Kris and Ken's Travels: March 2011

Saturday, March 26, 2011

Brugge, Belgium

'Vaarwel Brugge'

'Abschied Brügge'

'Adieu Bruges'

'Farewell Brugge'

FareFF

Brugge
In the 12th and 13th century Brugge was the largest and wealthiest city in Europe, Brugge was the major trading port for Europe but it began to decline in the 15th century and remained short of wealth until 20th century when it started to benefit from tourism

View Larger Map

We decided to travel to Europe by Eurostar 3 hours to Brussels from London and then a change of trains to travel to Brugge
The Eurostar was comfortable and the Brussels station was easy to find our way to the train we had to take. Buying a ticket from London to Brussels on the Eurostar allows you to travel to any destination in Belgium for the next 24 hours using the London to Brussels ticket (this ticket does not allow you to use use Thayne or ICE trains) does cover all other internal Belgium trains
On our arrival we met with the owner of our apartment, dropped our luggage and went off to dinner.
Ken tried some of the local beer and liked it.
We then went for a stroll around the canals and squares it was deserted and we wondered how all the business people survived.

Video in the square the night of arrival

Well the above video was Thursday night and the place was deserted but the next day it was absolutely packed with people. Hundreds and hundreds of people for day trips in buses with a tour guide running around all over the city so as you will see by the rest of the photos it was difficult for us to take a photo without getting tourists in them but it was not uncomfortably crowded - still easy enough to get served in the shops and get a table straight away in the restaurants. This is the slow season here so can imagine what is like in summer holidays!!!

Photos of Brugge

The Canals

Spring bulbs popping up

Bridge over a Canal

Windmill

Fencing in the park

Windmill

The Canals

Spring bulbs

Push Bikes are everywhere

Lunch - Thought Italian was appropriate as Brugge is known as the Little Venice of the North

In the Square

The Canals

Sunday, March 20, 2011

Portsmouth England

Portsmouth Southern England
Portsmouth is a very over developed port with a shopping mall right on the wharf.
Never thought I would say this but.. I am ready for Australia to become a Republic

Wales UK

Cardiff, Wales, UK
Beautiful city! Lots to do and not enough time to do it all. Of course we did the
Red Bus (hop on hop off) to give us an idea of what we would like to do and decided on the Cardiff Castle and the Museum
The Cardiff Castle in Wales was left to the people of Cardiff by the 5th Earl of Bute.
The 2nd Earl of Bute made all of the family wealth in Coal
The 3rd Earl of Bute spent the money and together with an architect friend of his from university they made the Castle magnificient as you will see by the photos. We went on a tour through the castle with a guide so were able to go into rooms that are still elaborately ornated and furnished as you will see by the photos

Cardiff Castle

Cardiff Castle Wales (inside the walls)

Cardiff Castle Wales (outside the walls)

Cardiff Castle in Wales - The men's smoking room

The Museum

At the time of our visit there was a Chinese display of Scultures that were great to see

Excellent collection of Art along with other interesting displays. The staff at the Museum are extremely helpful and happy to answer any of your questions or help you find anything that is particularly of interest to you

The Chinese display (apologise for pics that are not so clear as no flash allowed in the museum)