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Published: August 8th 2007
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Madonna with Child
This statue is in a church in Brugge with no admission. I was so impressed by this that I put extra money in the collection bowl. They could have easily charged admission, but they didn't. Brugge and Brussels
Julie J Vanover I thought that Belgium was very suprisingly beautiful, however my encounters with people here were very odd. I got off the night train from Berlin in Brussels and hopped on the local train to Brugge. The train was practically empty and so when a guy came to try to sit across from me experience had taught me this wasn't a good thing. He spoke a language that I didn't recognize (maybe Flemish) and I played dumb when he was asking if he could sit across from me- luckily my pack was in the way otherwise I believe he would have just sat down. He sat across the aisle from me after I played dumb with his gestures and continued writing in my journal. I could see him moving and looked up to confirm my suspicions- yup, he was wacking off while watching me write in my journal. Great! And this just set the theme for my dealings with people while in Belgium.
My first day I took a day trip to Ghent- see my other post. I came home that night exhausted, I hadn't slept very well or much on the train the night before. So I sat down
Typical decoration
This was on the side of a random building in Brugge. I thought it was very cute! on my bed and must have fallen asleep only to be woken up at 3am to a guy talking to me right in front of my face (I was on the top bunk). He was trying to explain to me that I was in the wrong room, because there were 4 beds and he had 4 people that needed to sleep in this room. I told him that this is the room that I was assigned and that I had a key that let me in. As this whole conversation was going on his friends were laughing, they found this situation very amusing. He left and a few minutes later came back and said it was fine, that there was a bed in another room they didn't know about. They finished their good laugh about having a girl in their room and went to bed.
At 5am another of the group got back in from the bar and was loudly going from bed to bed drunkenly singing and hollering. I woke up with his face right next to mine yelling something at me (which I later found out was "I don't know you" in Dutch) over and over again.
He them tried to pull of my blanket- I think he thought one of his friends had scored a lady and he was looking for the friend. But there was only me in the bed, his friends were laughing hysterically and their friends from other rooms came in and they all were extremely amused by the situation. Finally things settled down and our latest arrival went to bed, but every time he got up he would look at me- as if assuring himself that there was a woman sleeping above him. He was pretty drunk so he got up alot of times. Then he started trying to hit on me, "Your a beautiful woman" and "Your shouldn't be travelling alone" to which I responded "Your drunk" which enlivened the friends again into rounds of laughter. By the time we all actually went back to sleep the sun was coming up.
When I woke up our room was visited by even more of their group to see the girl in their room. I felt a little like a museum display. I just waved at all the guys as there were about 14 of them. They were all from Amsterdam and
Baby swans
There was this green plant that grew on the top of the water and the swans loved it. They swam into it and just gobbled it up. it appeared that they had come to Brugge for a guys party weekend. Again at breakfast they all had to meet me again and chant my name.
The people encounters just got stranger, that night after a day of sightseeing in Brugge I went to the laundry mat to do laundry. A young guy came in and loaded the washer very full and when the washer became unbalanced he got a little rough with it until it started working again and he left. The owner and her husband saw him do this and yelled at him as he pedaled away down the street. He came back and the owner and him got into an arguement which ended in another patron and the husband slapping and hitting the kid. It was crazy! It was like these people were just sitting around waiting for a fight. After the kid runs out the patron grabs all of his wet clothes and throws them in the street. When the owner found out he was calling the police she turns off the breaker to the washer so that she can tell the police that he broke it. This all happened in another language, so
Belfry
The belfry in Markt one of the two nicest squares in Brugge. I just watched. The cops showed up and talked to everyone but me and I left. Crazy!!
But there were some very beautiful things that I saw in between these crazy incidents with people. In Bruge there were some beautiful canals all throughout the city. I saw the "Madonna with Child" by Michelangelo- a beautiful statue. A vial that was supposedly Christ's blood. Many beautiful churches that were suprisingly large and grand- I didn't realize how sucessful the area was years ago until I got there. Two lovely squares the Markt and the Burg. Windmills! And some beautiful architecture with spires and towers. There were also the swans that are fed by the city. In 1488 the people of Brugge beheaded a harsh man named Langhals who had a long neck. The counts of the area were not happy with this so as a punishment to the citizens they were ordered to feed the swans at their expense. And they still do it!
In Brussel's I saw one of the prettiest squares that I have seen yet in Europe complete with the Grand Place. The infamous- but very small Manneken Pis and many beautiful buildings and churches. I
Canals
One of so many canals in the city that were so beautiful. very much enjoyed the waffles and chocolates- their other specialty seemed to be fries and mayonaisse- which I didn't indulge in, so I made it up in waffles.
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