Working Out in Brugge

After traveling to Amsterdam, we went to Brugge and stayed the night there. We arrived in Brugge at 2 in the morning, and lucky for us, there were some complications with our reservation. Apparently, they did not file our reservation, and by the time we go there, the man, Ivan, told us they were completely full. Twenty minutes later after calling all the other hostels in the area and talking to the hotel across the street, Ivan finally told us he did have a private double available. Oh, how I shake my fist at Ivan, but at least we had a place to stay that night. For awhile we really thought he might put us out on the street. On Saturday, we woke up, ate breakfast, and went to the Belfry tower, which was amazing. There was a carillon at the top of the tower, and by the time we climbed the 366 steps to the top it was almost noon, so we were up in the top of the tower when all the bells rang at noon. It was amazing, and the view was beautiful! From the top of the tower, you can look down over Brugge and see the cathedrals and the North Sea. Beautimus! We then went to this cute little cafe around the Market Square, and ate this absolutely gigantic plate of spaghetti with meat sauce for only 3 euros. Then, we did like the locals and bought Belgium chocolate at the supermarket in the area. It's the same type of chocolate you would buy at the stores but at a much cheaper price. I got 800 grams of chocolate for only 6 euros, so I was pretty impressed with our group for being cheap. Then, we went to the Church of the Holy Blood that contains blood from Jesus Christ. They keep the blood in this glass vial with gold at the edges, and we went to the altar and were able to lay our hands on the vial. It was the most amazing experience. We got there at the right time too because apparently they only have the relic on display for an hour a day, and we happened to be there for it. It was amazing! Then, we rented bikes and attempted to bike to the North Sea, which we almost made, but when we were 2 miles away, we had to turn back in order to make our train. Sad day. But, the bike ride was beautiful, and we met some kiddos from San Diego at the gas station. We passed by a bunch of canals, old historic towns, cathedrals, and historic windmills that were beautiful. The train ride home was relaxing after the 54 kilometer bike ride, and all in all, we had a great weekend!

Today, we went to Bayer Health Care, which was amazing! The research that they were working on was really interesting to hear about, and it was great to see all of their labs! I liked this tour much better than the Biotech lectures on Monday. It just seems that every company involved in any sort of product development has quality control and quality assurance departmernts, so its a spiel I have heard before. But, I appreciate the speakers taking the time to answer our questions and talk to us about their company. I wish they had told us more about the actual processes they go through in creating a vaccination with the science behind it. That would have been great, but oh well, maybe next time

Well, I'm off to some shopping perhaps, and then hope to our host family, the Erps. They are so super sweet, but unfortunately, they are a tad bit sick at the moment, so we hope they are feeling better when we get back!