Bruges - Day 2

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Geo: 51.2052, 3.22727

So being the careful planner I am, today I pulled out the guide book and decide to take the recommended city walk, checking out the sites along the way. The first thing that caught my eye on the map was the folklore museum. Unfortunately it did not catch my eye on the street because I managed to walk right past it and not even notice. I did notice the second thing on the map, being the Jerusalem Church. Now because it had the name Jerusalem in it I made the assumption that it would be Jewish and I thought it would be something a little different from the Christian histories. I completely ignored the word CHURCH! Not synagogue, church, that would be christian! I went in anyway, it is the private chapel of the Adorno family, who have owned it for 500 odd years. Today they open it up to the public. They have great interactive displays where you can learn about the history of the chapel and the man who built it, Anselmo Adorno, who was quite the adventurer. He was a merchant, politician, diplomat to the Scottish king and pilgrim to Jerusalem (hence the name of the Church, not synagogue) It took him 14 months to get to Jerusalem and back, he was there 11 days.

The next stop on the map was the Gruuthuse Museum which promises a history on the development of Bruges. I got confused and went into the Groeninge museum instead. I'd actually paid my entrance fee and walked in when I realised. I was standing in an art gallery thinking, this is not what I was expecting! The gallery boasts a selection of famous flemish artists dating back to the middle ages...You know those flemish artists right? If you don't know the famous flemish artists, let me tell you what they're about....Boobs! Yep that's right, they're all about the boob, even the Virgin Mary had her knockers out. Ok she was supposedly feeding the Christ child, but really, she's the virgin mother, is that really necessary! Oh and gore, they love the gory stuff. Seriously these guys would have gone mental over Game of Thrones. One painting, not far from the front door is of a dude being skinned alive. For those art enthusiasts it was the "Judgement of Cambyses" by Gerard David. Next to it was the "Allegory of peace in the lower countries" by Pieter II Claeissens. The ladies had their puppies out all over the place in that one, the gents were modestly covered of course. I noted those two down as examples in case you want to google them, but seriously, boobies, be-headings, murder, you name it, these flemish where into it. The more modern impressionist stuff was much tamer, landscapes and still life, etc. Much more soothing, even if it was impressionist stuff

For the record I did find Gruuthuse museum. It was just just next door but it was closed for renovations.

I gave up on my recommended walk and started meandering. I came across the St Salvator cathedral. Yet another domineering belfry, they love they're towers in this town. The church was beautiful. The choir had these beautiful stone carvings. Really impressive. Behind the church where a series of little chapels, each with beautiful sculpture, paintings and stained glass windows. Underneath one of the chapels where the tombs. I could not go down into these of course but they had put perspex panes in part of the floor so I could see down into them. The tombs were also decorated with art. The artist had to draw the picture into the wet plaster and then paint it before the plaster had time to dry. This way the paint and the plaster bonded so it would never fade. Thats a lot of effort to go to for something that was never meant to be seen again

After the cathedral I made my way to the town square. I got myself a Belgian waffle, in Belgium, and it was to die for. Then I made my way to the town hall. The actual hall is quite impressive. A huge room covered in paintings and carvings. Really lovely. There was a museum just off the main hall with displays of ancient books. I'd love to tell you about them but the explanations were in Dutch (I think) and the books themselves were in another language, I'm guessing Latin. So I learned nothing.

I also checked out the Belfry. As previously mentioned they luuurrrve they're towers here. The Belfry stands at 83m tall. To climb it means facing 366 steps, and based on my experience with Torre Grosso last year, I decided to pass

After these adventures, I had pretty much walked my feet off. I dragged the tired bloody stumps to a restaurant that was kinda on the way home, had some wine, wrote this blog, had some more wine (just sayin....in case it doesn't make sense) and a small dinner. After which I decided to head for home. I took a slightly different route, as I wanted to stop at a supermarket a couple of streets across from my home stay (I'm calling it that cause they don't do breakfast and I feel like I'm staying in Grandmas house) on the way I stumbled across the church of St Walburga. it was still open so I decided to take a look. I was rewarded with classical music (recorded not live) and another beautiful 17th century baroque church. Alas Marky Mark was nowhere in sight.

I didn't find that supermarket but my walk took me past the windmills again. I climbed the hill they were on and got some great shots of the city skyline. There were other people, climbing the windmills and taking photos. I didn't like the look of the stairs so decided the view from where I was standing was good enough.

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Comments

[Lou]

staying at Grandma's house, that sounds like fun. Be sure not to bounce on the furniture or touch the TV. At least the waffles there look pretty yum :)