Day 7 - Bruges

Did you see the movie In Bruges? That was the inspiration of this side trip. It was such a beautiful town that I wanted to go there while in this part of the world. So, we hopped on a train and went.
This was our first view of the town. It wasn't at all like I thought. As we were walking down this street I thought it was kind of small and not nearly as quaint as what was in the movie. The tower in the background is St. Salvator's Cathedral.

First view of one of the canals in the town.
I was really geared up for this visit. I'd read in the travel book how nice it was so I was really looking forward to it.
This little statue was in a random building. It wasn't a church or anything. Kinda cool.
Still, the whole time we're walking, I'm thinking, this can't be it. Where's the town square? Where's the belfry? After we walked through that little arch, we found the first church. I say "first" because there are many.
St. Salvator's Cathedral. We didn't go in because there was a funeral going on. There's was also a lot of reconstruction going on.
St. Salvator's Cathedral.
A view of the other side of the cathedral.

Meanwhile, we're still walking and looking for the town square where the belfry is. It was from this belfry that one of the characters in the movie fell.
We found the market place. It was worth the walk. This is the Provincial Court.
The Grote Markt.
Another view of Grote Markt.
The Belfry and Cloth Hall.
The Belfry.
I love the architecture. Very medieval and ornate. I believe this is where Maximilian of Austria was held prisoner back in 1588.
John with the entire belfry in the back. So, we found the square - the next order of business was lunch. All the cafes in the square were tourist traps. We wandered down this little side alley and found a really nice cafe that had great sandwiches.
After lunch, we decided to do a canal tour. According to the Frommer's guide, it was a MUST. They were not wrong on that. The only thing that was bad was the boat people crammed us in like sardines. Just when we thought we were tightly packed in, the boat driver pushed in two more people.
Waiting for the tour to start.
The view from the canal was wonderful. I loved the way the buildings were right on the water.

The steeple of Our Lady's Church. It's under renovation.
Another view of the church before we go under the bridge.
Here's an example of the how the buildings are right on the water. The staircase actually ends right at the canal. I'm sure that's where a boat would be parked. It's probably not a good idea to wander around this town drunk in the evening. I wonder how many people end up in the canal..

I believe this is an Abbey. Even if it's not, it is still beautiful.
This seemed to be the "church" area. The big church was over here along with a convent and the abbey.
This looks like it could be the exit to some sort of secret passageway. That's the thing about these medieval cities. You know they've got secrets. I wish I could explore it all.

This place looks like there could be boat "parking" under that little alcove. I was imagining a castle where you go down to the dungeon and you take your boat out from there. A bit like snow white.
This house has a door that opens on to the canal. I'm guessing they keep it locked.
Another nice canal view.
I'm a sucker for a nice footbridge.
This building has the smallest window. It's right in the middle of the building. Kind of makes you wonder what's on the other side.
The requisite self portrait.

After the canal tour, we went back to the town square (Grote Markt). I wanted to climb to the top of the belfry as it was supposed to have the most amazing views of the city. The climb consisted of 366 steps and we had to pay for the privilege. John was still sick and he didn't really want to. I don't know why (probably inspired part by the movie and part because I wanted to prove to myself that I could) but I was compelled. John gave in and paid our fare and began the climb. There were some kids that went up right before us (an entire class - like a field trip) and they zoomed up the stairs. They weren't even breathing hard!
The stairs were very narrow and made of stone. It was not a comfortable climb. I was afraid that I'd killed John. The poor guy was functioning on half a lung because he was sick and he climbed all the way up. I was wheezing by the time I got to the top but I was excited that I'd made it.
The bell in the belfry.
Now this just made me mad. The belfry was under renovation so you couldn't walk around and the view was obstructed by these bars. Only about 10 people could fit up there at any one time and there was a whole passel of kids right behind us. John was not happy. If they'd told us that the it was under renovation, we could have respectfully declined to go up.
I was able to put my camera lens through one of the bars and get this picture of Bruges. When we got back to the bottom, John was not speaking to me. Or maybe he just wasn't speaking because he couldn't breath. I REALLY felt bad.
We found a place to sit an rest for a bit. Then I mentioned that there were these windmills that I wanted to see here in town. So we headed out. On the way we found another little square that had Basilek van het Heileg Blood or Basilica of the Holy Blood. It's a 12th century church that houses a relic - a fragment of cloth stained by what is said to be the blood of Jesus wiped from his body after the crucifixion by Joseph of Arimathea. It's beautiful but we didn't go in.
The windmills were all the way on the edge of town. There were four of them. This one is Bonne Chiere Mill. It was built in 1888 in East Flanders and moved to Bruges in 1911. There were three others that we didn't get to see. I think John had had enough of my insanity by then. But what I can I say? I'm enthralled by these historic landmarks. We weren't really sure of the train schedule so we started making our way back to the station.
The way back to the train station took us back through the center of town where there was a bratwurst vendor. My punishment was to buy him a bratwurst. Fair enough. I bought one for myself as well and I discovered that bratwurst is really not my thing. I love a good hot dog as much as the next person but this bratwurst tasted like a mushy icky hot dog. John, however, liked his quite a bit. Oh yeah, I got ketchup with mine and it cost extra. Fifty cents for a side of ketchup. Seriously.
One the way back out we passed by Our Lady's Church again and sat down to rest. This thing is huge! I didn't want to ask if we could go in. This church took 200 years to build but the spire can be seen from pretty much anywhere in Bruges. Inside there's a statue of Madonna and child done by Michelangelo.
This statue/pump was outside Our Lady's Church. I thought it looked kind of cool.
On the way back to the station, we ended up taking the scenic route, although, it was not by choice. Somewhere along the line, we missed a turn and ended up having to go through this really nice park. This was yet another church. This one was in the park.

Finally we made it to the station and got lucky. The train left right as soon as we got on. If we'd missed it, we'd have had to hang around for another hour.

So, what I learned from this little excursion was not to try and cram everything in. We could have easily spent two days here instead of 6 or 7 hours. If I ever get the chance to go back, I will forgo the belfry climb. I will go into the Church of the Holy Blood as well as Our Lady's Church. I will also make the trek out to see the other windmills. But, I would also find a nice cafe and sit outside and people watch. Bruges was wonderful.