Bruges, Brugge, Bruge... Belgium

Lace shop

lots of horse drawn carriages

the market area lined with restaurants 

this is a photo of one of the 22 remaining béguines in Belgium.  They are courtyards surrounded by homes that are inhabited by only single women.  They came together after their loved ones died in the Crusades and built up a sect of Catholicism where they practiced celibacy and devoted their lives to the faith

a sculpture I thought was cool

canals

"Ave Maria" again

Here are a selection of my photos from Bruges - I took almost 200 pictures in less than 6 hours.  They are mostly of the buildings... sorry if they are boring.  You can enlarge any of them by clicking on the picture, then use the "back" arrow to get back to the blog.  My short visit to this well preserved medieval city certainly made up for a bum roommate in Amsterdam and ALL of Paris.  It is quaint, but still has enough going on to render a day and a half to two days.  There are charming canals, architecture that has been preserved and wasn’t destroyed in either world war  (an amazing feat for this part of the world).  I spent the day wandering – surprise.  I took a time out for a brewery tour and sampled a local Belgian beer at the end of the tour.  Coors and Miller Lite got nothing on these Belgian beers.  There is a particular pride in them too – the tour guide said that the English and Irish may drink more, but the Belgians drink better quality beer.  She was an interesting guide, as she gave the tour both in French and English.  When I asked her what her native tongue was (thinking it’d be either French or English) she said Flemmish.  Flemmish is very similar to Dutch but without the throatiness that parallels some of the German sounds. 

I wandered more and ended up spending the evening at my hostel – which was significantly more user friendly than the others – and had a good atmostphere.

If you’re ever in the are – Bruges is a MUST see – if not for the atmosphere, then for a high quality Belgian waffle.