Brussels and Halloween in Glenelg.

Last weekend I went to Belgium with three other girls, just a quick trip but our first time heading out of the UK since we arrived in September. We stayed in Brussels at a great hostel right near the Grand Platz and the second we arrived in the city we made our way to a waffle stand and had delicious Belgium waffles with strawberries, whipped cream and chocolate--YUM! Our first full day there we took the train to Bruges which turned out to be a very cold, rainy and windy city. Because it was so dreary we had to skip a canal tour and headed to the last brewery in the city for a tour. Bruges is very strict in maintaining it's classic medieval feel, so there are only 4-5 buildings that actually reach beyond 3 floors. Luckily, the brewery is one of the taller ones so we got a great view of the city (and the beer at the end was pretty good too!)

View of Bruges from the Brewery

Grand Platz as a flower market Sunday morning

And, of course we all bought some chocolate and had frites before leaving Bruges (right as the thunder and lightning started!).

Cafe outside our hostel

In Bruges

Cathedral in Brussels

A little bit of beer tasting (though I do not share the Belgian's enthusiasm for cherry beer!)

This weekend six of us headed back up to the highlands to go to a Halloween party and see all our friends in Glenelg. We were hosted by the very kind Eddie Stiven (our guide from the first highlands trip) and his wife, and were lucky enough to get lots of time with their adorable dogs Aoife and Bess. We ate wonderful food and rediscovered just how crazy the residents of Glenelg are. The party was great, everyone at the pub really went all out and the costumes were crazy. We were a herd of highlands coos (cows for all those non highland savy) and we had our very own shepherdess. The horns were a bit annoying (I can't imagine how many people we poked), so we made a competition to see who could keep them on the longest. I won (though I think that is mostly because people kept re shaping them and my horn-span got smaller and smaller), which means the other ladies owe me a drink! All in all it was great fun and great to see everyone, we even inspired a group to come down and visit us in a few weeks. Hopefully we will make it up there one more time before we leave Scotland! 

Oh, and did I mention that when we were waiting for the bus back to Glasgow we hung out with Bill Bryson, travel author? He had just finished baggin' all the munros (climbing all the mountains in Scotland over 3,000 feet) and was getting ready for a trip to New Zealand in a few weeks. Leave it to Glenelg to give you an extra dose of excitement at the end of your trip!

Heading to London next weekend, the borderlands the following weekend, and will hopefully have visitors from Glenelg the weekend after that . . . busy busy busy!