Blogs from Saint-Raphael, Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur, France, Europe - page 23

So today was a lot of fun. I really really like Brugge. After breakfust we walked to the Chocolate Museum and took the tour. We got a small piece of chocolate at the beginning and it smelled so good in there :) At the end of the tour there was a chocolate-making demonstration and afterwards we got a truffle from the demonstration. VERY yummy. We walked to the lace shops and bought our mom's lace hankerchiefs. WE also bought a waffle with chocolate sauce from a vendor. It was good -- more like a cake than a waffle. We took a canal ride - which I thought was a lot of fun! :) And we bought ourselves two truffles from a chocolate shop - a grand marnier and a caramel. mmmm!! It's so expensive though, but ... read more

Traveled from Paris, Gar du Nord train station, to Lille France, and then on to Brugge, Belgium. Spent three or four days in and around Brugge (Bruges for some). The town was pickled in time by a set of economic catastrophes. The river silted up, sheep’s wool couldn’t be moved to the market, and the bankers left town. Not much modern about this town. The days were so cold and I spent a good deal of time out of doors (8 to 10 hours per day), I built up an immunity to the cold, so you may now better understand why I’ll never complain about a Chicago winter (or summer for that matter). The town was dead so I was happy to be moving on to Calais, France to catch the ferry to Dover (see last ... read more

Quiet Brugge is quite a change from noisy, hectic Amsterdam.  People go home at about 7 at nite.  Amsterdam had only one choice for beer: Heinikin.  Even a small bar in belgium has 50 kinds of beer.. all good and all cheap. But Brugge is a really cool place...it's europe's best preserved medevil city.  There's lots of canals and old churches... however the tourists far outnumber the locals... A city that I liked better than Brugge was Ghent which had the same beauty to the city but with a more vibrant feel to the city.... read more

Don't know much of the history of Brugge, this small but very charming city in northwestern Belgium. The Spanish name makes one wonder however. Brujas - witches. What the heck was going on back in the days when the Spaniards ravaged the region? And are there still ladies in the streets we should look upon with suspicious eyes? Nothing witchy happens, our group enjoy the city to the fullest. It is indeed a city to be enjoyed to the fullest with its medieval architecture and narrow canals, and other cool stuff. The group of to-be-Masters disintegrates rather quickly, and I'm left to explore the city on my own. A re-unite with my little blonde friend results in a boat tour on the canals. Very touristy, very cold in February, very Amsterdam, and probably very smelly, but ... read more

I have actually had the chance to do this trip on two occasions - the first being in December 2001 and the send in December 2003 to enjoy the Christmas markets. Both times were great and involved spending lots of time (and money!) in various chocolate shops, bars and cafes in and around of the main Markt Square although we found a couple of great little bars slightly away from the main square, which we could have stayed in all weekend! I think Bruges is possibly one of my most favourite cities - it has that gorgeous medieval old towns that seem to have been lost in some of the bigger cities with a brilliant selection of restaurants, cafes and bars and much culture and history to go with it. We spent some time in the ... read more