This weekend was our first trip out of Holland. We went to Brugge, Belgium - what a BEAUTIFUL little place, I must say! I went with Amanda, my roommate and we visited my cousin, Rafael, alias "Bro." Amanda and I were not exactly sure how to get there, and we just googled directions and 9292.nl showed us exactly what to do... We had to bike to the train station, take a train to the border between Holland and Belgium, take a ferry from Holland to Belgium, and take a bus from the ferry station to the train station in Brugge... complicated?? Not at all!! It was seriously soooo easy to get there and back.. we just followed the directions, took the right trains/ferries/buses at the right time and had no problem at all!
So we got to Brugge and there was my cousin waiting for us. Ohh... he was only a little kid when I left for the United States, but he has grown so much since! It was definitely so nice to see him again and give him a big hug! Who would have thought that two Paraguayans (with a dutch last-name!) would be hanging out in Europe - our family does have a thing for traveling, and cultures, but it was just so nice to be with someone from home when we are so far away from it!
In Brugge we saw a lot of tourists, people from everywhere, taking pictures and having a good time. All the buildings have that old look that you only see in black and white photos, and there are little bridges everywhere! We saw a bridge called "the lover's bridge" supposedly because is so small that only two people can fit there! But my cousin said that it became the "full-of-tourists-bridge." It was amazing, it looked like a game of how many people can actually stand in that bridge and try to get a picture without being on other people's way..
Apparently Belgium is famous for its chocolate, so we stopped by every single store to do chocolate tasting and then finally stopped by a cheap store (which didn't have any chocolate to taste) but we still bought some... haha... Then we tried the Belgian waffles - DE-LI-CIOUS! I don't know what it is, but I can eat those waffles every day of my life.. if a Belgian waffle was a person, I would marry that waffle! that's how great they are! Then we were told to try the Belgian fries, that they are very famous - and I guess we tried some in that Argentine restaurant we went to - but I was more focused on the Argentine food than the fries! haha...
I love to travel, and it seems like going from one place to the other here in Europe is so much easier than I thought - that makes me love traveling even more! This morning in the ferry ride Amanda and I were just admiring God's beautiful creation - and in this first adventure we had we could tell God was there with us all throughout. It is so comforting and amazing to see how God's hand over us when we face new challenges and experience new places - for us this continent is completely unknown, but God who owns everything goes with us wherever we go, and that makes the adventure even better than the best!