Day Trip to Bruges!

Ok, time to talk about my day trip up to Bruges, Belgium! Danielle, a semi-friend here at Lille had mentioned making a day trip up there on Sunday, so since it sounded interesting I said I’d go along. So we got the tickets and got things planned out, and I spent some time online reading about things to do so we aren’t completely clueless when we got there!

So, since the train left Lille at 9:06 am, she stopped by my room about 8:20 and we headed on out. I was running a little behind but no more than 5 minutes! But we hopped on the metro and made it to the station before the train did so we had some time to just wait. We finally get on the train and they check out tickets, when we hear over the loudspeaker that we’ll have to change trains at some city. We had booked tickets for a straight shot to Bruges so this threw us off. Well, we asked the controller what was going on, and apparently there was an accident with trains somewhere near Antwerp or something – so trains had to be re-routed. Didn’t seem like a huge deal… then we got to the station we had to change trains at. No one seemed to know what was going on, and after asking a couple of times, we finally were told which platform we had to take. So we get over there and when the train arrives, we double check and the controller then tells us we have to get off and switch trains again at the next stop! This train was so full, we ended up standing between the two cars – but it was only about 10 minutes so it wasn’t too bad.

We then ended up in Gent, where we had to get off and after asking again which platform we needed, we got to the right one and waited for the train to come. Like the last train, there were no seats left (The trains we took were local commuter trains where you don’t have to have a seat reservation) So we ended up standing again though this time it was for about 20 minutes. Finally, we arrived in Bruges, Belgium only about a half hour later than we were supposed too.

Bruges is one of the most beautiful cities in Belgium, and we could definitely see why right off the bat! It is also nicknamed the “Venice of the North” because there are so many canals throughout the city. Part of the reason the town is gorgeous is because it actually was behind the times and didn’t go through the industrial revolution when the rest of Europe was – and it’s because of this that the entire city center, which is still surrounded by the city walls!, is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

So the first stop we made was in the new modern concert hall, which is where the tourist office was. I had looked at a guidebook online so I had wanted to pick that up – and I did along with a small foldable map of the city. Once we got those, we kinda set up a general plan for the day since it was already 11:30 am. We figured we would take the canal boat trip to see the city, and then walk around the city center seeing those sites, then after grabbing a bite to eat rent a bike and do the bike tour in the guidebook that takes you around most of the city including along the city walls. So, we made our way to the nearest canal boat point!

Quick notes: the skyline of Bruges is dominated by three steeples: The steeple of St. Saviour’s Cathedral, the steeple of the Welcome Church of Our Lady, and the Belfry. Also, Bruges is in the Flemish country which includes part of Belgium and even part of northern France! The Flemish culture is very unique.

On our way to the nearest boat trip point on the canal network, we first came across St. Saviour’s Cathedral which is Bruges’ oldest parish church. However there was nothing memorial about it other than that – and since it cost to get inside, we skipped it! But we did walk around it and through some smaller side streets on our way to the other major church in Bruges – The Welcome Church of Our Lady.

We did go inside here because you could get into the church itself for free. (The museum part of the church, which unfortunately included the choir and the back half of the church, cost to get in.) The main reason I had wanted to go hear, aside from it being one of the landmarks of Bruges, is that it is here where you can find Michelangelo’s Madonna and Child statue which is world-known. It was set up in a huge side altar dedicated to the statue. It actually was rather small, but beautiful! Unfortunately it was kept behind bullet-proof glass and you couldn’t get closer than 15 ft – but it was still impressive to see! It was the only statue of Michelangelo’s that left Italy during his lifetime. After walking around and looking at the beautifully sculpted choir screen and pulpit, I figured that I could afford to not pay the 2.5 Euro charge to go see the choir and the tombs of Charles the Bold and Maria of Burgundy in the museum part. So, since that was about all to see there, we headed out!

And we were right next to the canal – yay! We went and paid for a ticket to take the half-hour guided cruise along the canals and waited for the next boat. There was some Spanish tour group that weaseled its way in front of us but I guess that’s what happens when you book a whole boat! But we got on the next one and were off on our ride!

