My friend Elizabeth from Washington and I spent a fun mom's weekend in Brugge in November. Having just come from Venice, it was fun to see this picturesque city, often called the Venice of the north. There were many canals, although the bridges are flat and so we didn't have to climb hundreds of steps. The city is full of cobblestone streets, red tile roofs, and interesting gilded architecture. There are multiple buildings with step down roofs (see picture) it almost seems like they have just a front face. This city only has 20,000 inhabitants but tons of shops for tourists (and tons of tourists) where you can buy chocolate laced gingerbread cookies, flemish stew, Belgian beer, french fries with mayonnaise, linens with lace, clothes and most importantly chocolate!
We enjoyed being tourists here walking along pedestrian friendly streets. There are few cars but you do need to watch out for bike riders and buses who take up most of the road. We climbed the bell tower to see many of the 40 bells and hear the chimes up close. Also, we noted an expansive city view overlooking all the red roofs. We loved visiting the museums (without someone tugging at our sleeves wondering when it was time to go) featuring artists of the 14-16th centuries. I really enjoyed seeing one museum set in an old hospital which displayed paintings depicting how it functioned years ago. There were many paintings showing the nuns praying as there wasn't many therapies at that time. There also showed a few instruments and an old chair used for patients who couldn't walk to the hospital. They had to be picked up in this wheelbarrow like structure. It was also great to see another Michelangelo sculpture of the pieta in a church.
Later in May, we went to Brugge as a family for a chocolate and speculoos filled weekend. The kids were anxious to see Brugge as I had recounted my visit with Elizabeth to them and they couldn't wait to get their hands on all that chocolate! We had a chocolate tour trying out chocolate from all the different shops. One shop is particularly creative with chocolate lipstick (we learned about this from friend Safi) and they use all sort of flavors even marijuana. My favorite was the early gray tea chocolate. Paris and Belgium are known for their chocolate and we decided Brugge was one of the best places for chocolate. But after lots of chocolate, waffles, and speculoos cookies from the bakery we felt like we had tasted a bit too much! Next time maybe we can spread it out over a few days.
The other great thing about Belgium are all the bike paths. Luckily we had time to go biking along a canal to Damme. And we followed that with some more chocolate...:)
We enjoyed being tourists here walking along pedestrian friendly streets. There are few cars but you do need to watch out for bike riders and buses who take up most of the road. We climbed the bell tower to see many of the 40 bells and hear the chimes up close. Also, we noted an expansive city view overlooking all the red roofs. We loved visiting the museums (without someone tugging at our sleeves wondering when it was time to go) featuring artists of the 14-16th centuries. I really enjoyed seeing one museum set in an old hospital which displayed paintings depicting how it functioned years ago. There were many paintings showing the nuns praying as there wasn't many therapies at that time. There also showed a few instruments and an old chair used for patients who couldn't walk to the hospital. They had to be picked up in this wheelbarrow like structure. It was also great to see another Michelangelo sculpture of the pieta in a church.
Later in May, we went to Brugge as a family for a chocolate and speculoos filled weekend. The kids were anxious to see Brugge as I had recounted my visit with Elizabeth to them and they couldn't wait to get their hands on all that chocolate! We had a chocolate tour trying out chocolate from all the different shops. One shop is particularly creative with chocolate lipstick (we learned about this from friend Safi) and they use all sort of flavors even marijuana. My favorite was the early gray tea chocolate. Paris and Belgium are known for their chocolate and we decided Brugge was one of the best places for chocolate. But after lots of chocolate, waffles, and speculoos cookies from the bakery we felt like we had tasted a bit too much! Next time maybe we can spread it out over a few days.
The other great thing about Belgium are all the bike paths. Luckily we had time to go biking along a canal to Damme. And we followed that with some more chocolate...:)
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