Our day in Brugge

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Well, we had a great sight seeing day, but before I tell you about that, I wanted to tell you about an item on the menu at the restaurant last night. They had frog legs ... Now, I have never been any place where frog legs were an option to order - though Dave has had them and swears they taste like chicken - but the great thing about them was the Dutch word ... Kikkerbillen ... I can see the little guys kicking their billet right now. What a great language.

The other thing I forgot to tell you from the day we got stuck in the mud, was to highlight the improvised roundabout. I stuck a picture in, but it is hard to tell what I was taking a picture of. There was a section of road construction, and there in the middle of it, was a roundabout constructed of jersey barriers. These guys and their roundabouts .. Oy!

The great thing about staying at a bed and breakfast is the breakfast. This morning we had croissants,some kind of yummy coffee cake, and coffee. We are staying at an organic B&B so everything was organic ... A little weird for Dave, but he is adjusting. After breakfast, we checked the weather, and found out is was cold. -2C at 10 o'clock, 18 mph winds. Still planning to cycle, we dressed in out layered cycling clothes and set out to Brugge.

Our tour book recommended that we park in a parking ramp by the bus station. After we drove through the old city on our way there - parking anywhere seemed like a grand idea. The streets were narrow, full of turns, and filled with other cars, work and delivery trucks, cyclists, walkers and horses. We found the parking ramp, and made sure that it would be open when we were ready to leave, parked, and started looking for the tourist information center in the bus station.

Three laps of the bus station later, we successfully found the office and got directions to the center of town ... And more importantly, the shopping district. I needed a scarf. Our directions were to walk toward the tower - the 83m belfry. I was comfortable with the instructions, Dave was a little concerned about which tower we were walking toward. There are 5 churches that have tall spyres in addition to the "tower" . As we would come up to a church, Dave would say "this one?" I would shake my head no and say "tower, not church". It was surprisingly hard to see the skyline, because of the narrow streets and the packed in buildings ... So we hit most of the 5 churches on our way to the tower. We had an hour to walk from the bus station to the tower, and it took us almost 40 minutes to make our way there. Next we needed to find out where the city bus tour buses stopped. I figured, who would know better than the food vendors on the square? So I asked them ... Dave was dying - but we were short on time.

At exactly high noon (every hour on the hour) one city tour bus pulled up. You will see the pictures, but the buses would hold about 18 people. A crowd of about 40 gathered around that bus. The second bus pulled up ... At this point Dave's Army training kicked into gear .... We went to the second bus, and loaded right away.

I think I had mentioned that Brugge was also called the Venice of the North, and it lived up to its name. Our Lonely Planet tour book says "If you set out to design a fairy tale medieval town, it would be hard to improve on central Brugge. Picturesque cobbled lanes and dreamy canals link exceptionally photogenic market squares lined with soaring towers, historic churches and old white washed alm houses". Hopefully the pictures will give you an idea of what a pretty place this is. Even today - when it was very cold - Brugge was filled with sight seeing tourists ... I can't imagine how full it would be in the summer.

We saw it all today, the medieval gates, the churches, the alm houses, the squares, the canals. We saw it on the tour, and then we walked around and visited the places we had driven by that we wanted to see closer. The tour was a narrated tour - available in about 6 languages - and it was fine. What was exceptional was how our driver managed to drive the bus through town, around cars, around workers, around a guy with a ladder in the road and not hit anything or anyone. At one point I swear we had no more than 2 inches of clearance on either side. She was amazing!

A few highlights of what we saw today and the stories that go with them. There is a privately owned church - The Jerusalem church - it was built in the 15th century as a scale model of the Holy Sepulcher and has a fake tomb of Christ in it. Still owned by descendants of the family. This is one of those Crusade era churches ... Somewhat linked to the place - also here - where the story has it there is a vial of Christ' blood. And, they do an annual Procession of the Holy Blood, every year in the spring, on Ascension Day. Each year some 50.000 pilgrims come to see more than 1800 actors in historical and biblical scenes, and - of course - the bishop of Bruges carrying the relic through the streets.

Then, there is a statue and a museum to a Priest named Guido. He was born in Bruges and was ordained a priest in 1854. he is famous for his linguistical mastery, and is still today considered one of the most important poets in Dutch. Actually, his name caught my eye ... And that is why I included him today. A guy named Guido ... You can't go wrong.

Then, there is a monument of a saint .. Who became a saint after he had his tongue cut out, and was drowned for refusing to divulge the secrets of the confessional. On the tour, what caught my attention was .. Really? They cut out his tongue, and then they drowned him? So, when we got back tonight, I looked him up ... And guess what? It was King Wenceslaus that had this done. Indeed, the same Good King Wenceslaus that we sing about at Christmas. I mean, how many can there be? The Saint was John of Nepomuk and he is a national saint of the Czech Republic. He was drowned in the Vltava river at the behest of Wenceslaus, King of the Romans and King of Bohemia. Later accounts state that he was the confessor of the queen of Bohemia and refused to divulge the secrets of the confessional. On the basis of this account, John of Nepomuk is considered the first martyr of the Seal of the Confessional, a patron against calumnies and, because of the manner of his death, a protector from floods. Apparently, King Wenceslaus thought his wife was having an affair, and thought she may have confessed her sin to poor old John. Sothe next question was ... Why is the monument in Brugge? I think for two reasons. First of all, the statue of Johannes Nepomucenus, is the best known work of the Flemish sculptor Pieter Pepers. Secondly, I think that a city of canals would be interested in honoring the protector against floods.

