the best day...

...during our Spring Break vacation was Monday, March 12th.

I awakened after a restful night's sleep in Amsterdam (although it was on the roll away cot intentioned for our daughter- ha!) to this view:

We arrived into Amsterdam around 9am on Sunday and hoofed it through the city all day, our jet lagged and airplane~grimy selves made it until about 8pm. We were thrilled to have a modern and brand new hotel room to crash in on our first night.

The roll away bed was actually quite comfy and was strategically placed in front of our floor to ceiling windows (image of our room below). The images above were literally captured from bed on Monday morning. What a way to start the first full day of our trip!

The bedroom.
My bedroomThe living room with large windows overlooking the city. Nothing beats coffee in Europe, even if it is just the instant stuff. ☺
At the train station in Amsterdam, awaiting our train to Bruges.
One of the smaller commuter trains.
You've already seen these images (post here) of the windmills, as seen from the train just outside of Amsterdam.


It was a one hour plus train ride from Amsterdam to Antwerp...


...and an hour plus from Antwerp to Bruges.

From the station in Bruges we rolled our small bags along the cobblestone streets to our hotel.


With our city map in hand and bright blue skies above, we ventured out to explore Bruges, Belgium. That's the Bellfort Tower in the distance. You can climb to the top to take in the city view from above, which we didn't do.
The Church of our Lady tower above, Market Square below.
So many beautiful old churches and historic sites.
A fabulously unexpected large shopping area. Hema is their Target-type store.
The belfry above, market square below.
The main square in Bruges, market square. As I told you here, we were coerced into taking a horse drawn carriage tour.

We rolled along the narrow, cobblestone streets of Bruges in our carriage and stopped here for a rest.

All of the restaurants had shaped boxwood type plants out front with chalkboards. Very uniform yet chic and inviting.

My traveling companions and favorite peeps at the entrance to my heaven on earth, the Begijnhof (detail here).

My little peep, satisfied with herself for begging us to go on the tour.

Had we not given in, we might have missed all of this. This little spot in Bruges was so special, it kept calling me back.

Our horse was well rested, fed and watered during our break in the Begijnhof area.

The pathway to the Begijnhof with another cute restaurant on the right.

Inside the Begijnhof.

At the end of our carriage ride we set back out on foot to explore more of the beauty of Bruges. To the left of this vacant space lies a secondhand store filled to the brim with designer handbags and shoes. It was a pretty amazing shop but I didn't see anything I had to have.

A quaint side street off the beaten path.

Canals around every turn.

School groups touring the historic sites.

We spotted several cool antique stores in Bruges. I browsed in several but didn't find any antique treasures. It's too hard to focus with an antsy husband and 7 year old in tow. I did pick up a few things for the house, which I'll share in a future post.

Strolling back to the hotel at the end of a long yet dreamy day in Bruges.
The Bellfry Tower at night.

City hall building at night.

Market Square at night.

I'll be back with more on Bruges and a full post on Amsterdam.

xo~

Tricia

PS~ I was able to sneak away to Round Top this week and came home with some fun stuff, I can't wait to show you!