BRUGES

Okay, it has been a while since we have ventured anywhere, but with Steve getting a job we thought it appropriate to celebrate. We headed off to Belgium again, but this time to Bruges. It wasn't a fantastic start to arrive at the hotel at 1130pm to discover our booking had been lost. Luckily they had a cancellation and there was a room for us until we could sort it out the next morning.

In relation to our previous trip to Brussels, Bruges is much nicer in every way. The old city is the main tourist area and is almost completely surrounded by a canal (complete with windmills) that follow the now demolished town walls to almost encirle it. The main canal branches off and winds through the city. Storybook and quaint with lots of cobbled streets, squares, churches and medieval architecture best describes the area. A german squadron leader issued specific orders during WW2 to spare the town, thus preserving the history.



Steve and one of the windmills alond the ring canal.

We only had 2 days to explore this city and started by heading up the Belfry. The 300 steps up started out easy enough but became quite narrow towards the top. This used to house the treasury in the 1200's but now has a 47 bell carillon and someone to work them on a full time basis. Apart from the chiming of the clock the carilloneur played christmas carols. Not what you expect to hear in March! The view from the top was pretty impressive.
After seeing the town from above we decided to see it from the water and headed off to do the canal tour - an excellect way to see some of the more impressive houses and parks.

The weather was so nice, we decided to stay out of museums and churches and see as much of the area on foot as we could. This isn't difficult as the length of the city is only around 7km. This place has some beautiful parks and would be a great place to run and cycle around. Minniewater park complete with its swans and family of ducks was one of the best.

We did venture inside a couple of times. The first was a trip to the diamond museum. Many shiny and sparkly things kept in locked cabinets. The demonstration was interesting and the guy did fancy himself as a bit of a comedian - told one lady her wedding ring wasn't real. I think her husband was a little concerned, luckily that was just part of the routine.

Diamond cutting.Next was the chocolate museum. A really interesting exhibition covering 4 floors and even included a demo of praline filled choccys. I have to say that the samples weren't all that nice, but then mine were coffee flavoured and dark. I would have preferred the freshly made milk chocolate pralines!!!! Important to remember for next year - Bruges has a big chocolate festival for easter and while we were there a week early (stay tuned for easter in Scotland) the many chocolate shops were setting up their displays. I am in complete awe of what they can create. Steve did keep me restricted to only a small box, but i do endorse the purchased product. Oh, there is a 2 year chocolatier course in Bruges.....mmm very tempting.

Display in the Depla window.
Lastly we headed to the Halve Maan Brewery, right in the centre of town alongside a canal. This has been a brewery since the 1500's but it's current beer - Brugse Zot - only started production in 2005. We did a tour and saw a couple of Aussie cans (including XXXX) amongst the display, before being informed that beer should only ever be consumed from the matched glass, apparently different glasses will change the taste.
View from the brewery

We did cram a fair bit into our 2 days and would definitely like to go back. Oh one last thing - I found out how the letters get into candy.......