Day Two: Brussels to Brugge (Train)

Try not to let the spelling get to you.  We were  in the country of Belgium where the official language is French AND Flemish or Dutch.  I'm not sure we ever figured out how to really spell the names.  Brugge, Bruges, Brussels, Bruxelles, ...... Thank god everyone here speaks English.

 We arrived in Belgium (on September 19) via the capital, Brussels, which is also the capital of the European Community.  Pam, Suzanne and I (and later Carolee and Kristin) arrived directly from Dulles Airport, Chuck and Kim flew in from California, via Seattle, Mike flew in from New Hampshire via Atlanta as did Cheryl from San Diego.  Nine good friends ready for an adventure.    Our itinerary was Brussels, Brugge, then on the barge, The Magnifique to sail/bike from Brugge to Amsterdam via Ghent, Antwerp and a number of other smaller towns, with the final days in Amsterdam (sans bikes).

Brugge is a beautiful town built on many many canals.  It is famous for the canals, and also the ancient art of bobbin lace.  Belgian chocolate, Belgian waffles, french fries and beer round out the other well-known commodities of the region.  More about these later.

After a Mike-led death march from the train station to our hotel, dragging what seemed like tons of luggage over cobblestone roads, we checked into our hotel (two flights up, no elevator---aren't these European hotels charming?---), and headed out for a look at the town and dinner.  And yes, it is this beautiful and quaint.

Brugge - Main Square

Dinner was a wonderful experience in a small restaurant off the beaten path.  However, it started what was to be an on-going discussion and quest.  The discussion at every meal remained the same---how much do you tip in Europe?  The quest was to drink and pay for beer and wine, but to drink and NOT PAY for water.  The Europeans have this quaint custom of drinking only bottled water and we learned the hard way that that water is sometimes more precious than wine.  This first evening we paid 6.60 Euros (translate to $9.00) per bottle.  We learned to swallow our pride after that and order tap water, much to the hardly disguised disapproval of our European hosts. 

Round Up?  To What?

 A short walk back to our hotel, grabbing a couple bottles of wine was all it took for a great end to our second day of adventure.

A canal at night

Pam at the scene of the crime the next morning.  I think we kept a few people awake that evening with our impromptu wine tasting in the hotel's courtyard.

Morning meant a canal tour before tasting some of the local beer.

 Culture can go only so far on an adventure, so before we boarded our barge, we headed out to sample some of the finer things....the oldest beer hall in town dating back to the 1500s (I think).

On the way, we saw examples of Brugge's artistry in lace and in chocolate.

Bobbins that are used to make the lace like you see here.  Don't ask me to explain how this works.  If you are really interested., look at this .video.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TiTqdr38tTU

Tomorrow (if I'm feeling like it), I'll continue on with our entry onto the barge.  Oh one last thing, can't forget the artistry of the chocolatiers.

I want to make a shout out to Dorian and Paul.  Dorian, who had major surgery while we were gone, was always in our thoughts.  And still is....

Oh, forgot to show you the luggage.  We took a taxi to the barge.