Brugge, One Last Time...

Our second to last "Wild About Wednesday" was a great one!  We took the train to Brugge with two goals in mind...to visit an awesome Ice Sculpture Festival and to finally taste some of "the best hot chocolate in the world" (you may remember we attempted to try this on our first trip to Brugge, but failed).

So first up...the ice festival! Called "Ice Magic" this festival brought in "approximately 300 tons of crystal clear ice and 400 tons of fresh snow" and employed around 30 of the best artists from China, Canada, the United States, Russia, Sweden, Finland, the Ukraine, the Czech Republic, France, Italy, Spain, the Netherlands, and Belgium!  That's quite a line up...and it was amazing! These pictures won't even do it justice...many of the sculptures looked like glass...they were so perfectly formed.   And the fact that it was -6 degrees Celsius in there definitely added to the ambiance of it all...we were bundled up, but still freezing our tootsies off!  The theme of this years exhibit was inspired by the themes of Harry Potter, The Lord of the Rings, and The Hobbit...which pretty much all went over my head, but it was still cool.  They even had an ice bar and toboggan in there!

 Autumn walking up the ice stairs in the ice castle

After freezing to the core, nothing could be better than a delicious cup of hot chocolate!  It took awhile, but we finally found the Sukerbuyc chocolatier that I was told has amazing hot chocolate! The hot chocolate is actually served in their cafe across the street, called "De Proeverie Tea Room"...and how could you not go in when this is the window display.

It took some determination to finally get this delicious drink though.  First, they don't allow strollers inside...grrr!  So we left them on the sidewalk (thank goodness they were still there when we got back).  Then, they only take cash...double grrr!  Neither one of us had any so I found the nearest ATM (about 1/4 mile away) and we were back on track!  Finally the yummy treats arrived...and it was worth all the perseverance!  The hot chocolate was like nothing I've ever seen...a mug of hot milk, a small dish of the  sukerbuyc dark chocolate to add to it (along with some sugar), small chocolates to nibble, and a plate of whipped cream.  Yum!!

It was the perfect way to end our last trip to Brugge and one I won't forget!  And a big, huge, gi-normous thanks goes to Andi and Brooklyn for going on all these crazy adventures with us...it would not have been the same without you two!! :o)  One more small one next week before the chaos of moving really kicks in to high gear...hopefully someday soon in Tennessee we'll start something similar :o)