In Bruges

The canals were so pretty

We took the Eurostar to Brussels one weekend, a bit different from the standard Parisian trip on the 'star, but no further time-wise.  I'd never been that excited to go to Belgium, in fact this was the first time I ever visited.  I'm not sure why, maybe it was the European parliament or the inability for the country to form government, it just never seemed that exciting.  And whilst the excitement levels were low on this trip, the beauty stakes were pretty high.  As were the friendli-ness stakes.  We spent a day in Bruges, I love how the Flemish (or Dutch or whatever it is) say Bruges, they call it Brug-GAH, with a really hard g, so different to the French pronunciation.  They are always going to have trouble forming stable government if they can't even decide on the proper pronunciation of their own cities.

Everywhere you looked you had to take another shot

There are going to be a lot of canal shots

But anyway, the only things you need to know about Bruges are the chocolate and the lace, both of which are sold in every second shop.  It must be some city-planning law, you cannot walk 50m without either a chocolate shop or a lace shop.  Sometimes even both.  Luckily the chocolate was delicious, if there's one thing I take with me from Belgium, it's the slightly sick feeling of too much sugar.  Within 10 minutes of getting of the train, we were already scoffing our first bag of handmade, Belgian chocolates, and we didn't let up much for the rest of the day.

I would put Bruges up there with Venice or Amsterdam, not as spectacular as Venice, but definitely as pretty as Amsterdam, and more compact too, with possibly fewer tourists.  And the people were so incredibly friendly, I couldn't get over that, they were like big friendly Vikings or something.  In that their exterior was a little bit intimidating, but then they opened their mouths.  Perhaps it's all the beer and chocolate that keeps everyone so happy.  Normally in such a tourist town you would expect almost universally surly service.  Everyone knows they don't rely on repeat customers, so why bother keeping anyone happy.  And yet not once did it feel like that, perhaps they were still screwing us over, but the important thing is that it didn't feel like they were.

The canals with the dozens of tour boats

The brick spire of the Church of Our Lady

There aren't a heap of museums or anything to see in the town, it is pretty, and almost around every corner is another photo opportunity.  But there isn't much in the way of historical or art museums.  Perhaps it's a factor of them always having been mainly a merchant city.  But so long as they keep serving their delicious moules-frites I don't care that they don't have any museums.  That's the other thing you've got to have if you go to Belgium, the fries, holy cow, I don't know what they do, but if there is a national dish (besides chocolate) it has to be the fry.  Unbelievable.  You would think there can't be that much difference in fries, but lets just say I don't think McDonald's is ever going to get a strong hold in Belgium.  There is a galaxy of difference between the standard Belgian fry and a Maccas one.  And the mussels, oh man, so juicy and tender, and I don't even normally like mussels, but after that weekend I am a total convert.

Canals from a boat

So really what the day was all about was walking around amazed at the beauty, stopping every now and again to eat some more or drink a beer (again awesome) whilst taking a few photos.  We did try for a few museums.  There was a chocolate one, which seems a bit of a given in Belgium.  That was slightly strange.  It went through the life-cycle of cocoa and had these weird paper-mache exhibits.  And then at the end they give you some chocolate.

The Madonna of Bruges

In one of the churches they have a statue by Michelangelo, the Madonna of Bruges, it is thought to be the only sculpture that left Italy during his lifetime.  Unfortunately ever since that crazy Hungarian-Australian geologist attacked the Pieta in St Peters all these Madonna sculptures are now behind bullet-proof glass and you have to stand 10 metres away.  Which is disappointing.  It is so obviously a class above all the other sculptures in Bruges, noticeably so. I guess you can't blame them for wanting to protect their star.

Other than the Michelangelo sculpture, there's not a lot else.  They have the second tallest brick tower in the world, at 122m it's a lot of brick.  They have the chocolate museum, a fries museum, a diamond museum, a lace museum, a museum on the history of artificial lighting and an archers museum.  But not a lot on the history of the town, or much in the way of art.  You kind of feel that the lighting museum is clutching at straws.

The main square

A boat cruise on the canals is quite good and about the only real tourist thing to do.  It would have been nice if the tour was a bit longer, and that you went a bit further afield, but you very much stay in the centre of the town, even though Bruges is actually on the coast, you wouldn't know it from the tour.

What can I say, go, but don't take too full a stomach with you, as you will be feasting all day.