This next story, I think is funny, because it shows that no one has ever liked the French. In one of the photos I uploaded, the one with the lined up colorful houses, off to the left, you see a monument. This is a monument to Pieter de Coninck and Jan Breydel. here's what they did: During the night of 18 May 1302, armed insurrectionists led by Pieter de Coninck and Jan Breydel entered the houses where the French were garrisoned. According to tradition, to distinguish the French from the natives, they asked suspects to repeat the shibboleth: "schild en vriend" which means "shield and friend" a sentence difficult to pronounce for a French speaker. Only the governor, Jacques de Châtillon, who absconded after he failed in rallying the garrison, and a handful of the French managed to escape with their lives. Approximately 2,000 people are estimated to have died. After this, Jan Breydel and Pieter de Coninck were celebrated as the leaders of the insurrection. Their statue, which was an initiative of Julius Sabbe, has decorated the market in Bruges since 1887.

Finally, on the side of a random building - I included a picture- there is a fresco of Little Anna. Anna was an orphan who had gone to draw water for a sick neighbor. She was attacked by ruffians who threw her into the well. In sorrow and anguish Anna's foster mother went on her knees to Our Lady of the Potterie. As she was coming back, the crowd which had gathered called to her, that the water in the well had frozen hard, so that little Anna got away with bruises and shock.

After the tour, we stopped at a little eatery for lunch. We really hadn't intended to have spaghetti, but that seemed to be the house specialty, so we ordered it, and it was warm and yummy. We had a couple of things we wanted to see before we left ... The Michelangelo statue (museum was closed) supposedly the one statue that left Italy during his lifetime. We also wanted to see the two cloister areas .. One cloister was where widows and spinsters formed a commune, dedicated their lives to religion, and supported themselves,and we wanted to go to the alm house, and finally we wanted to do some chocolate shopping and visit the family brewery that is still operating in central Brugge.

The chocolate is amazing, there are chocolate shops almost everywhere - one whole street of nothing but chocolate shops. With Easter almost here, there are beautiful chocolate eggs, bunnies, chickens, lambs .. Too pretty to eat. And they smell sooooo good. We bought enough to share when we get home.

We finished up our day at the brewery, drinking their local brew. The whole bar smelled of hops, and you could see the beer bottling machine as you drank your beer. Even better was the fireplace in the room and all the people, from everywhere, chatting, drinking and relaxing.

On our way out, we paid a visit to the brewery shop to buy some beer to bring home. As we were checking out, we got to talking to the lady behind the counter, and decided to buy the special glasses for the beer ... And then she started giving us stuff ... The more we talked, the more stuff she gave us. Finally, she gave us one of the canvas bags to carry all of our stuff in, and told us to have a good day.

Last thought for the day ... It is different here. Honest to goodness, there was one chocolate shop, that in along side the Easter eggs and bunnies, has x-rated chocolates. At first, I thought ... That can't be ... Then I asked Dave, and he said ...yes, that is what you think it is, and then pointed to an entire section! We did not bring any of that home, and if you want to know more .. You will have to ask Dave.

Tomorrow is the first of three race days for the TDK Daagse. We are already planning our route in and out of the cities they will be racing in. It is supposed to warm up in the next couple of days here ... Hope it is warm and sunny where you are as well.

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Photos

It looks cold
This was before scarf

Horse drawn tours
Even the horses were wearing coats

Canal Tours
These tourists are tough! This had to have been cold

The tower
83m ... And it leans to the left. We were going to walk to the top, but the line was too long

The tour bus
Lots of windows on the side and top

Building on a square
The building with Christ's blood was by here .. That picture didn't turn out though

The French Massacre Monument
On the left hand side. The buildings on the square are on every post card

Little Anna
This is her monument

Gate to Paradise
The Michealangelo is in here

Guy with the ladder in the narrow street
Best I could do with this picture

Windmill
There are three in town

The happy tourists
I have my scarf, and Dave is wearing his beanie

Cycle Art
I love these .. They remind me of the plastic green toy soldiers

Comments

[Diane George]

Very envious
Great to get your blog and photos, and know that we are connected vicariously thru you to the Classics! Bill and I have yet to make it to Brugge, but it is high on our list. We were headed there one day in 2009, but stopped in Roubaix and ran into a friend, a journalist, that was doing a video story on the velodrome, and Bill ended up doing a couple of laps, and we didn't make it to Brugge. If you are still thinking about riding around Lille, Roubaix, Tournai, we have to recommend that you stop into to Tournai, as it will be much less urban survival than the other two. We liked the Hotel d'Alcantara, a little off the main square, easy walking to good restaurants, although the hotel served us some very nice and simple meals. We're doing RAGBRAI this year, after all this time. We'll be in touch with Mary Sue with details. One last thing, we know you're having a great time without our advice, but, if you have time, we recommend going to see the great Belgian Sprinter, Freddy Maertens, who runs the Museum - Ronde van Vlaanderen, (Tour of Flanders), in Oudinarde. He was there in 2009, and I hope he is still active. He was a green jersey winner TDF twice. It's about a 30 minute drive from Tournai. you can ride a "cobble simulator". Have a great time and we look forward to your well described travel descriptions. We would love to get your recommendations on visiting Brugge. Warm regards, Diane George