{"id":2062,"date":"2009-10-08T15:26:39","date_gmt":"2009-10-08T19:26:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/frenchbychoice.com\/?p=2062"},"modified":"2014-04-14T15:39:50","modified_gmt":"2014-04-14T19:39:50","slug":"bruges-thursday-october-8-2009","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/frenchbychoice.com\/?p=2062","title":{"rendered":"Bruges, Thursday, October 8, 2009"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Bicycles

Bicycles parking at the Bruge Train Station<\/p><\/div>\n

\"Park

Park by the train station in Bruge<\/p><\/div>\n

Clearer skies than we have yet to see in Belgium started off our day.\u00c2\u00a0 We took the Metro to Gare du Midi and bought round-trip tickets to Bruges.\u00c2\u00a0 We hopped the train, arrived in Bruges in about an hour.\u00c2\u00a0 First stop was the tourist information center to get a map of the city and recommendations from the agent. Since the Markt was only a 15-minute or so walk from the train station we elected to walk instead of taking the bus.\u00c2\u00a0 We had mapped out a walking tour of our own to hit the highlights that most interested us.<\/p>\n

\"Horse

Horse Cart rides in Bruge<\/p><\/div>\n

Bruges is a medieval town that has been remarkably well preserved.\u00c2\u00a0 The pedestrian scale of the town including the streetscape, canals, cobblestones was very welcoming.\u00c2\u00a0 We walked past St-Salvator Kathedral on our way in, vowing to check it out on our way back to the train station.\u00c2\u00a0 First stop was the Market (the main square which has held a market since the 10th century).\u00c2\u00a0 The Belfort, or belltower, anchors one side of the square, rises 272 feet into the blue sky, houses.\u00c2\u00a0 Centered in the square is a statue of two guildsmen who led the rebellion against the French in 1302, ultimately defining the rights such as the right to free trade in the town\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s charter (until the 15th century!)\u00c2\u00a0 A canal used to permit goods to flow into the square, but it has been filled in a replaced with a building housing the administrative offices of West Flanders. On another side of the square is a the Huis Bouchotte \u00e2\u20ac\u201c its fa\u00c3\u00a7ade features a compass, attached to a weathervane, which informed merchants the direction of winds for incoming ships.<\/p>\n

\"Compass

Compass in the tower<\/p><\/div>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\"City

City Theater<\/p><\/div>\n

We left the square on Vlamingstraat and walked past the town\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s neo-classical municipal theater dating to 1868 (one year older than our house in Richmond).\u00c2\u00a0 We passed a lodge for traders from Genoa that dated to 1399.\u00c2\u00a0 Nearby we found Huis Ter Beurze where merchants and bankers exchanged credit notes as early as the 13th century.\u00c2\u00a0 Rumor has it that it was the first stock exchange and is the origin of the French word for stock exchange Bourse.<\/p>\n

\"Genoa

Genoa Lodge<\/p><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Stock

Stock Exchange – Bruge<\/p><\/div>\n

\"Customs

Customs House – Bruge<\/p><\/div>\n

On Academiestraat we found the Burghers\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 Lodge, a gathering place for the upper class.\u00c2\u00a0 It has a tower that was rebuilt in 1775.\u00c2\u00a0 On the other side of the street is the Old Customs House where customs were assessed.\u00c2\u00a0 The old weighbridge has been replaced by a city square, complete with a statue of Jan van Eyck, Bruges\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 famous artist.\u00c2\u00a0 The canal now stops here and we walked along it, taking a little detour to check out a baroque church built for the Jesuits in the 17th century.\u00c2\u00a0 Retracing our steps back to the canal, \u00c2\u00a0we crossed over the canal to Blekersstraat, where we found Bruges\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 reputedly oldest tavern, the Caf\u00c3\u00a9 Vlissinghe, dating to 1515.
\n\"\"<\/p>\n

