Advertisement
Published: June 22nd 2009
Edit Blog Post
I arrived in Bruges around 11am. I took the 10am train from Brussels. They didn't check my ticket at all. I just walked on to the train and then off again in Bruges and I could have been completly without a ticket. I am told that is an honor system, there are occasional spot checks and huge fines if you are caught cheating. The funny thing is that my ticket is valid between certain dates, so I could concievable use it again and again as long as no one takes it away from me.
I guess it is a moot point as I have a specific Itnierary to stick to.
Bruges is a beautiful, fairy tale town. You can literally walk across it in 20 minutes. I don't think you could even walk across Utica in 20 minutes. It is really tiny for a city. But it has a population of over 100,000 people. Thats about the population of Champaign-Urbana combined. It seems like The streets are mostly full of tourists. I sat on a park bench today looking out over the canals and eating lunch. I watched boats full of tourist sailing past being breifed by their tour guides. Each
Beautiful Canal
Bruges is called the 'Venice of the North' I have heard that Amsterdam is called that too. I guess we will see. one was using a diffent language. There was English, French, Spanish, and I think Dutch but I am not sure since I can't really recognize Dutch when I hear it.
It made me think of all the travel books that I read while planning this trip. Many of them commented on behaving like a local, and the difference between 'travelers' and 'tourists.' The main difference being that tourists travel for a short amount of time to see things they have planned to see. Travelers are supposed to take their time and imerse themselves in the local culture. Try to behave as locals do and blend in with the locals. The connotation is that Tourist = bad, Traveler = Good.
The free map that I have of Brussels said that eating waffles with strawberries and chocolate is something that only tourists do. Locals eat them plain for afternoon snacks. This made me sad. I love chocolate and strawberries, and I bet they are great on a waffle. Especially a handmade Belgium waffle actually made in Belgium. So why can't I get my waffle with Strawberries and chocolate? Why does that make me a 'bad' tourist? Why should I condemn Strawberry-chocolate
Chocolate!
Locals buy chocolate in grocery stores, but these look so much better! waffles in an attempt to be 'local?' Especially since I am not a local. Isn't it hypocritical rather than admirable to pretend to be something I am not?
Moreover, the place that I am a local of, Utica, is a bit of a tourist area itself. It has a state park and a resort. I have never been in the resort and the last time I was at the State park was about 10 years ago. Locals don't go to tourist attractions because they are busy doing things like working and living. When their small amount of vacation time comes around they use it to go somewhere they don't drive by everyday. So as someone who has travelled thousands of miles to be here, why would I want to behave like a local? I can work and ignore parks and museums when I am at home. Here I want to see them.
I do understand the idea of not acting like a tourist. Typical tourists are annoying. They complain that things aren't like they are at home. They get in the way, walk on the bike paths, speak their native language and expect everyone to understand them and get
mad when they don't. They go to foreign countries looking for America. I understand that, but if I want to eat of strawberry-chocolate waffle in Belgium on my trip, then I darn well will, and I am not going to miss an opportunity solely for sake of trying to be local.
In any case, Bruges is a tourists dream land. Every street is beautiful. The architecture is beautiful the shops are cute and interesting. There are boat trips down the scenic canals (apparently every three minutes) and you can ride a bike to the beach for 6 Euro. (I plan on doing that.) There is also a chocolate factory and a frites factory.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.282s; Tpl: 0.011s; cc: 10; qc: 50; dbt: 0.0949s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.2mb
jenny's dad
non-member comment
Bruges
When I was on a business trip to Gent years ago, the fellow that took me around (who was from Gent) told me that in his opinion, Bruges was the best looking city in the whole of Europe. I didn't get a chance to find out, but sounds like he may have it right.