Bringin' it to Bruges

This weekend we went to Bruges–the "Venice of Belgium". it was gorgeous. and even though it was a dreary november weekend, there were tons of people. Lots of incredible architecture, stone bridges, churches, art, french fries, beer, chocolates, lace, and even some holy blood. 

The entry into the old part of Bruges, which is surrounded by a canal (moat). See the fat raindrops on the windsheild? More of that to come. 

Lots of umbrellas around. Hard to see what was what when you were walking under your umbrella and everyone else was too. 

But I'm so glad I wasn't on this boat. It must have been pretty miserable and I can't imagine being able to see anything with all the umbrellas.  Dave and could do our boat ride the next day, when it wasn't raining. I thought this scene was so funny. 

Later that evening, in the main square, after the rain had stopped. 

The belfry, made more famous by the movie "In Bruges" where one of the main characters jumps to his death from the very top. (He did it to warn his buddy about someone trying to kill him, and he was going to die anyway - so it wasn't as tragic as it sounds - but you should see the movie - it's really good.)

Umbrellas for sale! Of course!

And lots and lots of lace - Bruges is famous for it although most of it is made in Asia (by hand) or by machine in France. Dave liked to call Bruges "Doiley World". 

Okay, this is really interesting, and kind of strange (creepy) to me. But I'm not catholic so maybe i just dont understand. That woman is a nun, i think, and she's basically selling a chance to take a look (or "venerate" and then pray over) a vile of Christ's blood. The chuch is called the Chapel of the Holy Blood and they have a website: www.holyblood.com. There you can see a photo of the vile, although it's not the best photo. Anyway, they only let people look at it up close like this once in a while and we were lucky to be there when they were offering the viewings. Dave had read about it and he came up to me and said "Dude, do you want to pay a Euro and see Christ's blood?" and I said "Of course I do, where's our money?" Pocket change in hand we strolled up the steps together, smiled at the nun and took a look. i actually really studied it. i was so curious. Not to be too graphic but it looked to me more like what i imagine bone marrow to look like.  It was kind of yellowish with some red, and of course it was dried up. i really couldn't tell what i was looking at, actually. 

More scenes from one of the main squares, and the chapel of the holy blood is behind and to the left of dave. It's the shorter, darker bldg that is perpendicular and meets at the corner of/to the big buidling on the left.  

A very non-descript doorway to a beer-lover's heaven. 

Inside, you chose from a menu of over a hundred very fine belgian beers ...

...including these delicious glasses of some special brew that was made just for this bar. it was like 12% alcholol but it went down real smooth. i read in belgium that they take beer drinking so seriously and they want you to savor it that they always serves nice cheeses or savory snacks with each glass. that has been our experience so far. 

lots of beer. lots and lots of beer. 

and chocolate shops. sooo many. we read about this one and bought a box of "pralines" which are basically assorted chocolates. the coconut ones and the caramel ones were my favorites. they also had some that were flavored like earl grey tea which were also interesting and delicious.

our own little box of heaven.

More on the food in Belgium ... i read that Belgium has great food. i love the beer, french fries, and chocolate but i can't say the same for the dinners we had. we actually did some research and made reservations at two highly recommended restaurants but neither one was that great. Dave described the food well: too gucky -  lots of fatty sauces, salty, and too much runny cheese on things. even my lovely peice of cod had a big slice of cheese melted on top. i just have a thing about cheese and fish. not into it. dave has the meatloaf and it was okay. kinda salty though.i dont mean to complain. i just might not be into belgian food. 

kind of greasy, salty, and again, i wasnt into the cheese on the fish. 

ahh, now the next day had better weather, no rain, so we got to see much more of the sights. 

We went to this church which had a Michealangelo sculpture –one of the only that exists outside of Italy. as soon as the doors opened, everyone rushed to see the statue. 

I have to say, it was magnificent.  

Here is a good sampling of all the different architectural styles you'll see in bruges. 

A rainbow of ivy growing on an ancient tower. How nice.

Two serious Jews on bikes, looking less serious thanks to the bikes.

what i first thought was a pretty mirror until i saw it was made out of bullets. 

french fries are big. and they're delicious. but this guy is creeeepy.
some of the sauces available for the french fries. 

one of the many bridges. this was taken on our boat ride around the city. very fun. 

More of the classic Dutch/Belgian roof lines. 

It's nice that everyone speaks english when you need to ask a stranger to take your photo.

Another boat full of tourists. they really packed us in. ...

... so tightly that it made me think of this photo by Peter Ralston, published in The Island Institute annual magazine a while back.