Both: Hey everyone!
Jen: It's Jen and Greg with an update on our travels.
Greg: This time, we're going to talk about Bruges.
Jen: Bruges is a charming little city in Belgium that in the Middle Ages was a major center for European trade. It's also called, “Venice of the North”.
Greg: Yeah, and that phrase is nonsense.
Jen: (laughs)
Greg: Bruges is nothing like Venice. It is much more like Amsterdam.
Jen: Well, they can't exactly call it “Amsterdam of the Southwest”…
Greg: That would be a lot more accurate than “Venice of the North”.
In any case, the overall vibe of Bruges is one that we liked a lot. It was relaxed. Very European, right? It's very walkable, a lot of romanticism, classic buildings and architecture. And we liked it a lot, especially considering what we went through to get there.
Jen: Yeah, it was definitely a much-needed respite - I guess would be a good word - after our experience in Brussels Midi.
Greg: Yeah. So we had that afternoon when we got there where we just pretty much walked around.
Jen: Yeah, we really liked it because we didn't have a set schedule. There was nowhere we had to be at a certain time, so we just wandered and found ourselves in some pretty cool places.
Greg: Yeah. We saw their square, sort of like Brussels’ - the Grote Markt.
Jen: Yeah. But I think it was a little distracting because it was Belgian National Day, as we mentioned before. So there was a lot of setup for tents and stages for a concert… port-a-potties… in front of all these cute little buildings.
Greg: Yeah, that was very underwhelming in a way. I think without all of that stuff there, we really would have appreciated that square because it did give you a feel of the big, really awesome one in Brussels. But with all of that stuff in the way, you couldn't capture that feeling. But it wasn't bad overall.
Jen: No, people were still hanging out at the restaurants, enjoying drinks and dinner so it was really lively!
Greg: Yeah. We also walked around to this area that had a big cathedral with a tower that's very high and impressively built.
Jen: That church is called Church of Our Lady, and it actually houses a Michelangelo statue called the Madonna and Child, which apparently is the only statue of his outside of Italy.
Greg: That's what they told us. It's smaller, though. It's not like a big piece.
Jen: Yeah, but we didn't even know it was there until we Googled. And unfortunately, we didn't get to see it because it's inside of the church, which didn't open until later that day.
Greg: Yeah, I think it was, like, 10 or 12 euro per person. And that's really the only thing to see.
Jen: We didn't really want to do that. So it's there if you ever want to visit.
Greg: So another cool thing we did while walking around was stop for dinner and enjoy the national dish of Belgium.
Jen: Yes…moules-frites!
Greg: Right.
Jen: I was excited about this because I did not get to have mussels in Brussels. So Bruges was definitely where I was going to get them. And we found this cool little restaurant. We were the only people in there because it was early for European standards, not early for our standards.
Greg: Yeah, it was early for European standards because they don't do dinner till 9 or 10 p.m.
Jen: (laughs) That's our bedtime.
Greg: So when we left, it was after 8 p.m., and there were a few tables that were starting to be full. But the menu seemed cool.
Jen: Yeah, it was a lot of seafood, so we were excited about that.
Greg: It was also a place that we stopped at because we heard the music they were playing while we were looking at the menu.
Jen: We sat there for a minute, and it's kind of one of those things where, like, “I know that song, but I can't really place it.” And then you realize—that's "The Circle of Life" from The Lion King. All of the songs were Disney songs on jazzy piano, and we played Name That Tune throughout dinner.
Greg: It was a fun little game!
Jen: Yeah, I didn't realize how much I would enjoy hearing Jungle Book songs on a jazzy piano.
Greg: Right. Overall, the food was pretty good, but I don't think we knew what we were getting into when you ordered the moules-frites.
Jen: (laughs) No, we sure didn't! Because I was expecting like a little dish of mussels like they have in the States, and then they bring a side dish where I can put the shells in there when I'm done. But when they walked out of the kitchen, they were carrying a stockpot. And I thought — Oh, okay, they're going to come do tableside, spoon the broth in a bowl, give me some mussels, and I enjoy it with the French fries.
