windmills and towercranes

wow. europe is fun. im typing on a pay by the minute computer where some clever business person has rearranged the entire keyboard to keep me here as long as possible. typos are expected. yesterday i arrived in brugge to find the info peopel quite friendly and helpful (much better than brussles train station.) i walked along the canal surrounding the city and was coaxed down a cobblestone street by an interesting sign. turned out t was a stationary shop not often visited by tourists. i chatteed with the woman and her young empoyee for a while and in parting was offered a bike for my stay by the girl. i was hesitant at first seeing how these people ride their bkes at breakneck speeds but had to accept such a gracious offer. best decision i coud have made here. after a wobbly start i was cruisg around the city like a local, blasting past confused toursists. following the advice of a young fa,ily out for a stroll, i started riding in the direcection of damme, a small town about a half hours ride outside brugge. the belgian country side is gorgeous (with windmills and tower cranes on the horizon in theh drection of brugge) wandering through damme was like being in some bbc production, well dressed people hapily enjying their belgian beer in courtyard restaaunts. i found a bar to spend a lazy half hour enjoying raspberrry beer and dark ale. the ride back was ,ore enjoyable than the ride there. the bartenders in damme gave ,e advicefor the trendiest nightclubs in town, the coulessum and the...so,e strange word meaning firehall. returning to brugge i dined on the best chicken in red wine sauce with scalions (now its bread and cheese for the next few days!) the best tour of this cobbled city is to simply get lost in the back streets. its surrounded by a canal and all roads eventually lead to the markt square with the huge bell tower as a land,ark. the nightlife was fantastc but i felt lke i was having far ,ore fun than the locals. big groups of girls would be doing the bobbing-not-quite-dancing dance so of course id invite them to the dancefloor. met with laughing dismissal, iùd ask where theyre from. 4 times out of 7 theyd be locals. pffssh! the tourist girls on the other hand where there to party. im going to have to sleep more at some poiunt but that can wait for germany. right now iù, off to peddle around a bit ,ore before returning the bike then its time to find a place to sleep in amsterdam. right, im off! cheers!