Mira told me that next day will be warm and sunny so I decided to go that to visit in Bruges, famous medieval city north from Brussels. I took a train in the morning and the trip didn't took long, maybe an hour or little over it. At the Bruges train station it was clear which direction I should go because I could see the towers of the old town. But I bought map of the city at the station from a vending machine (map costs 50 cents) just to be sure. And people speak better English here than in Brussels and of course Dutch instead of French.
I first walked to the Begijnhof or Beguinage monastery. It was absolutely beautiful. The square was quiet and full of daffodils, and not so many tourists seemed to find their way here. But the blooming daffodils really made that place look special. This was my favourite part in my Bruges visit. I continued my walk towards Chuch of Our Lady and when I got there there was film crew filming something. Lots of people had stopped to see what was happening. But as nothing seemed to go on yet I went to visit the church. It was quite basic inside, nothing special to my eyes.
From the church I continued my walk along a canal to Rozenhoedkaai which is said to be the most photographed spot in Bruges. Nice spot but I found many more photogenic spots in this town. From there I walked to the Burg square which has nice buildings surrounding it but the real diamond of the city was already peeking behind the buildings. So I walked to the Markt square to see it closer: the belfry of Bruges. It's tall and beautiful and it's possible to walk to the top but with my bad fitness I decided to skip that. Markt seemed to busy market with both locals and tourists. Oh, I forgot to mention earlier but this town is full of tourists so be prepared. I had my lunch at Subway (yes, bad me) and then I walked to see part of the town that was called "The former Hanseatic Bruges" by my map. It looked same as other parts of Bruges. Looking at my map I noticed I had seen all the highlights of the city. As I wasn't interested to visit any museums and I had almost full day still ahead I decided to take a train to university city of Leuven which was recommended by my friends. On my walk back to the train station I passed St. Saviour's Church, some almshouses and gunpowder tower. Weather was getting hotter and many people were walking around in t-shirts and shorts. I also changed my long-sleeve to t-shirt.
After changing train in Brussels I arrived to Leuven. From the station I walked along what I believe is main street of the city to St. Peter's Church. It's belfry is World Heritage Site and it's has interesting history. The belfry is only 50 meters tall and doesn't stand out of the rest of the church. It was originally supposed to be 169 meters tall but it was never completed. Next to the church is the star of the city: the town hall of Leuven. It's an amazing piece of architecture. As sun was shining straight to the square in front of it I decided to sit down, have a beer and marvel at it's beauty. And at that point weather was very hot, summer temperatures at the start of April, amazing!
My next destination was Groot Begijnhof or Large Beguinage of Leuven. This beguinage was much larger than the one in Bruges and totally different in every way. The one in Bruges was just one square with white houses. This one in Leuven was like a small village with tile buildings without paint. I walked around and it seemed to serve as class rooms and apartments for the university. I would like to live here definitely! After nice walk around the beguinage I walked back to the town hall and from there I walked to see the amazing building of the University Library. I read after my visit that the original library was destroyed in World War I and this one was gift from the Americans. Finally something good coming from the USA.
After my Leuven tour I took a train back to Brussels. There was pregnant lady sitting in front of me in the train and at one point she started to hold her stomach and her face look like she was in lot of pain. I was hoping so bad that "please, don't start to give birth now!" Luckily it seemed that maybe her baby was just kicking as she stopped holding her tummy. But oh boy, how scared I was :P
