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Published: April 2nd 2018
Our days in Bruges are now dwindling, since we move on to the Loire Valley region of France in just a few days' time. The overcast skies, chilly temperatures, and frequent showers have so far dissuaded us from taking a canal cruise, an activity that is almost mandatory when visiting the city that has been dubbed the "Venice of the North".
The forecast for this Easter Sunday did not look very promising, but we held out hope for a break in the gloomy weather, and by mid-afternoon a few glorious rays of sunshine greeted us while waiting in line for the cruise boat. Although the sun's appearance turned out to be short-lived, at least the skies were dry during our 1/2-hour cruise.
After spending the morning puttering around the apartment, we decided to have lunch at the Bistro de Pompe, a nearby restaurant offering both French and Flemish cuisine. Many of the eateries in the area are closed for the holiday, so we weren't certain this place would be open, but it was. Although without a reservation, we arrived just at the right time, because it soon became totally packed with customers, many of whom had made advanced reservations.
The owner was able to sandwich us into a table for two in a corner of the small, cozy dining room, which could perhaps accommodate two dozen diners at most.
We decided to share some escargot, served with fresh French bread, as an appetizer; then Dee ordered grilled prawns, while I tried the pan-fried sole on the menu. Everything was delicious.
A Belgian woman sitting by herself at the table next to ours had ordered the classic Flemish stew, which looked very tempting when served with frites. We chatted a little with her, and she graciously offered to take our picture before departing. When we had finished lunch, we headed toward the Markt Square, shivering a bit as we walked, and then decided to seek the warmth inside the Salvador Dalí museum located next to the Belltower.
Salvador Dalí (1904-1989) was a prominent Spanish surrealist born in Figueres, in the Catalonia region of Spain. His artistic repertoire included film, sculpture, and photography, in collaboration with a range of artists in a variety of media. As many of you would doubtless agree, the body of his work can be fairly described as bizarre, and we found the prints,
sculptures and other pieces on display to be no exception.
As a bit of background into Dalí's sexuality, which may explain the bizarre tendencies in his art, here is a blurb from
Wikipedia:
“During his childhood, Dalí's father would force him to look at grotesque images of advanced-stage untreated sexually transmitted diseases. This led the young Dalí to develop a fear of and obsession with sex, decay, and castration. These became frequent themes in his various works, most famously in his 1929 painting
The Great Masturbator. In 1922, Dalí attended the Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando where he met Spanish poet Federico García Lorca, an openly gay man. Dalí is rumored to have had an affair with Lorca and a lifelong love and obsession with him after Lorca's assassination in 1936. Although Dalí denied this in his autobiography, various accounts from those close to him along with exchanged letters do hint at an attempted love affair between the two. In his later years, Dalí admitted to finding himself drawn towards men, as long as they were androgynous and feminine.
In 1929, when Dalí met his future wife, Gala, he was said to still be
Dali print
Lobsters and genitalia seem to have been favorite subjects of Dali.a virgin because of his fear of being touched and of female genitalia. He was reputed to be a voyeur deriving sexual gratification from watching his wife and others perform sexual acts, and the couple were known to throw large orgies at their mansion. Their open marriage gave Gala the freedom to have multiple affairs until her death, but ambiguity and rumors continued to surround Dalí's own sexual preferences. Despite his grandiose public image, Dalí had a sense of inadequacy in regard to his sexual self. In spite of his fears that masturbation would lead to impotence, homosexuality, and insanity, throughout his life Dalí regularly practiced self-gratification in front of a mirror. It is believed that Dalí solely engaged in masturbation and nothing else, because of his fear of physical contact.”
After exiting the Dalí museum, and we had overcome our sudden urge for lobster, the skies appeared promising. So we walked toward the closest canal cruise boat station and purchased our tickets. While waiting in line for the next boat, the sun finally broke through the overcast, and Dee actually had to wear her sunglasses!
At around 3 o'clock we boarded our launch, each of which holds
about 30 passengers, with a city imposed restriction that a maximum of 20 boats be permitted to operate at any given time. We found the seating to be a little cramped, and we were encouraged by the Captain to sit along the row of single seats aligned down the length of the vessel (the remainder of the seats are cushioned benches on both sides and in the aft end of the boat).
I had hoped to be able to stand up and snap some photos during the cruise, but soon discovered this to be an exercise in futility, due in no small part to the frequency with which we encountered bridges, several of which required taller passengers to duck their heads as we passed underneath. Moreover, soon after we shoved-off, the cloud cover descended once again, making for lousy picture-taking conditions. So the photos in today's blog are not very good, but hopefully they give a sense of the scenery we passed during our journey.
After the boat returned to its dock, we walked along one of the shopping streets, now packed with throngs of people. We stopped to gawk at several chocolate shops, and Dee made a
return trip to the little lace and linen shop where she had purchased a few items earlier in the week. Then back to the apartment, where Dee cooked an outstanding steak dinner for Easter.
Dee's comments: Happy Easter to everyone! What can I say, except that we've been gone 46 days and still enjoying every moment, despite the rain and cold. The best way to travel is just to do it, whatever the conditions--cold, warm, rain or snow--we've had it all, with lots of laughs along the way!
Today's conditions did not look promising, at first, but after lunch and the Dalí museum (quite interesting) things began to improve a bit. Sensing a window of opportunity, we took ourselves to the cruise boat dock and hopped aboard--the weather suddenly turned cooler when the sun disappeared (yet again), but we hung tough!
Explore. Dream. Discover. Every morning I sing the tune from "Annie" to myself, "The sun will come out tomorrow...". Here in Bruges, the sun has been playing "peek-a-boo" with us all week, shining for a short while, and then the cold returns. We've begun referring to this trip as "Our Winter Odyssey"!
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Danielle
non-member comment
Dee looks like a movie star! You both look really good. Very interesting about Dali did not know that bit of history. That's why his work is so unique. Food looks amazing and I'm sure was yummy!!