We made it to Brugge yesterday. We’re spending two days at the Relais Bourgondisch Cruyce in Brugge before we go to Brussels for our last two nights in Europe. We chose Belgium for three main reasons. First, it was a quick Eurostar train ride from London. Second, American Airlines flies non-stop back to Chicago from Brussels that was available on miles. Third, Nicole and I had not been to Belgium together.

I actually almost decided not to go to this game tonight. Let’s go back to last night – our first night in Brugge. After Dylan woke up from his nap we decided it would be nice to tour Brugge and find a nice place for dinner. By the time we picked out a place for dinner, Dylan had fallen asleep again. The dinner was so nice and relaxing that I actually thought I would skip tonight’s Europa League match. However, that thought flew out of my head after Dylan woke up from his nap and would not stop screaming unless we held him. Even the owner of the restaurant held Dylan so we could eat our meal. In fact, it was so hectic that I do not even remember what restaurant we ate at.

With that, there was no way I was missing the main reason we were in Brugge – Club Brugge’s Europa League match vs. Dinamo Zagreb. The game started at 7:00 pm so we had plenty of time to tour Brugge during the day.

Beg, Borrow and Deal
I took the bus from downtown Brugge to Jan Breydel Stadion. I finally figured out which bus to take after finding several Croatians who were planning to attend the match.

Once I arrived at the stadium, I went to the box office to see how much tickets were. As I approached the box office, a man, who spoke English, offered me his 40 euro ticket for 20 euros. He said it was a great seat so I accepted his offer.

Dinamo Zagreb at Club Brugge
Dinamo Zagreb scored two goals within four minutes early in the second half to take a 2-0 lead that they held onto to defeat Club Brugge.

To my surprise there was a bar near our seats that was selling beer at halftime. I thought no alcohol could be sold during a European match but it seems like each club can set their own rules – at least for the Europa League.

Post Game Dining Becomes Next Day Dining
The season ticket holder who sold me my ticket, said I should go to the restaurant Rock Fort (www.rock-fort.be) after the game. Since Dylan was asleep when I got back we chose to go to the restaurant the next day for lunch before heading to Brussels. We did and the restaurant was excellent. Dylan slept through the entire meal for some unknown reason. If he had woken up as he did Wednesday night there would have been nowhere to put him and I don’t think this restaurant would have been nearly as kind about having a crying baby.