Beautiful horse named Jack
Small lake outside the convent
Short ride to Bruges (Brugge in Dutch), known as the “Venice of the North” for all of its canals. Historically, this 900 year old city, was a port city & popular among wealthy British & French tourists. Late Wednesday morning. I took a 2 hr break from my parents to square off my last school work (they checked out the Basilica of the Holy Blood – something I couldn’t have been less interested in). I joined them at the Fritmuseum… that taught me way more than what I needed to know about potatoes & fries. Oh, family vacations. We toured the Markt (“market square”), so pretty.
That afternoon, we took a horse-drawn carriage ride throughout the city. Coincidentally, the black horse was named Jack – making me completely tune out the guide & miss my dog. During Jack’s water break, we walked in the Bengiunage (Begijnhof, in Dutch) a 13th century convent. Very pretty with surrounding canals, trees & flowers. Mom & I grabbed a late-afternoon snack of a chocolate & ice cream pancake & beers in the market square. We then found a tiny restaurant for dinner where Dad really enjoyed a humongous glass of a local draft. On to a well-known beer bar called de Garre down an alleyway where we talked to the Americans at the table next to us, one who actually had been to Potomac – small world. Watched some ice-skaters for a bit before returning back to the hotel.
After a hotel breakfast, Dad led us on a walking tour. We stopped in at the Church of our Lady to look at a statue of Mary & Jesus, one of the few Michaelangelo works outside of Italy. Next, a fancy chocolate store owned by a man we had met at dinner last night. We checked out of the hotel & packed our bags into a van taxi. Not 100 yards away from the hotel did all of our luggage fall out of the back of the van (apparently the driver did not close it enough!) Please picture me sprinting out the van in the middle of the street, raining, to retrieve our suitcases. Ohh Europe. The rest of the ride & train back to London was uneventful!
Belgium pictures, both Brussels & Bruge here
