Day 8

Family Day

Our plan is to go to Bruges, (probably where the seat of tourism is in Belgium). Brugge is a very old city. As an Architecture nerd, I know I would enjoy Brugge.

I wake up late. We leave the house at 10am heading for Brugge, where we will also be visiting Katrien's sister. As a resident of the city, she knows a lot of the place and serves as our 'professional tour guide'.

Brugge is a famous tourist destination in Belgium. I can compare it to Baguio, Philippines. It's probably the tourism capital of Belgium. When we arrive there, there were so many tourists: Chinese, Japanese and Brits.

The busy city of Brugge packed with tourists

Most of the houses in Brugge had step gable roofs. These kind of roofs are characteristics of brick building in Netherlands and Belgium in the 19th century.

The weather was not fine, but nothing was stopping us from exploring and enjoying the beautiful city of Brugge.

We go to the chapel where the Blood of Christ relic can be venerated.

We climb the tall Belfort tower. It is strenous climbing 366 narrow spiraled steps. But the climb is worth or we would not have seen a panoramic of the beautiful 'medieval-looking' city of Brugge.

The narrow spiraled staircase of Belfort tower. It's hard to climb because sometimes, the people going up will encounter the people going down.

The view from the peak of the Belfort tower:





We have lunch at Katrien's sister's house. After lunch, Bart take us to the Chocolate Museum. He gives us a map of Brugge, so that we can explore the city on our own.

The museum talks about the history of chocolate, dating from the Aztec era to the 19th century. They also have a demonstration on how chocolates are made.

Chocolate packages make J.Lo and I drool.

The ingredients of Dark, Milk and White Chocolates, respectively.

A live demonstration on how Chocolates are made. After the demo, the chef make us taste the chocolates. (Yay! Free taste! Zir Lekker!)

After the chocolate factory, we explore Brugge and go to different souvenir and chocolate shops. J.Lo and I buy a lot of presents for our close friends and relatives. I also buy a lovely porcelain doll for 8 euros.

We kind of get lost, though. We are expected to be back to the square by 4pm, but we are lost and the map doesn't really help us.

What's worse in getting lost in a crowded city of Brugge is getting drenched in the rain. But we make our way back and find our host families.

Brugge is really a small city. This picture is taken by Faith, who is with the other YMX delegates whom we unexpectedly encounter in Brugge. J.Lo and I are drenched in the picture.

We returned home and prepare for the night's activities. We drop by the grocery store where J.Lo and I continue to buy chocolates and souvenirs for our dear friends back in the Philippines. Each of us spent about 40 euros each.

At night, we have mass/service at St. Michael's church. Martin and Arge testify about their faith during the homily. At the end of the service, we perform 'Ako ay Pilipino', a nationalistic song.

Performing Ako ay Pilipino in our uniform flag shirts to showcase our Nationalism and love for our country.

We also have an interaction with the church youths. They do this every Saturday. (credits to Faith for the pictures during the Youth interaction).

(L-R) Sir Karl, Mieke (Sir Karl and Russel's host), Russel and Me

There is a lot of random dancing in circles, which is a lot of fun.