This past weekend, I was invited by my friend Ellen to come visit her in Brugge. As a local she was able to guide me and my fellow traveler Kelly through the city. And my, was it beautiful!!
I called it Disneyland in city form several times. Here is why.
1) It was actually warm and sunny out! (I realize this is not a Brugge thing, but its location does marginally help it out).
2) The stores and buildings were wonderfully adorned and vibrant in color.
3) Spring has sprung, and so have the tulips.
4) Carriage rides! They had these back in Italy too, but seeing horses still makes my day.
5) There are shops everywhere! Containing everything you would want or need! Including...year long Christmas? (see the shop below)
6) This deserves its own point: there were probably hundreds of sweets stores. I mean the world's best chocolate. Eclectic candy. Cupcakes galore. And they say its America that is bent on getting the world fat...
7) Now that I think about it, I blame the Small World ride on making me think it akin to Disneyland...
8) Boat rides! The three of us took a boat tour underneath the bridges of Brugge, listening to a quirky tour guide. And when it was time to get off the boat, EVERYONE wanted to get off at once, so it was fun to almost fall into the water.
9) There was a carnival that passed right in front of us! The odds of that are 1 in 365, being that it only happens once a year.
Highlights of my trip: foremost would be seeing Michelangelo's Madonna. When Ellen told me that one of his works was in the town, I went crazy. His sculpture, located in one of the churches, was amazing, and it is one of the pictures below.
Touching the Holy Grail! Against the odds once more, the Holy Grail was available for the public to see and "touch" (in all reality I touched the piece of plastic SURROUNDING the Grail, but hey, I got close). I didn't SEE anything, as you are supposed to when you touch it. I guess that means I'm not the Chosen One.
Eating...pig blood? Yes, I did in fact try pig blood for part of my dinner, cooked on a metal grill-like structure. It tastes like...hm. It has the texture of tofu mousse, with a hint of sweetness to it. I didn't like it, didn't love it, I tried it.
I also travelled to Ghent, but unfortunately my camera died early on in my Brugge adventure due to my eager picture taking and video recording.
There is an odd trend that I have noticed every time I travel abroad. At least once, a total stranger (this time a nice older lady) will come up to me and give me aid, or tips. While Kelly and I were waiting for our train back home from Ghent, looking up at a mural on one of the train station's interior walls, a lady came up to us and randomly gave us a history of Ghent, of Brugge, of Belgium, and a huge explanation of the current political mess Belgium has found itself in. When she was done, she just walked away. Kelly and I were slightly laughing afterwards at the randomness of this action, when suddenly the woman walked right back up, and gave us MORE history. Afterwards she walked away again. So strange. Yet kind.
The whole experience was great! Wonderful friends and beautiful, unique areas to explore.
Brugge Station
The streets in Belgium are a little different than back at home.
The beginning of our journey!
Some food we had for lunch!
It's always Christmas time in Brugge.
And there were so many sweets!!
One of the boat rides going by.
Michelangelo's Madonna
I believe, if I remember correctly, that this is the tiniest window in Belgium.
