First Leg - Brugge

On Friday, May 29 we arrived nice and early at the airport. Because our trip had been delayed by one week, we had to scrap the nonstop flight from DC to Brussels, and change to a one-stop via Munich, meaning we would arrive in Brussels 5 hours later than planned. That's not a big deal for a two week trip, but a non-stop is nicer, and as luck would have it, the nice gate attendant switched us back to the direct Brussels flight! Of course a thunder storm caused our flight to be delayed by almost two hours, but it was still a good deal. Plus we were upgraded to the more spacious economy plus section.

We arrived in Brussels on a bright and sunny Saturday morning and made easy train connections to downtown Brussels and then on to Brugge, the once powerful but now small city in West Flanders. We checked in to the Bariseele Bed and Breakfast, in the northern side of the historic side of the very large historic center. Paul and Benny are the co-owners and seem to run the Hotel Fevery next door as well. The B&B is in a good location, in a quiet area, but only a ten minute walk to the heart of things. The room is nice, and has a very good veiw of the next door St. Gillis church and surrounding townhouses. Breakfast is very good as well!

We spent Saturday taking in many of the main sights of Brugge....climbed up the Belfort's 366 steps, walked on the main shopping streets, went to the old city hall and a few very nice old churches.

Sunday, May 31 was more of the same. Went on a boat tour of the canals, saw the Charles the Bold exhibit at the Groeninge Museum, walked along many of the canals of the city. By the way, Brugge has been absolutely crawling with tourists, as I am sure it always is, but it is being compounded because it is a three day holiday weekend in Belgium. Interestingly enough, it seems as though many of the people don't quite know what holiday it is (it's a Catholic holiday and many people are not religious).

On Monday we rented bikes for two days. Monday we went a total of about 35 miles through the flat, but pretty, countryside of Flanders, through Damme to the Dutch border town of Sluis, then on to the North Sea coast at Heist and back to Brugge. The ride was mostly along canals and it was great. Saw a number of old wind mills, climbed up one, cycled mostly along canals, and the weather was perfect. It was the first time Don was on a bike in maybe 10 years, and the longest ride for me in quite a while. We left Brugge around 9 and returned about 6.

Tuesday we went for a much shorter ride, about 5 miles each way towards Oostende on the ghent osstende canal. Stopped for a nice long lunch alongside the canal in the tiny village of Nieuwege. I had roast chicken, Don had salad nicoise.

In our own rating system, we have given Brugge 5 stars out of 5, the highest rating!

Tomorrow we are going to Antwerp, the second stop of four.

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Part of trip: Belgium

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