$lutty $lui$

We had some lousy weather in Bruges, but did our best to time our bikeride for a sunny day. No dice. But, still, nice to use the hotel bikes to get some exercise and see some countryside. And, Xavier hadn't ever been to Holland before, and I was eager to cross the border with him.

We set out at a comfortable hour and biked through the city to the main canal connecting Bruges to Sluis. 

We first stopped at the super cute village of Dammes. Too small to have its own butcher or bakery (just a church and a few pubs), we coincidentally were there when a roving market was in the village. 

Xavier couldn't pass by a single pastry in Belgium, and insisted we getthese yummy pudding pie things.

We continued on to the 10 building that comprised Hoeke...barely worth being on the map. Then, crossing the border (where there was a smal gate we had to barely navigate to enter the Netherlands from Belgium by bike) and a 1/2 a kilometer more and we were in Sluis.

Every auto in Sluis was a Landrover, BMW, Mercedes, etc. And most cafes were pretty pricey (except the one we ate at...frites, beer, each waiter cute and muscley). But most interesting for this tiny village was the abundance of sex shops. There were 5 (that we saw)—probably  one per 50 people.

Each way only took an hour or so, but given the dropping temperature, we were glad to be back at Hotel Adornes late that afternoon.