Belgium
In July, 2000 we traveled to Brugge, Belgium. We chose Brugge, because of all the wonderful things we heard about the city. It truly lived up to it's reputation.
We drove 295 miles which made for about a 5 hour trip. It was rainy for most of the trip, and was pouring down when we got there. We found the Hotel Jan Britol pretty easily. It was very close to the center of the city, which was very convienient. It was also easy to find your way walking around the city.
Sights
Since it was raining so much and we also wanted to shop, we didn't spend too much time sightseeing. The city was beautiful just walking around enjoying the view in the medieval city with the many canals. We tour a canal boat tour, which was very nice (it wasn't raining). We also checked out the lace museum, but that really wasn't very exciting--neat, but not exciting.
The Food
We ate so much when we were there. Our first lunch was traditional Flemish stew with beer and french fries. The stew was great and it was hard not to get it everywhere else we went.
Later that night we enjoyed a huge dinner. It started with apppetizers of delicious fish soup and garlic-sauteed mussels. Then we each had a dutch oven full of steamed mussels. One was with white wine and cream sauce and the other was a provencale sauce.
Some other great stuff we had were Real Belgian Waffles -- Delicious! Also, lots and lots of fries. We have never seen a place that eats so many fries (even McDonalds). outside of the one church are 2 food stands that only sell french fries and you can get any kind of sauce on them.
The one thing that can't be left out: Belgian chocolates. The streets are filled with the aroma of chocolates everywhere. They were and still are absolutely sinfully scrumptious! The most common ones an my favorite ones are the seashell shaped pralines.
The best meal we had was in celebration of our 6th Anniversary. We ate at Chez Oliver, just two blocks from the hotel. What an excellent French restaurant. We had a six course meal consisting of carpaccio, salad, grilled mushrooms and scallops, fish, pigeon, and chocolate fudge with vanilla and raspberry syrup. And, yes, that really was pigeon that we had and it was great.
The Shopping
Brugge is famous for it's lace and tapestry. We definitely helped to support the Belgian economy.
Some of the things we bought are for gifts, so we won't be sharing those. We did buy some things for ourselves. The Lace was too irresistible not to buy. It was so beautiful with many intricate designs. We picked up a couple of doilies. The tapestries are the other main thing to buy. There are so many different materials, qualities, sizes, and designs. We finally decided on a smaller sized hanging with two matching pillow cases. It is a picture telling a story about wine harvesting. The picture is below is sililar to ours, but not the exact same colors.
The Wine Harvest
"Les Vendanges"
Description of the tapestry:
The wine harvest celebration spans the centuries from ancient Rome to 15th century France. The wine-making process begins on the tapestry's right side where the grapes are being harvested by hard-working peasants. The first grapes are offered to a noble woman who has come to sare int he celebration. On the left, workers are busy pressing the grapes; some us the mechanical press, while another relies on the time-honored tradition of treading on the fruit.
The original hangs in a museum in France.