It really was a good time – not only was the views superb, but the commentary was great as well. As Belgium officially has three languages: Dutch, French, and English, the guide spoke all three and would explain what we were looking at in all three languages! Talk about skills with language! I could explain a lot about the boat tour, but I’ll do that in my pictures when I get them uploaded. I’ll have them in the order of the path we followed so it will kinda be like going on the trip at the same time! But we were able to see most of the landmarks of Bruges from the water as well as some interesting things too.

But that trip ended quickly, and we were back at the dock getting off the boat. From there, Danielle and I decided we should walk over to the Market Square to see the Belfry – so we headed off! After going behind the Welcome Church of Our Lady, and getting stuck behind the same huge Spanish tour group (we had to wait about 15 minutes for them to take a group picture on the only bridge crossing the canal in that area… ) we made it to one of the major streets along the canals. From there we followed part of the walking tour in the guide book which took us along the canal, so I was able to get some better pictures of some things. My, was it beautiful! We ended up crossing through a small area of restaurants before crossing over the canal into one the Burg which is one of the major open areas. Here, there is the City hall and other major buildings of administration for the city. Also, as we later discovered, it included the Basilica of the Holy Blood tucked in the corner. But we kept on walking up the street to the Market Square and the Belfry.

This was an interesting place! The architecture of the buildings were very colorful and Flemish in style, but of course the 83 meters high Belfry and the Halles (their stalls for trading during the older times). I naturally wanted to climb them because the view would be impressive – and who wouldn’t want to climb to the top?! Well, Danielle wouldn’t – so she was the party-pooper and sat out while I climbed to the top. That was quite a climb though, and not so easy either! In total there are 366 steps to the top, most of which are fairly steep, narrow and they spiral their way up. To make matters even worse, there was only one set of stairs to get up to the top or come back down! So often, it became a game of finding the corner so you can let those coming down pass and vice-versa. But on the way up there were different levels which had things like the old Treasury, and the mechanism for the impressive clock outside the Belfry, as well as the 47 bells that make up the Bruges carillon! I was quite tired by the time I got up to the top – but as usual, it was completely worth the exhausting trip!

The view from the top was so impressive and really gives you a different look on the city. Of course, I took tons of pictures! I mean, it’s me! Unfortunately, there were these huge green rope nets that covered the bells so people wouldn’t climb up on them, as well as the windows had a fence thing that stopped people from jumping or something – but I was easily able to slip my hand and camera through to get pictures without them! However, as it was nearing the hour – I wasn’t so sure I wanted to be up there when the clock struck the hour! So I began my descent. If anything, going down was harder! The steps were that steep and because they curved, there was not much to the steps themselves. Add to that the fact that so many people have climbed them over the years, they have become rather smooth and you can easily slip down them – which is of course exactly what happened to me! I made it a few steps down and suddenly slipped and lost my footing… and ended up sliding down about 15 steps before it came to one of the small landings along the way. It did kinda hurt but thankfully no one was coming up! The rest of my descent – which I took more carefully! – went smoothly and without problems. And when I got down to the ground level, Danielle was outside just chilling.

After that, we went back to the Market Square and went to the TinTin shop there. TinTin is a widely known French comic book character so it was cool to see that, and Danielle bought a shirt for her little brother. After that, we started walking around the Market looking at the buildings and restaurants along there. We figured we probably should head over to the Basilica of the Holy Blood since it was in the area, so we headed that way. And here is where the map was not so clear! It showed that it is located on a side street between the road we were on and the Burg… but it was only after we had reached the Canal, had I realized this road must not exist! So I looked at the map and figured it must be over in the corner of the Burg… so we started going that way.

