weirded everyone out slightly by coming up with “A Clockwork Orange”, and Lindsey got the group giggling with her answer, claiming that he all time favorite film is Finding Nemo. Which it totally is.

Our night ended at the peak of happiness, if only we had known what the next morning had in store for us...

#bruges #travel #belgium #brussels

L: We ended up staying a second night in Brugge/Bruges to play it safe and wait for the dust to settle in Brussels (it’s a little nauseating that that was a literal statement). We just got back, and to say that tensions are high would be an egregious understatement. We’re in for the day, and we’ll get photos and recent updates up once we’ve gotten our things and thoughts organized. Right now, my first priority is to figure out how I’m going to get back to the US...

Safe

We are in Brugge, not Brussels, and have been for the last 24 hours or so. We came yesterday and stayed in a hostel to get a taste of the city - an extremely fortunate coincidence. We'll drive back to Brussels tonight once the city has settled.

3/20/16 | Brussels, Belgium (Place Jourdan)

Sunshiny mornings in Etterbeek (Srna’s neighborhood) have everybody smiling

#etterbeek #brussels #belgium #city square #street music

3/20/16 | Brussels, Belgium (Place Jourdan)

We’ve bumped into these guys three times in the last two days and we fall in love a little more every time. Today when we first passed them, they were playing “When the Saints Go Marching In”! (Shown here!) We’re wondering if they were inspired by a certain someone (not mentioning any names *coughLINDSEYcough*) singing it in a bar on the square last night...

But seriously, if anyone can tell us who these guys are, we’d be so grateful. We’ve found a few videos online and they’re often referred to as “The Gypsies,” with different combinations of guys - but always including the upright bass player, whose name is Mario (obviously).

#street music #brussels #belgium

Brussels: day 6

It’s possible that the day started very slowly and with a little suffering. Once we finally got ourselves (at least looking) alive-alert-awake-enthusiastic, we shuffled down to Place Jourdan to explore the farmers market and get brunch at OR Coffee Roasters. Our first trip through the market was pretty brief, as it was very crowded and we were very hungry! OR is Srna’s favorite hangout, and it’s quite the happening little place. We both had bagels (very different from US bagel experiences, but great nonetheless) and did some people-watching (yet another emerging theme) before heading out into the market.

The sun had come out, and the crowd had thinned. Caffeinated and happily fed, our second trip through the market was much more pleasant. A street band of men playing a sax, an accordion, a travel guitar and an upright bass (that we had seen the day before outside the museum, coincidentally) serenaded a crowd at an outdoor bar/café. (They’re going to get their own post after we’re through writing this one.) We strolled through the stands selling everything from alpaca wool socks to fresh fish to olives to fruit. We bought some flowers to brighten up Srna’s room. The man at the flower stand greeted us with a hearty ¡Buenos días! that resulted in the exchange that followed (with Lindsey) to happen in an amusing mash-up of French, Spanish, and English. Spirits were high, and as we walked away from the square, a man with a vegetable stand sang La Vie en Rose to us as we walked by.

We did a little walking tour of the neighborhood just as an excuse to be outside some more, before heading home to review some photos, color in our city maps, and record the last two days’ worth of tales over tea. Today is a day for an authentic Sunday Brussels experience. It’s chilly and overcast again, the flowers are on the table, the candles and twinkly lights are warming our souls, snapchat told us that today is the International Day of Happiness, the music is low, and we’re feeling good.

The night ended with Thai food takeout and a movie. Seems to us like quiet Sundays are the same no matter where you are.

#brussels #belgium #travel blog #sundays

3/19/16 | Brussels, Belgium

L: This is the view from Srna’s balcony (possibly in the wee hours of the morning...), and I’ll never, ever get sick of it. I’m perpetually rocked with waves of gratitude for the opportunity to experience this country, and I’m excited for the days to come in this adventure. I know we’re doing a decent job of recounting our days’ tales, but there aren’t words to really explain what this has been like for me. It’s a big turning point in my life to be able to do things like this - run off on my own and explore a whole new country with a friend that lives 3500 miles away. Almost a week into the trip, it’s only just beginning to set in that this is real, and hopefully, it’s only the beginning. One of my favorite quotes ever is from a letter written by Christopher McCandless that’s published in Jon Krakauer’s Into the Wild (if you’ve never read it, I strongly recommend that you rectify that immediately).

I'd like to repeat the advice that I gave you before, in that I think you really should make a radical change in your lifestyle and begin to boldly do things which you may previously never have thought of doing, or been too hesitant to attempt. So many people live within unhappy circumstances and yet will not take the initiative to change their situation because they are conditioned to a life of security, conformity, and conservatism, all of which may appear to give one peace of mind, but in reality nothing is more damaging to the adventurous spirit within a man than a secure future. The very basic core of a man's living spirit is his passion for adventure. The joy of life comes from our encounters with new experiences, and hence there is no greater joy than to have an endlessly changing horizon, for each day to have a new and different sun. If you want to get more out of life... you must lose your inclination for monotonous security and adopt a helter-skelter style of life that will at first appear to you to be crazy. But once you become accustomed to such a life you will see its full meaning and its incredible beauty.

I often encourage friends to go and see and do, and I’m finally taking my own advice. It’s a pretty cool feeling, I must say. Anything can happen, so why not chase the dream?

#brussels #belgium #cityscape #city skyline #night sky

We were making a video for Lindsey’s sister just to say hi from Beers Bank (even though we got the name wrong), and it turned into an unexpected friend-making opportunity!

#S #L #beers bank #bar pals

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