Blogs from Bruges, West Flanders, Belgium, Europe - page 5

If you listened carefully at 9:15 am (Toronto time) - you would have heard the lovely voices of the Choir as they began their first performance. There is no doubt that their gift was carried to the heavens today while we were at St. Salvator's Cathedral. Truly a goose bump moment. You should all be very proud of your family member and please know that they shared their talents in such a positive way today. We're all adjusting to the time difference and after tonight, I suspect we will all be on the right track. After the performance we all had a chance to explore Bruges - truly an amazing city. And just to be clear, there is a chocolate shop every 50 steps. My own personal experience has been with florentines and orange peel covered ... read more

Our visit to Bruges was a day trip out from Brussels. The Globus tour bus let us off at the Bargeplein coach park. Unlike similar facilities to enable the touring of city centers, this one is in a very attractive park-like setting and within walking distance of the historic center. The part leading into town crossed the pleasant Minnewater (Lake of Love). This led immediately to the béguinage. The Ten Wijngaerde Béguinage was founded in the 13th century. Béguinages were places for lay religious women who lived in the community without taking vows or retiring from the world. Similar to a convent, but for lay women. In the Medieval era, they offered women a religious life together with personal independence and opportunities for purposeful work. Today, the béguinage was a quiet place. We walked through the ... read more

Today is our last day in Bruges. We stayed 3 nights and ate lots of chocolate. Bruges is in Belgium which is famous for beer, chocolate and french fries. I ate lots of chocolate and french fries, mum and dad drank lots of beer. The Belgians invented french fries but they're not called belgian fries. Do you know why? It's because during World War 1 some French speaking Belgian soldiers gave some fries which they called "frites" to some American soldiers. The Americans thought they were French soldiers and so called the fries "french fries".... read more

It is good to be back in Belgium, the countryside is so green, air is good, food is good. We headed out, not so early, to Bruges. This is a city in the Northern part of Belgium, about 1 hour away. We all piled into the van and had a roomy ride. 1st stop was a castle belonging to the family of Ghislain, an uncle’s family. Ghislan said that they would visit on occasion when he was young. Now they go once every 4 years I believe. The castle is a large building that contains a chapel on one end and the residence on the other end. http://www.kasteelvanloppem.be/infoen.html On the grounds, near the entry, is a labyrinth with paths separated by hedges. The point of the labyrinth is to get to the center where there is ... read more

Up early (thanks Em!) and after a bit of organisation we made our way back into the city as we had promised Em a horse ride and chocolate today. This time we walked along a canal beside the city wall to one of the old entry bridges to the town. The medieval guard tower is still there complete with wooden tackle block for hauling cannons up to the top. Winding our way into the town, we discovered many of the major landmarks including a working nunnery where the nuns practice silence – no verbal communication at all. There are three Belgian specialties – lace, beer and chocolate. We found many chocolate shops and ducked into one where we bought some dark Belgian chocolate. Em liked it even though it is quite strong. Wandering further we passed ... read more