Grand Tour, Day 15: Brugge Monday

We left Gerardo's around 8:30 a.m.. Though we just missed the bus we hoped to take to the train station, we still managed to get to the station by 9.

Gerardo was a generous and welcoming host. All our kids enjoyed hanging out with him, and we were sad to say goodbye.

We had second class seats on a superfast train that left at 9:25. I had a brief moment of panic when I couldn't immediately locate our Eurail pass, but it eventually turned up. Whew.

It's 192 miles from Paris to Brussels. That's 20 miles farther than the distance from Ada to Ft. Worth, which usually takes us 3 hours to drive--but after an hour an twenty minutes, we arrived in Brussels. On board wifi entertained us along the way.

Belgium is the first new country I have visited in 18 years. The last was Argentina, which Mari and I visited on winter break in 1999.

Belgium is divided into two principal regions:  Flanders, the northern, coastal region which includes Brussels and Brugge; and Wallonia, the southern, inland region.  In Flanders, Flemish (a Germanic language) is the primary language; in Wallonia, French is. But of course, this being Europe, people everywhere speak multiple languages.

We had 17 minutes to find and board the train in Brussels that would take us to our end destination: Brugge (or "Bruges," in French), which was scheduled to depart at 11:04 a.m. I stopped at an information desk to make sure we were taking the most direct path. Out of politeness, I asked the man who was working there if he spoke English, and he responded, sarcastically, that he does and doesn't get paid extra for it. I lowered my annoyed eyelids to half-mast and asked for track 11. We got there.

The train was full. Nina and MJ took the first seats we saw, and Pablo and Emi and I went hunting. We found seats in the first car of the train, and Maria and Nina soon joined us.

At the Brugge train station, I withdrew 80€ from an automatic teller, and we found a taxi that could take all five of us to the Crowne Plaza in the city center, where we'd reserved two rooms:  a room with 2 queens for the boys and an adjoining room with a king for the girls. We were able to use points to pay for one room for both nights and the other room for one night. Because we arrived early, we went for a short walk while the rooms were being cleaned.

In 1988, Amy Stewart told me that Brugge was the most beautiful city in Europe, and it has been on my radar ever since. It did not disappoint. It didn't hurt that the weather was beautiful. We went on three different city walks on the first day, which was a good move since it rained some on the morning of our second day in Brugge. Over the course of the day, I found myself thinking of Brugge as a place where people come to feel happy.

Our hotel was right in the center of everything. I took the picture above of Nina just outside the hotel door. That's the Belfry of Brugge behind her.  The rectangular base of the 272-foot high (about 25 stories) tower was built in 1240 and was rebuilt in 1280 after a devastating fire. The tower's octagonal pinnacle was completed by 1487. The Gothic-style parapet was added to the rooftop in 1822. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow wrote a poem about the Belfry. You can listen to it here. In the poem, invading Spaniards are the bad guys.

That's Brugge's City Hall behind Emi, Pablo and Nina in the photo above. Construction on this building began in 1376 and finished in 1421. At the time, Brugge was one of the largest, wealthiest, most successful city's in Europe. It acquired a monopoly on English wool, and its weavers and spinners were well-known for the high quality of their work.

In 1450, 28-year-old William Caxton moved from England to Brugge and 23 years later, it was there that he published the first book ever printed in English: a compilation of stories about the Trojan Wars, originally written in French. Caxton wrote the English translation.

Starting around 1500, the North Sea inlet which had given Brugge its prosperity started silting and Brugge's Golden Age came to end. One of the reasons Brugge is such an appealing city to visit today is because its wealthy medieval town center did not experience much development after the 15th century.

Canals are prominent in Brugge. Above and below: two views from a bridge over the Groenerei (Green Canal).

Queen Astrid Park. Born in 1905, Astrid is the grandmother of Belgium's current king, Philippe. She was the first wife of Leopold, who became King Leopold III of Belgium in 1934 (he was the grandson of Leopold the II, who was responsible for so many atrocities in the Belgian Congo).  In 1935, Astrid was killed in a single-car accident in Switzerland. The king was driving.

This is Blinde Ezelstraat:  Blind Donkey street. The passageway above the street connects the Old Civic Registry with City Hall. Notice the stairstep gables above Pablo.  We were told that the more gables a building had, the wealthier its owners were.

At 2 pm, we checked in to our hotel, dropped off our bags, and took off on another exploratory walk. That's the Church of Our Lady behind Nina in the photo above. Work on the church began in the 1200s and construction was completed in the 1400s.  At 400 feet (36 stories), it is the 2nd tallest brickwork tower in the world according to the Brugge office of tourism.

On the pedestrian Bonifacius bridge.

This is the narrowest alleyway in Bruges.

That's the Begjinhof Bridge behind Mari and Pablo.

At 47 Oostmeers Street, with the Church of Our Lady in the distance.

At 40 Oostmeers.

We stopped at a supermarket on the way back to the hotel and ate in our rooms 

We could hear the hooves of the horses pulling carriages as they clopped along the cobblestone streets outside our window

At 6:15, we headed out for our third--and longest--walk of the day. The sign on the right in the photo above is an advertisement for the Plissenghe pub at 2 Blekerstraat. It claims to have been founded in 1515. Despite appearances, Emilio and Pablo were not running to get there.

This park path edges a canal that circles the city center.

These working windmills date to the 18th century.

That's the Jerusalem Church at the end of the street (Balstraat).  It was built in the 15th century.  On the right are a series of almshouses, built in the 17th century. Wealthy families and trade associations in Brugge had single-room dwellings like these built for needy people--seniors, single women or widows. The people who were allowed to live in these homes were expected to pray every day for the people who had donated the house to them. These particular alms houses are now a part of Brugge's Folklife Museum.

Running down Sint Annakerkstraat away from Sint-Annakerk (St. Anne's Church), which was built in the 17th century.

By 8 pm, we were back in the hotel.  Belgium is famous for its fries and its waffles, so we went out to get some of both (with some ice cream added in). When we got back to the hotel at 9, Mari took the kids to the hotel pool for a swim before lights out.

According to my phone, we walked over 12 miles today.