But no, they left the entire stockpot on the table! So granted, it wasn't like a five-gallon stockpot, but I would say it was at least a gallon.
Greg: Yeah, it was probably one and a half, two-gallon-sized stockpot…full of mussels.
Jen: And they were huge mussels! Like, I've never seen a mussel that big here in the States. Make whatever jokes you will on that…
Greg: I was thinking of them, but I couldn't bring anything to mind fast enough.
Jen: (laughs) And in addition to the mussels, they bring a side of French fries that probably would have fed three of us.
Greg: I did enjoy those French fries, yes.
Jen: So I filled up on a lot of French fries, and I felt like I left as many mussels as I ate. There were so many.
Greg: Yeah. I really respect people in Europe - or at least Belgium - if they put away that many mussels because it was a lot.
Jen: It was.
Greg: It was a very enjoyable dinner. And unfortunately, we don't remember the name of the place.
So the main thing for the big full day that we had was our canal boat tour, which takes you a fairly decent distance around the city. And I enjoyed it!
Jen: Yeah, we saw a lot of pretty houses, and a couple of them were actually from movies.
Greg: Yeah, that was really neat. So there was a movie, um, that had Audrey Hepburn called —
Jen: — The Nun’s Story.
Greg: The Nun’s Story, I've never seen it. But the building they filmed, it represented the character's family home, is right there on the canal. It was a lovely home.
Jen: Yeah, and there was actually even rumors that she bought it after filming, but there's no proof of that.
Greg: But they said she did, and she would stay in it seasonally and walk across the bridge to a little local shop. Maybe it's true. I don't know.
Jen: It was a lovely house.
Greg: Yes. The other movie home they pointed out was from the Martin McDonagh movie In Bruges, where Colin Farrell is being accosted and jumps out into the water.
Jen: So if you’ve ever seen that move, you’ll probably remember that scene. I think that’s the only scene I saw in that movie…
Greg: Other than the boat tour, we walked around to some of the places we wanted to see more, like, the place with all the swans and ducks.
Jen: Yeah, there's a place called the Lake of Love. It looks like where one of the canals kind of end. And there's lots of beautiful white swans, some ducks hanging out. It's pretty, but it does not smell good.
Greg: Well, yeah, besides the birds, there's also the spot where all of the horse carriages sit.
Jen: Oh, yeah!
Greg: So that was part of the reason that it smelled the way that it did.
Jen: (laughs) It was not very charming.
Um, there was also a former convent —
Greg: Yep.
Jen: — that you were able to tour. The grounds were really pretty. It was very shaded with lots of trees, and the buildings were still intact. I think they said a few nuns actually still live there, but we didn't see anybody around.
Greg: No, it’s a very old convent from…I think it was the early to mid-18th century. And, yes, there are some nuns still there active. So that was cool.
Besides walking around there, we also walked through an area of their weekend market or what we would call a farmer’s market, which was very neat. There was this display of, like, a city map except it was made from lace.
Jen: Yeah, apparently that’s also a popular thing in Bruges. A lot of lace is made there.
Greg: The rest of our full day, we actually spent doing laundry. We needed to catch up on that. Very chill, very relaxed time there. But overall, I think we liked Bruges.
Jen: Yeah, I did. Like we said before, it was a good change of pace that we needed right at that time.
Greg: Mmhmm, yes. From Bruges, we went to Ghent. And Ghent is the update we have looked forward to sharing since we got to Ghent.
Jen: (laughs) You know it's going to be good when you book a hotel and then you get an email from them the next day that basically says, "Are you sure you know what you're getting into?"
Greg: Yeah, that was really weird. They emailed us to basically say, "We don't think you know what you're getting into."
Jen: And we didn't but —
Greg: No.
Jen: — it was still fun!
Greg: Yes, it was.
Jen: (laughs) So stay tuned for that one!
Greg: Indeed. And thanks for checking in.
Jen: And we'll see you at the next stop!
