First off a traveller's tip: don't let your husband drink too much the day before you're due to leave when you have to get up at 4.45am the next morning as it doesn't lead to marital harmony! On the other hand watching him turn green on the train was fun (I'd have made a good vengeance demon).
This was not our first trip to Bruges, we've been three times before, but after you've travelled on Eurostar once they keep sending you tempting offers of free first class upgrades and other enticements to make you go with them another time. As we both love Bruges we let them persuade us...again (and to think I always swore I'd never go through the Channel Tunnel).
Bruges does have disadvantages: 1) other people like to visit it too so it's often packed with tourists; 2) it's full of the sight and smell of enticing things to eat - chocolate, waffles, chips - so it's very difficult to visit and not come away full of rich food; 3) after a bit the cobbles become incredibly hard to walk on and flat shoes are a necessity; 4) you need to get used to the fact that bicycles shoot at you from all directions. This is all completely outweighed by the fact that everywhere you look in Bruges there's something beautiful to see, from the medieval style towers and spires that make you think you've stepped into a Flemish painting, the step-gabled houses, the beautiful colours of the brick reflecting in the water, and even a well-designed window display. Like Venice getting away from areas thronged with tourists is easy and the less visited areas north east of the Market are just as attractive as the tourist hubs of the Markt, the Burg and the Beguinage.
Although the town has almost turned itself into its own work of art it also contains some really stunning art. From the Van Eycks in the Groeninge Museum to the Memlings in the St John's Hospital it is all extraordinary, but the one thing that is truly unmissable is free for all to see in Onze Lieve Vrouwekirk - Michelangelo's statue of
the Madonna and Child. It's one of the few works of sculpture by Michelangelo north of the Alps and the only one that left Italy during his lifetime. It was originally commissioned for the Cathedral in Sienna but a Bruges merchant cannily bought it and it's been in Bruges ever since. When we first went to the church J said "where's the Michelangelo" and I took one look and said "there" because she was unmistakable. It is partly due to her position in a completely hideous baroque Flemish altarpiece but she appears to glow against her surroundings as both she and the Child (toddler really) bow their heads in serene contemplation. She's a perfect thing.
And I haven't even mentioned the beer. This would be because I don't actually like it, though I'm told it's very good. My brother once went in to a bar in Bruges, asked for a beer and was told "we have 300, which particular one would you like!" so you can tell that there's a wide selection *g*. J tends to stick with beers actually brewed in Bruges and would recommend Brugse Trippel from the bottled beers and Straffe Hendrik from the beers on tap (beer pression). He's also very fond of De Garre which you can only get in the Estaminet De Garre and then they only allow you three glasses - and I certainly wouldn't have that many if you're sitting upstairs! Although I don't like the beer I love the glasses as each different type of beer comes in a particular shaped and sized glass. Brugse Trippel has a tiny picture of a medieval garden on its glass, which endears it to me, though I have to balance the attractions of the glass against the fact that J falls over when he's had too many!
And then there's the chocolate...
Anyway pic spam behind the cut. Once again holiday snaps only taken by inadequate photographer.
( Spam, spam, spam, spam...Collapse )