But first, we stopped in a few souvenir shops along the way just to look and start pricing some things so we weren’t ripped off when we actually bought things! We also stopped in a tea store! That was fun and I loved the smell of all the kinds of teas – as well as all the fun teapots they had! When we got out there, I consulted the map again to make sure I was right… and Danielle must’ve not believed me or something and ended up taking the guidebook and map from me and tried to figure it out… Only being the ditzy girl she is, she wasn’t even looking at the right place! She thought we were a good couple blocks over and got “confused” when the street we were on was not where she was looking…. By this time I was agitated and tired with her to the point I almost grabbed the map back and just started walking… but I told her I know exactly where we were and where we had to go. So, I took it back and headed on the way … and of course I was right! Tucked in the corner of the Burg was a really detailed façade that ended up being the entrance to the Basilica of the Holy Blood.

This is somewhere I really wanted to go because not only were the descriptions beautiful, but it also is home to the relic of a vial of Christ’s Blood. Though, no photographs were allowed in the upper chapel – it was gorgeous! You walk in and are surrounded by the Flemish colors all over, and the actual woodwork of the neogothic style was equally impressive. For a Basilica though, it was very tiny in comparison to others I have been to (Sacré Cœur for example). There was a podium area in the side chapel where a Church official looked over the relic of the Holy Blood as people were allowed to walk by and venerate it. So, partially because I wanted to see it up-close, and because most people in there were doing the same – I walked up there to see it. It was really tiny and kept under a glass lid, but was really impressive to see. Whether or not it is actually Christ’s blood, to think that an entire place was built for it here is just astounding. Again, Danielle was the party-pooper and didn’t follow – oh well!

After we left the upper chapel, we went into the lower chapel which is very Romanesque and gorgeous! There was not anyone down there from the church, so I was able to take some pictures. The interesting things down there were a Piéta, a painted wooden sculpture from the 1300’s, a statue of Christ, and a Tomb of Christ caved in wood. Though, once a huge group of noisy Spanish people came inside – we left!

Since it was getting late in the afternoon, we figured we would head to the Choco-Story which is a museum about Chocolate. But on our way there, we passed up a cool lace store so we went in. Lace is another product of the area, one which it is known for. It was all gorgeous but lace is very hard to buy! However, Danielle must have not trusted the fact that I knew how to get to the Choco-Story Museum … because she asked the store owner how to get there! Another reason why she ticked me off! But he didn’t help her find it, and instead told us about the best chocolate store in Bruges. Since we wanted to get to the Choco-Story before it closed, we held off on looking at this chocolate store!

The Choco-Story was rather cool as it talked about how chocolate was first used by the Mayans and how it evolved throughout times till today, as well as it explained how chocolate is made. Built in an old four story house in as tiny side street, it was mostly dedicated to Belgium chocolate (obviously as we were in Belgium!) but I was a bit disappointed in it overall. It mostly was like a museum where you walked around and read about the exhibits, and they only had some examples of things. Then again, I’m comparing it to the Hershey museum which is very commercialized! It was cool at the end though, because they had a live demonstration of how pralines are made – including a sampling of them afterwards!

Now that we had done that, we sought out this “best chocolate store in Bruges” that we were told about – which ended up being really close by! We went inside and it was completely impressive, and smelled all over of chocolate! Yummy! There were so many kinds of chocolate that it was hard to even pick – and what really made it nice was that it is a family run store and the owner was right there. So, after asking questions about things like what kind were those, and which did she recommend (to which she replied that she wouldn’t sell something that wasn’t good!) we ended up buying some Belgium chocolate. It ended up being a great price as well – and very delicious too! Hehe!

By now, it was after 5 pm, so I was getting hungry and we both wanted to taste some Belgium beer. So we ended up going right across the street to the Brasserie right there. After looking over the menu, I ended up getting a medium glass of the local beer (Bruges Zot) and a meal of a cheese croquette appetizer, Flemish Beef Stew for the entrée, and chocolate mousse for dessert… and Danielle got only a coke. Being the mooch she is (which is why most people here do not like here, myself now included…) she asked to taste some of my beer (which I did but shouldn’t have…) I should also mention that she’s completely anorexic and doesn’t eat anything unless she mooches it off someone (part of why people won’t answer their doors if she knocks because she will hunt out for your food and eat it without asking!) Then, as if that wasn’t enough… there was an older gentleman sitting at the table next to us who had ordered mussels, and as the waitress who brought out the food hadn’t taken our order, there was some confusion at first to who ordered it… which lead to Danielle talking to this guy who only spoke some English… and as Danielle mentioned she wasn’t sure if she had had mussels before, to which we started talking about them… the gentleman offered her some mussels! Which, most people would be polite enough to turn down as this guy was actually eavesdropping on our conversation… but not Danielle… she not only had one, but a couple! Talk about being a mooch!

