Day 114: Bruges, Belgium

Today was a great day in Belgium.  Maarten worked until noon today, and I had planned on exploring Oostende a little on my own in the morning.  However, I was very, very tired, and I decided I had better sleep.  I woke up at around 11:25, and then went down to meet Maarten.  He had to go get his car, so I went to my room and played for a few minutes.  It was a pretty good tiny practice session, and I added a new note. (Ab)  This is exciting, because my old highest note was G.

The rooftops of Oostende, from my hotel room.  The North Sea is just to the left.

Maarten came and picked me up, and we drove to Brugs.  Bruges is a very old town that is close to Oostende.  It is a UNESCO world heritage site(like Carcassonne), and is an extremely well preserved/rebuilt medieval city.  We parked near the train station and walked into town.  I was surprised to discover two buildings I studied extensively in an architecture history class.  It is so cool seeing all of these buildings in real life.  

Here are some pictures of Bruges:

This is the town hall.

This building was, if I remember correctly, built to serve as a a market for the trade of lace and textiles.

Shops in the square.

Some other cool building.

Bruges is called the Venice of the North, for its canals.

There were many windmills around the city, but they only keep a few, now.

This is one of the 8 gate-houses around the city.  There used to be a wall surrounding the city, and these were the only access points.

Dragon bench! This path follows the former wall, around the city.

Bruges is called the Venice of the North, for its canals.

I believe this is St. James church. 

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It seems a little newer.  Like... look! This is Gothic. Right? RIGHT???

The Church of our Lady

The Church of our Lady's backside.

Bruges is called the Venice of the North, for its canals.

They remind me of Tristian and Isolde.

This is called a "stained glass winder".

Priest part of the church.

Amen.

Fry Houses are a big deal here.  These fries were SO GOOD.  Maarten told me they were bad.  He is the Belgian.  Not me.

This is a bridge. And a tower thingy.

At the end of the day, things turned a little sour.  As we we walking to Maarten’s car, the people parked next to him had decided to vandalize his car, because they did not like his parking job.  We happened to arrive just as they were finishing their work, and the mother of the family was kicking Maarten’s broken windshield wiper under his car.  I photographed their license plate, and they tried to flee, through Maarten, who ended up taking a ride on the hood of the car.  It was pretty unbelievable.  We ended up spending about 90 minutes in the police station filing a report.  

Luckily, we’re fine, and we headed to his house.  His mom had made macaroni and cheese, but not crappy.  It was very, very good.   It was nice spending some time with his family.  They are very nice.  The family is comprised of 3 trumpet players and 2 percussionists.   They invited me back for dinner tomorrow, so I will get to see more of them.

I had a really great day getting to explore a new city.  I am excited for more Belgium.

I am really missing France, and French, a lot.  I am really struggling to not speak it all the time.  I am going to miss it a lot, I think.