BRUGES

So today I decided to venture off to Bruges by myself. I had heard too much about it not to go. Also paging through the book Jon let me borrow....yea. Had to do it.

It was really rainy this morning. It rained for maybe half the time I was there. Also the train from Brussels to Bruges was about 10 minutes late, but it still managed to arrive in Bruges on time. So that was good.

So yes. It was very rainy. When I got out of the station I just walked towards this huge tower that turned out to be Onze Lieve Vrouwekerk, or in english, The Church of Our Lady. I wasn't quite sure where to go, but I figured if I kept it in front of me and just walked in that general direction, I would end up at it.

I also tried to take a picture of it when I thought I had a good view. But it was really grey out and it didn't work out how I wanted. BUT! I accidentally got a really neat picture out of it. Look:


Pretty neat, huh?

And here is this little canal I passed.



See how rainy it was? It didn't really bother me much because I came prepared with an umbrella and my jacket. I actually kind of enjoyed the rain.

So I just walked around for a bit and took some pictures of some streets I was on...nothing special.



I finally arrived at the Church of Our Lady. It was so massive.



I went inside as well. There was some pretty neat art. What stood out most was the statues. They were so dramatic. I mean all the statues I have seen in the cathedrals have been dramatic so far, but this one just seemed a bit more for some reason. It was really pretty. I didn't take any pictures inside though so you'll just have to take my word for it.

After I left the Church of Our Lady, I followed the map in this book to Markt, which seemed like the town center kind of deal. Even though it wasn't really in the center. I took a picture of the Belfort (or Belfry) of Bruges. Again, massive.






There was a little model of it outside.

After seeing that I decided to take a break for lunch.


Sooooooo good. Seriously.

I also walked around Markt for a bit with my fries in hand and took some pictures.

At the center of Markt there is a statue of Breidel and Pieter de Coninck who were two guildsmen who led a rebellion against the French in 1302.


Breidel and Pieter de Coninck

After sitting down to finish my fries, I took out the book, and looked at the map for a bit. Fem had told me that if I do end up going to Bruges, that I should go to the Groeninge Art Museum. So I located it in the book, and figured out how to get there and I was off. It was relatively easy to find so that was good. Unfortunately you couldn't take pictures inside the museum, but here is what the outside looked like:



The museum was great. It had all Flemish artists. Jan Van Eyck being the name I most recognized. They even had these audio guides where you would punch in the number next to the painting, then hold it up to your ear like a phone, and it would tell you all about it. So that was neat! The museum was definitely my favorite part of Bruges. So thanks Fem (if you are reading this)!

So after spending a few hours at the museum, I decided it was time to head back. I retraced my steps (which turned out to be easier than I thought) and made it back to the train station. I even took a few pictures on the way back.


Again, that's the Church of Our Lady. You can see it from just about anywhere in the city.

And I decided since it was less rainy on the way back, that I would try to take the same picture I took at the beginning. It worked!



So I got back to the train station and I am waiting for the train. An old lady sits next to me and takes out a bottle (of some beverage) and tries to open it. She couldn't do it. So I tapped her on the shoulder after watching her attempt to get it open for a minute, and I make a motion like opening a bottle (since I don't know Dutch) and she gave me the bottle, and I opened it for her. That was my good deed of the day.

After that I got on the train and took a video of my train ride back. Not the whole thing, just leaving the Bruges station. I had to split it up into two parts because it was too big for youtube.com to upload all at once. So, enjoy!

Part 1


Part 2


So that was my small trip to Bruges. It was great and I may go back tomorrow and catch some of the stuff I missed.