Bruges

I really had my heart set on going to Bruges over the holidays. I've been hearing great things about it from the people I work with since I've been here. It's been to the tune of, "Go to Bruges. It is worth the trip."

Since the kids all had gotten sick over the holidays, I was hesitant to make any hotel reservations, but I still REALLY wanted to go. So David and I agreed to "wing it." I'm not very good at winging it. I'm too much of a planner, and not having plans stresses me out. And I don't like being stressed out!

We left at 14:07 on Friday. I kept looking at hotels.com and booking.com to see if there was availability, and honestly, it didn't look like much. But I still didn't want to make a reservation because I thought they were easily 20 Euros per room higher than they needed to be. We were getting 2 rooms, so I decided that the savings would be worth the stress.

David drove. He feels a lot of stress when he drives over here. That stress carries over to me. We got to within about 10 minutes of the city center, drove past a fancy hotel, and made a u-turn back to it at a roundabout. I checked if they had vacancies, they did. They had a restaurant. They had breakfast. They had adjoining rooms. It was twice the price I had been hoping to pay! But it was 100 times more convenient than driving the extra ten minutes at 1930 and trying to find a B&B in the city center, not to mention parking for our giant van.

What a good decision!

Our dinner and breakfast were excellent. The rooms were lovely, with some unexpected amenities (coffee, chocolates, madeleines, beer). I had told the kids that we were staying for one night, but if they ended up loving it, we would stay a second night. OF COURSE they loved it! But I reneged. Anyhow, what I had ACTUALLY told them was that if they loved the city, we could stay a second night. They loved the hotel. Even Livvy said when we got back that she was a little bit sad because we weren't staying at that hotel. Alex said he wished we could live there. I'm glad they have that sense of adventure, at least.

Bruges was certainly worth the trip. The first thing we did was visit the ice castle located next to the train station. It was kind of gimicky, but still interesting. It was cold (22 degrees), so we only stayed in for about 20 minutes. But the interesting thing was that the train station had parking for a half hour for only 10 cents. Handy! And even better, after having parked, we found a parking garage right next to it for 3.50 per day. That was easy walking distance in, and it was big enough to be relatively comfortable for David to park the van.

We walked around for four or five hours. Livvy wanted one thing and one thing only--ice cream! Even though it was cold, she enjoyed her ice cream so much. David and I got some waffles. (The word Belgian there is redundant, don't you think?) Delicious! I went into a grocery store and bought some chocolates and waffles to bring home. I/We visited two churches, the plaza, and the outside of Belfort. Alex wanted to go up it, but the line was long both times we went there, so we didn't do it. At least they had a convenient restroom there! I am to the point where I don't hesitate to pay 50 cents for a potty anymore. They're always clean and well-stocked when they're attended, so it doesn't bother me at all.

Bruges had such a different atmosphere than most of the German cities we've visited. For one, I didn't feel in the least bit judged for speaking English (not Dutch or French). There were a lot of tourists, so I would imagine in the spring/summer/fall it would be very crowded. They don't like cars in the city center, so parking by the train station and walking in was ideal. (Not what we would have done if we hadn't gotten that hotel--I was going to try to go into the center and then find a B&B very close. I don't think that would have been easy for the six of us.) I could see Bruges being very romantic and a fun destination in addition to Paris. It sort of reminded me of Prague (friendly, ancient, modern), and I didn't think the prices were bad compared with other cities we've been to. I could easily spend 3 or 4 days there. I'm so glad we were all feeling well enough and had a chance to go!

Church of Our Lady Bruges

Two lovely girls. I took this at breakfast at the restaurant.

At St James Church Bruges. It had dozens of lovely Flemish paintings and many sculptures. I took a quick stroll through it, but I could have easily spent an hour there.