Belgian cuisine can be summed up as French-inspired cuisine in large-German quantities. We left Belgium with filled stomachs stuffed with chocolate, waffles, mussels, and fries. Who knew the combination of potatoes and seafood could be so scrumptious?
Hot Chocolate for a Cold Night
Soup in Antwerp
The best fries in Beligum from a small cart in Ghent's square.
Mondays are always especially rough for me. My 8th graders are a bit more indifferent on Mondays than on any other day, and mornings are usually hard after sleeping in Saturday and Sunday.
To get over a case of the Mondays, I’ve chosen to go down memory lane. It is still chilly outside, winter is in the air, and ice is stuck on my windows. As I defogged my windows this morning, I reminisced over our trip to Bruges. 
Before Colin Farrell’s dark comedy, I could only name two cities in Belgium: Brussels and Antwerp (Antwerp from a lyric in a song from Cabaret). Yes, I actually was a fan of the Colin Farrell, dark comedy movie, but we also wanted to visit because of the Snow & Ice Sculpture Festival.
Our base for the trip was Brussels. I had an old couchsurfing friend, Dimitri (who I had stayed with in Paris while I studied abroad). He was kind enough to let us crash after he moved to Brussels! We woke up early and headed on an hour train ride to spend the day in Bruges.
