Last few days in London... & Paris to Bruges

In my last few days in London I visited the National Gallery (unfortunately I couldn't take any photos of the artwork, I wasn't allowed to) and got to see a huge range of 13th to 20th century art, the marjority of the paintings surrounded John the baptist, the virgin mary and depictions of Jesus on the holy cross. Some of the artists included Raphael and Michealangelo and hundreds of other paintings and works from centuries ago, similarly to the British Museum it was impossible to see everything in one day, I spent a solid 3 or more hours wandering the wings and galleries, but it was definitely worth seeing the various influential artists over time. I did get some more photos of Trafalgar Square though, which I didn't get to snap on the first day.











One of the four HUGE lion statues surrounding the central monument






Trafalgar Square (National Gallery in the background right)





Due to the rain it wasn't really a good day to be out and about (I had actually planned to visit the main parks, Hyde Park and Green Park) but I managed to brave the rain, put on my poncho and get myself out and then back to Kings cross before I met up with Bronwyn later that night to grab dinner and another drink before I left. Just over near where Bronwyn was working. We had a great night filled with laughing and some great stories before we said our final goodbyes before made our way home again.




The next day I woke up and packed my bags in the morning (premptive for the initiation into London that my cousin James had organised for me) so that I didn't have to wake and pack after a big night and hopefully so I didn't miss the train packing in the morning. Then I made my way over to the Camden markets with Jim (Gingy also came along.. if you look closely haha) to check out what they had on offer and to check out some of the punks and there wicked coloured mo-hawks and punk style. While we wandered the markets we stumbled on a place called Cyber dog, which was basically a rave and alternative fashion store. This place had dancing girls, a DJ downstairs and everything was basically fluro or flashing! And this was a clothing shop... haha











Jimmy at Camden Markets.. (and someone else is hiding in the photo)






Cyber dog (the rave clothing store in Camden Markets - basically a club lol)





After wandering the stalls for a few hours we grabbed a bite to eat and met up with Roman (a French friend of my cousins) for a few drinks and then eventually made our way back to James's new apartment near Paddington before heading to the house party a few suburbs over. We had a great night and I met a bunch of great people before eventually making my way home to sleep and then got on the train to Paris the next day.











James and I on our night out





When I arrived in Paris unfortunately the weather had followed me and it was raining quite heavily again, I spent the night within the hostel but will definitely get back out and get some great photos when I return to Paris at the end of my trip. Once again, I met a great group of people who were friendly and we played a few drinking games before getting to bed... unfortunitely I forgot to change my phone time (but I had changed my watch!) so my alarm went off an hour after it was supposed to, consequently I missed the Bus to Bruges. Angry as I was about it I booked myself a Eurostar train from Paris to Brussels and made my way to Bruges from there. Let me tell you, the french are a complex lot, they rarely speak English! Which made it super diffcult to navigate my way around, but I managed as there were some quite nice and helpful people too even though they didn't speak English. Pointing and smiling can help you out! haha. Conincidently Rebecca (another busabouter) over heard me talking about how I had missed my busabout and then she'd said how she'd also done the same thing as me and changed her watch but not her alarm (phone time) to the correct time! We both managed to make our way over though and check in with no issues.











Bec and I (The two silly Busabouters who missed the bus!)





After arriving in Bruges (THE RAIN HAD FOLLOWED ME AGAIN!!!) I took a stroll through the cobblestone streets and got some great snaps of local windmills and the city canals. The buildings over here are amazing! The first day in Bruges was a quiet day, due to the weather but I was happy that I had arrived and managed to see a few things even with the minor set backs. The first night I tried some mussels (a great fresh local dish as Bruges is very close to the coast) and sampled a few Belgium beers for free (inclusive with dinner!).











Windmill located along one of the canals






The Beer Sampler (Leffe, Hooegarden, and Bellevue (a cherry beer))


Today (my second day in Bruges) I made my way to the central Markt (or market) and had a look at some of the key architectural structures in the centre of town and made my way past the chocolate and beer shops, not to mention the pancake, crepe and waffle stores! Got some great snaps of the bell tower, the church, the central square and town hall, all littered with magnificent statues! (I'll upload them later on)I've just come back from lunch and and sampling another 11% dark beer, all of them have been fantastic! I plan to make my way over to the chocolate museum shortly to sample a few choccies!