Brussels, Belgium: The weather was supposed to be a lot better today, so we took a one-hour train to Bruges, one of the most beautiful European cities. Greatly untouched during WWII, the many belfries and church towers still point to the sky. Dave and I first visited Bruges in 2005. There are not a lot of amusements, but the city is another built along picturesque canals. Boat tour!
Our train tickets were for “anytime” on this day. Unfortunately when we arrived to catch one of the twice-hourly trains from Central Station (just a few blocks from our hotel), there had been a cancellation of one train earlier, and the Saturday crowds were huge. We could not be seated next to each other, but could see each other. I had a fun time with a group of Croatian college girls. They asked if I had bought a ticket for the train? I had, weeks ago. They heard tickets are rarely checked, so they didn’t bother. Too funny. We rode the train round-trip - with valid tickets - and no one ever checked. I asked Lucile if she had talked with her seatmate (a 20-something man) and she said no, but he had opened her Perrier bottle for her (when she couldn’t).
By the time we arrived to Bruges, the temperature had grown to 50 degrees. Dear Reader, that is practically balmy! I was wearing a camisole, a long-sleeved tee, a Duck quarter-zip, a golf jacket, and had my rain/wind jacket for good measure. Oh, and a scarf around my neck. Leo wore Dave’s extra wind/rain golf jacket. We were prepped for the predicted wind - but for now, it was glorious with blue skies.
Our walk from the train station:
When we reached the Grote Markt (main square in town) we again saw the same things you see in any town in this area of Europe. A large civic building, a church tower, Guild Houses ringing the square, with a statue in the center of it all. The entire core of this gorgeous town is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
resistance leaders, fighting the French occupation in 1302.
It was after 1p, and Leo needs to be fed hourly. Time for lunch. We sat ourselves down at the same restaurant we tried in 2005! Would you believe they no longer offer Wasserzoi soup? Dang, completely skunked. But they did have my favorite Belgian beer - Zot - and it is brewed just down the canal. (Zot means fool/jester.)
I had cheese croquettes.
After lunch, Lucy and I wanted to visit a specific lace shop (so many of the lace shops in Belgium are closing) to purchase lovely linen and lace handkerchief’s. Rococo was on the way to our next stop, so it was an easy pit-stop. Dave helped us with our selections, but Leo was not interested in anyway.
There is another very interesting thing to see in Bruges and it is in the Church of Our Lady. Michelangelo was hired to carve a Madonna & child statue for a family. Rumor has it the statue was refused on completion because the infant was naked. Anyway, it seems the family donated the statue to the Church of Our Lady - a very pretty church - built in 900.
The refusal is only the first oddity of this art piece. It was stolen twice. The first time by French Revolutionaries in 1794 (recovered) and then Hitler (obviously a devout Christian) took it for his fancy looted art museum in Germany. American soldiers recovered the Madonna in an Austrian salt mine after WWII. Now you can see it yourself for a few euros. Second time we have seen the Madonna and her naked baby.
When we left the church is was pouring rain! What the heck. We had a fifteen minute walk back to the train station and by the time we arrived (wearing rain gear) we were all freezing again!
Two views of the lake along our route:
We did have seats together on the upper deck of the train for our return journey. Such pretty views of the rural landscape. Wind turbines, old-style windmills and solar on most roofs… and Belgium is famous for chocolate, waffles and fries - but not sunshine. Impressive.
Arriving back to the hotel around 7:30p, we were all done for the day. Lucy wanted a hot shower. Bubbe wanted a hot shower. It was determined to have room service for dinner, which just delighted the kids when they wheeled-in a cloth-draped table with our meals. Dave and I wanted to split a hamburger (there is nothing better than a room service burger), Leo wanted a burger, and Lucy wanted the kid’s chicken Milanese. I also ordered two orders of fries. Oops. Apparently the burgers came with fries. We were delivered Lucy’s cutlet - with fries. Our burger - with fries. Leo’s burger - with fries. And two orders of fries! Five orders of fries and we didn’t eat two. As much as I hate to waste food, this caused much amusement for the grandchildren during our meal. All other plates were cleaned.
PEDOMETER: 13,690 steps. Over five miles, meaning Little Lucy also walked five miles.
Until my next update, I remain, your would you like fries with that correspondent.
I laughed out loud at your “bet someone………..gilded” remark! Your relationship with your grandchildren is awesome!