Belgium!

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Bruges

Walk through town
Katie and I spent our first day in Bruges exploring the small city. We went into the basement of the Crown plaza to see the ruins of an ancient church. Then we went to a church that claims to hold some of Jesus's blood. We were there for some ceremony for they take it from it's special spot on an alter to another place on the pulpit so people can touch it and pray. It was interesting to see, but the whole thing seemed a little whacky to me. After the church, we walked through Markt, the main square, but there wasn't much activity. Next, we headed to the other edge of town and walked through the park along the river. We walked along to the gate over the river that was one of the 4 entrances into the ancient city of Bruges. There's a little bronze skull that hangs over it to remind the people of the traitor that let people into the city to attack.

Later in the day, we went to a church that had Michelangelo's sculpture "Madonna and child," one of the few Michelangelo sculptures outside of Italy. We finished off the day with a delcious belgium waffle... yum!

Beer Festival
Although we had no idea, we found out there was a beer festival going on while we were in Bruges. There were hundreds of different stands where you could find samples of all kinds of beer. They gave you a brochure so you could chose the flavor, fermentation, strength and see all the details about the beer you sampled. My favorite was a banana flavored beer (probably because it didn't taste like beer at all). Someone asked me what it was (it was a strange banana yellow color) and when I told them it was banana beer, they called me the Anti-Christ and then walked away. Really strange. The beer festival was fun though!

Brussels

We basically used Brussels as a relaxing and recharging stop before Paris. We did walk all around town to see the major sights though. Besides the ones I mention below, we went to St. Catherine Church, Palace of Justice, and the Royal Palace & gardens.

Mannekin Pis
I'm not really sure why this statue is such a big deal, but people come from all over to see it. Just a little tiny bronze baby peeing... if you look in the Godiva store across the street, there's a chocolate one that is three times the size and a lot more impressive if you ask me.

Grote Markt
The central market place of Brussels is beautiful, albeit full of tourists. The buildings surrounding it are so impressive though, I just had to be a tourist and take pictures!

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