However, we were slowly running out of time and had to ask a couple times for our bill. Originally, the guy had said they accepted cards, but when I went to pay for it with my card (Danielle just gave me the 2 euros her drink cost) he said that it wasn’t enough to pay with a card! Thankfully Danielle had a 20 Euro note! Since my share was 19.50 euros, she gave me .50 euros and I told her I’d give her a 20 Euro note after I went to an ATM. Then we headed on our way back to the train station and planned to stop by some tourist gift shops on the way back to buy souvenirs.

It was only about 6:30, so it came as quite a shock when we discovered most of the souvenir shops were already closed! Thankfully, the first one we had looked in was still open, so I stopped and picked up a few souvenirs from Bruges. Then we kept walking on our way back to the station as I got some last pictures of Bruges. We got to the station in plenty of time to catch the train back, so I stopped at the restroom first.

I should’ve just waited on gone on the train! It cost me .40 euros to use the restroom (which is a very common thing over Europe for it to cost to use public restrooms) but when I gave the lady a 50 cent coin, instead of giving me a 10 cent coin back – she gave me a 5 cent, two 2 cents, and one 1 cent coin! I asked her why she gave me those back and not a 10 cent coin like she should’ve… even going as far to explain that I couldn’t use those tiny coins anywhere! Which is completely true, not even the machines at the metro stops here take coins smaller than a 5 cent coin so they’re completely useless! She started babbling on about how people give them to her, etc, etc… I ended up just muttering whatever and walking away ticked off. I’ve been keeping those tiny valued coins in a bag this whole semester and with these new additions I believe I’m up to about 80 cents now and will not feel sorry at all for the store that receives them when I pay with the whole bag!

But after looking at which platform we needed, we got on our train back home and started on the ride back. Thankfully, we didn’t have to switch trains this time so it was a nice relaxing ride back home. We just talked about random things… and Danielle kept on bragging about some relative having this company, another doing this… blah, blah, blah. I kinda wonder if she’s a pathological liar as well as anorexic because if she’s telling the truth, she has an uncle who owns a top of the line sunglass store and is invited to parties thrown by high end designers all over Europe, an aunt and uncle who own their own candy business that has made them rich, and so much more! The only thing that kept me from pulling out my iPod and listening to music is the fact that I try not to be that rude … but she almost had me there!

The ride back was only about an hour and half, and it stopped a couple places along the way – but soon enough we were back in Lille and on the metro on our way back to our rooms. It was only when we got back here that I remember I still needed to give her 20 Euros, so we headed back out to an ATM down the street to do that. Then I said bye to her and went to the peace and solitude of my room where I just relaxed the rest of the night. I also called home too and talked to people online which was nice! I had put a movie into my computer to watch while falling asleep but I was so tired from the hot day and little sleep the night before that I crashed before I even started it! Well, that was my day trip to Bruges.

Just a quick addendum here about today before I go. I had planned today to go mail the large box I have packed up to send home. It’s mostly souvenirs so I don’t have to deal with them going through customs, but ended up being really heavy! So I head on out carrying this box to go to the post office… only to find that it is mid-afternoon and they’re closed! Figuring maybe it was just that post office, I walked further along to the next one only to realize that most things were closed today! So I came back to my room with sore arms from carrying this box around and looked up online to see if there was a reason – and of course there was! Today is VE Day, which is the day when fighting during the World War II in Europe ended with the unconditional surrender of Germany. I’m not a history major, so I wouldn’t have known otherwise! So I spent today, just relaxing and will work on getting all my pictures online … and get ready to go down to Parc Asterix outside of Paris tomorrow morning!