Brugge, the most romantic city in Belgium...glad I'm here with my sister... :)

Belgium Chocolate soccer balls in Brugges





Sarah trapped behind bars next to the canal in Brugges

Sarah in front of a little peeing boy sculpture
in Brussels (it is very famous)

Getting ready to devour Belgium waffles

St. Nicholas Cathedral in Brussels


Canals of Bruges
Us hanging out in our cool tent



Guiness Storehouse... our first sips of Guiness
My friend Joe Keane in Galway who gave me a tour of the city and taught me Gaelic

Sarah and the shore of Wicklow
Our new friends at the top of the hill in Wicklow


Sister time overlooking the countryside and Irish sea
The sisters and cousin Carolyn at a sculpture in Dublin


Carolyn and I pretending to kiss statues of famous Irish men
On our bus tour to the Cliffs of Moher... the background is the Burren countryside


T




The Tower Bridge of London and the London Eye
In front of Parliment














Just kidding, Katie is Awesome :)

We finally got pictures uploaded! (Sorry, we had a hard time labeling them and getting them in the right order so it's kind of a mix and match puzzle with the picture to the description) Enjoy!!!!

We're here in Brugge, and we both like it way more than Brussels...although, we were running on no sleep again yesterday while walking around through Brussels so that could have been part of it :) We spent the night of the 26th at the airport in Dublin since our flight left at 7:35am and we didn't want to miss it because we overslept our alarm, so there was no sleeping at all that night. We played a lot of cards and ate peanut butter and jelly sandwiches to keep ourselves awake :)

Our last day in Ireland, the 26th, we took a day trip from Dublin and went to Wicklow, a 45 minute train ride south in very pretty countryside and right next to the sea...katie wanted to jump from the train into the water, but I assured her it was probably cold and we should wait until we get farther south :) But guess what? We met more boys :) These 4 were from Texas, and neither of us had plans, so we left from the train station together and started exploring. We walked to the highest hill for a great view of the sea and then down to a cool lighthouse. Katie took of her shoes and was trying to out run the waves, but ended up with very wet jeans. Later, we found some delicious chicken and chips (french fries) with salt and vinegar. The boys invited us to go on a Pub crawl around the Temple bars, but we unfortunately had to decline to grab our packs from the hostel and catch the last cheap bus to the airport.

Brussels was pretty in the main square where all of the big old buildings are, but otherwise there's graffetti all over everything, even churches, and the rest of the city wasn't very pretty. But we had our Belgium waffle drenched in chocolate sauce and strawberries...it was heaven in a bite :) DELICIOUS! And we savored every bite...it probably took me 20 minutes to eat it, and you all know how fast I usually eat :) But after that, we were tired and just wanted to get back to the train station to catch the train to Brugge...

By the time we checked into our hostel in Brugge last night, all we wanted was to go to bed. That was our first night in a mixed dorm, but it didn't matter because we went to bed before everyone got in, and we were up and gone by 10:30 this morning and everyone else was gone or still sleeping. So we ate some breakfast at the bar downstairs, loaded up our stuff, and walked the 2km to the campground just outside of the main city centre of town...it felt longer than it was :) But it was a nice little area, and we got the tent all set up (we were having a little trouble so maybe you should have helped me more Mom...but katie, yeah, I know, I camp way more than her! So she would brag after that it was because she was in future problem solvers...hehe) :), ate some lunch, then washed some clothes in the bathroom sink...we had a lot of fun with that, Katie said it was like we were back in the "old days", I was like, it's because we're cheap and can't afford a washing machine! :)

Then we walked back into Brugge...my back has started hurting a little bit, so I'm going to start wearing the top of my main backpack around my waste as a large fanny pack instead :) I don't care how dumb I look, it felt so much better than having to wear my daypack on my shoulders! Brugge is very pretty, all cobblestone streets, and canals winding through the city. Every church is gorgeous. And it's so funny...they say that in Dublin you can't go a block without seeing a pub...well, in Brugge you can't go a block without seeing a chocolate shop! Killer! We stop at every window and drool :)

Tomorrow we're catching the morning train to Amsterdam, and then the plan is to reserve an overnight train from Amsterdam to Copenhagen once we get to the train station tomorrow morning...hoping there are sleeper seats available for us! Then after Copenhagen we'll be heading to Berlin...

We'll keep you posted the next time we get to an internet cafe...Jordan said gas is expensive there...boo! Everyone bikes around here and takes the train...we should implement more of that in the US :) Mom, stop using our blog for your social network...it's called e-mail! :) just kidding...no, but seriously :)

But keep posting everyone, we LOVE to read them and have contact with people that speak english :)

LOVE YOU ALL! 2 MORE MONTHES OF THIS CRAZY TRAVEL BUSINESS!!!! Keep sending us good vibes! :)

Love Sarah and Katie