Dover and Belgium

Wow...I'm way behind. Sorry. I just feel like I've been super busy.

A few weekends ago, we went to Dover and Ypres, Belgium.

Dover was incredible. We went to Dover Castle, which is this amazing Medieval castle that's shaped exactly like the castles you would imagine. Stone, and turrets, and castle-shaped peaks, and drawbridges.

It was amazing. Everything there was beautiful. The grass was super green. The stairs in the castle were stone and windy. The roof of the castle had incredible views of the ocean and the rest of the castle grounds. Once again, I felt like I'd gone back in time.

We also took a tour of the war tunnels, which were used during WWII. That was really cool, and I learned a lot about the English soldiers during WWII. And I felt like a soldier, marching through those tunnels.

Dover was just excellent. Everything about it was absolutely incredible. I could've spent the whole weekend there. No lie.

And then we got to Belgium.

Ever see that movie In Bruges? Well, I totally know how Colin Farrell felt.

We went to Ypres, a place where tons of people died during WWI. And that's basically all the town is. War and chocolate. It sounds so poetic.

We went to a WWI monument for fallen soldiers, a bunch of WWI cemeteries, and a WWI trench. It was all very interesting, especially the trench, but it was all a little gloomy. At the WWI monument, we laid a wreath and sang the "Star Spangled Banner," so that was pretty neat.

But it was freezing cold and all we were learning about was death and then we had free time to go to the WWI museum and walk around town, and there was nothing to do.

So, my impression of Ypres was that they are obsessed with war and sweet things. And cherries! They had cherry beer called Mystic, which was absolutely incredible and tasted nothing like beer. And on my Belgian waffle, I had cherries and ice cream. So, like I was saying, sweets and war.

I think my friend, Jared, said it best: I went to Belgium, and all I got was a cavity.

Well said. But at least I can say I've been to Belgium. And at least I have an impression of it.