\"Janvan

Janvan ecyk<\/p><\/div>\n

We continued down Blekkersstraat to the Jerusalemkerk and then on to the Folk Museum, fearing it may close for lunch.\u00c2\u00a0 The museum is in a series of low almshouses and houses artifacts of Flemish life.\u00c2\u00a0 Each house\/room features a different aspect: a classroom, shoemaker\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s shop, clog maker\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s shop, grocery, cooper\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s trade, pipe and tobacco artifacts, a tavern the Black Cat, a Flemish living room and kitchen, confectioner\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s shop, chocolate molds, apothecary, hat shop, tailor, and signboards.\u00c2\u00a0 The old tools, washing machine, sinks, cabinetry in the apothecary shop held our interest for some time.\u00c2\u00a0 Unfortunately, photos were not allowed.
\n\"\"
\nWe headed over to the windmills which sit where the old city walls stood.\u00c2\u00a0 The city wall was further protected by a moat which is still in existence (walls taken down in 19th century).\u00c2\u00a0 At one point there were 20 windmills only 3 are left, and one is original to Bruges, even though it was restored in 1770.\u00c2\u00a0 Farther on we found Kruispoort, a gate from 1402, that guarded the eastern approach to the town.\u00c2\u00a0 It is now all that is left of the city walls.<\/p>\n

On our way back to the Markt to find a place for lunch, we passed through the Burg.\u00c2\u00a0 The town hall is here, built of sandstone with a fa\u00c3\u00a7ade dating to 1375 it has a Gothic Hall noted for its 1385 vaulted ceiling.\u00c2\u00a0 The Provost\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s House next door was built in Baroque-style of grey stone in the 17th century.<\/p>\n

We lunched on traditional Flemish fare at a restaurant in the Markt, enjoying t blue skies and the sun.\u00c2\u00a0 Mike had filet of Oostendt herring and rabbit in the Flemish style.\u00c2\u00a0 I had Flemish ham and melon with Flemish beef stem.\u00c2\u00a0 Our beers came in glass containers set in a wooden holder \u00e2\u20ac\u201c quite a different experience.<\/p>\n

After lunch we headed back to the Burg to walk through Blind Donkey Alley, a narrow arched alley, to get to the fishmarket.\u00c2\u00a0 The open air fishmarket is usually busy early in the morning but by afternoon was deserted.\u00c2\u00a0 We climbed aboard one of the canal tour boats and took a \u00c2\u00bd hour tour of the city by water, retracing many of t places we had walked earlier, but with a different view.\u00c2\u00a0 It was kind-of Disney-ish but it was fun.<\/p>\n

After our tour we walked along the canal on Rozenhoedkaai and Diver to the Church of Our Lady.\u00c2\u00a0 Its spire was under renovation and masked by scaffolding and construction tarps.\u00c2\u00a0 The main entrance was blocked.\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 We wondered if the restoration will take as long as the original construction (200 years).\u00c2\u00a0 Michelangelo\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s sculpture Madonna and Child from 1504 is here.<\/p>\n

On our way back to the train station, we stopped in to visit St Salvator Kathedraal to check out the eight Brussels\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 tapestries representing the Life of Christ.\u00c2\u00a0 It, too, I sin the midst of renovation.\u00c2\u00a0 The exterior has been completed, the interior is scheduled to start in 2010.\u00c2\u00a0 However, most of the artwork and statues were covered in preparation for the work to come.<\/p>\n

We caught the train for a very pleasant ride through the countryside back to Brussels.\u00c2\u00a0 Skies were clear in Brussels, too \u00e2\u20ac\u201c so we sat outside at the Hotel Metropole and enjoyed a glass of wine.\u00c2\u00a0 We revisited the Grand Place at night \u00e2\u20ac\u201c just to see it without rain and, then headed back to the hotel to pack for our return to Paris to meet Glenn and Kimberly<\/a>.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Clearer skies than we have yet to see in Belgium started off our day.\u00c2\u00a0 We took the Metro to Gare du Midi and bought round-trip tickets to Bruges.\u00c2\u00a0 We hopped the train, arrived in Bruges in about an hour.\u00c2\u00a0 First … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[122,124],"tags":[713,718,720,716,719,714,722,715,721,717,711,712],"class_list":["post-2062","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bruge","category-brussels","tag-belfort-or-belltower","tag-clog-makers-shop","tag-coopers-trade","tag-folk-museum","tag-grocery","tag-huis-ter-beurze","tag-michelangelo","tag-old-customs-house","tag-pipe-and-tobacco-artifacts","tag-shoemakers-shop","tag-square-on-vlamingstraat","tag-st-salvator-kathedral"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/frenchbychoice.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2062","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/frenchbychoice.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/frenchbychoice.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/frenchbychoice.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/frenchbychoice.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2062"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/frenchbychoice.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2062\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2063,"href":"https:\/\/frenchbychoice.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2062\/revisions\/2063"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/frenchbychoice.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2062"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/frenchbychoice.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2062"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/frenchbychoice.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2062"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}