Arriving in Brussels, we took the taxi to the hotel. However it wasn’t the right hotel, there are two Best Western hotels with very similar names, so of course we went to the wrong one first.

Hotel breakfasts are not generally satisfying, but when shared with friends, they are always better. So it was in Brussels. We tentatively planned our tour of Brussels with our Danish Friends, Niels and Jette over breakfast, and shortly after began the day’s exploration.

The trains from Brussels to Bruges run pretty much on the hour. We left early hoping to avoid crowds, but that strategy didn't work. The off-and-on rains got us and the crowds a bit damp, so we ducked into a local museum for a bit. Emerging just as the weather began clearing enough for us to roam about town, we ate a good lunch at "Tom's Diner", an upscale though charming eatery rather off the beaten path.

Bruges is a beautiful little town, while Ghent is quite large and very active, and it has been said that "... you get the feeling that this is a city first and tourist destination second, in sharp contrast to Bruges." Getting off the train and making our way into town  you could tell that this was going to be a different experience,  but not in a bad way.