Travel : Brussels & Bruges

I feel like I'm on Myspace again, documenting my holidays. This is just a few of the maaany photos from Brussels and Bruges just my boyfriend and myself visited the weekend before Christmas, and so they mainly consist of Christmas markets, Christmas trees and an awfully strange Christmas nativity parade (red jacketed marching band). Belgium is such a beautiful country and I'm so happy we managed to squeeze in travelling to Bruges for the day, even if it was full of tourists (ourselves included)... 

My favourite places are as follows... The botanical gardens which featured in my first outfit post, with incredible turquoise statues lining the pathways. 

A little gem of a record shop that stocked everything you could ever imagine. We picked up a 'Petite Surprise' package of 7" lps for 2 euros - which was a little Christmas present to ourselves! 

Grand Place, the obvious tourist destination. Each evening, every half hour or so, orchestral music starts booming around the square while a spectacular light show lights up each magnificently grand building. Seriously breath taking. 

St Catherine's Christmas markets are also a must see - there's so many stalls to see and so much gluhwein to drink!

Four days was pretty much the perfect length of time for a 'weekend break', enough time to see all the sights, find a favourite café and actually have a break from real life! I'm off to Egypt tomorrow for an all-inclusive week of writing my dissertation and lying by the pool. I'm excited to escape the freezing English climate, although it means I need to try and remember how to dress for hot weather... 

What I Wore : Brussels Day 1

A week ago today we were mid-way through our four day pre-Christmas weekend in Brussels. It's now three days post-Christmas and it all feels a bit of a blur. 

Time is the one thing you can never have more of, so it seems a waste to not go out and do things and see the world. The only thing I really want to do in life is to see everything every country, city and tiny little village has to offer. Unrealistic, I know, but I'm yet to spend a holiday lying around doing nothing when I could be exploring...

We mainly decided on Brussels for it's Christmas markets, where we spent most of the weekend drinking gluhwein and amaretto. It's such a beautiful city and the locals are so friendly and helpful and I think we literally walked a hundred miles over the four days just trying to see and cram in as much as we could! 

These photos were taken in the botanical gardens just by our hotel - so worth a visit. The turquoise blue statues stand amongst fountains, mazes and winding tracks that lead downhill into Brussels city centre. The main attraction is of course the domed greenhouse, where inside there is a bar and a roundhouse where they hold gigs every week or so!

I'm so glad I found this coat in the Urban Outfitters sale last year - I hadn't worn it until last week and turns out it's perfect for the cold Belgian weather. I also wore my Vagabond boots all weekend which I'm pretty impressed about, especially with the amount of walking we did. Comfiest-shoes-ever.

Croatia Style File #3

We drove down to Zuljana on our third day for a day at the beach. Most beaches in Croatia are pebbled so we thought we'd just stay for an hour or two! We discovered a tiny cove, off the beaten track, up a lot of very steep steps and through some bushes and ended up staying there a good few hours! 

The thing I love most about travelling is discovering parts of the world and different countries you'd never normally see.

I wore this out for our first proper 'meal out', mostly to disguise the three hundred mosquito bites on my legs! Joking aside, this is probably the most un-me thing I've ever worn, but I'm completely in love with my Waiste vintage skirt! 

I used to wear these type of skirts all the time when I was about 7 or 8, so this is a total throw back. The loose linen fabric and tie waist makes it the perfect holiday piece, and paired with my fringed suede boots I felt like I was off to the wild-west!

Crop top - Topshop

Skirt - Waiste Vintage

Boots - Vagabond

CYPRUS

I wish I didn't have such fair skin because I'm such a sun child. Which almost always results in severely painful burns after every sunny holiday. And skiing ones too - never have I ever burnt my entire neck before a skiing holiday...