I left the hostel at 8 for a 9:00 train. I took 3 metro trains to get to the central train station, and once I got to the train station I was pretty confused. Navigating a train station when all the signs are in a language other than English is pretty difficult. I managed to find the ticket booths, and bought my ticket completely in French. I thought I would just be able to say 'Bruges s'il vous plait' which I did, but then he asked me a question.... I'm sure he spoke English but I wanted to see if I could get through the interaction with just French. The only word I caught in the question was 'simple', so I figured he was asking if I wanted a single or return ticket. I said 'simple' (I wasn't sure if I was going to go straight back to Brussels) and everything worked out. Go me.
I found the right platform and I had about 10 minutes til the train was supposed to come, but then it was delayed 10 minutes, and they changed the platform at the last minute. They made the announcement in French and all I heard was 'Brugge' and 'six' then the sign board on the track I was on changed so I figured I had to go to track 6, which I did, and everything was fine.
I got to Bruges an hour later. The weather was not nice. It was grey, windy, and rained off an on the whole day. There was only half an hour of sunlight, which happened to be the half hour when I took a canal cruise. But I'm getting ahead of myself.
I didn't quite know how to get from the train station to the city center so I followed a crowd at first, then just wandered through the city. I was looking for the bus station because before I left Edinburgh I printed out 2 walking tours that were on the Bruges website, and the first one started at the bus station. I found Markt first, the main square in Bruges. It's very pretty, and there's a big outdoor market there. I climbed the 366 steps to the top of the Belfort, the big bell tower. There's construction being done on it though so you can't see the view from all sides, but what I could see was sweet.
View from the Belfort:
Walking down the stairs of the Belfort:
Market in the Markt:
The Belfort:
Eventually I did find the bus station and I started the walking tour. It was very detailed with a map and explanations of the things I was passing so it was very helpful. First stop was St. Salvatorkathedraal, a big church. There was a service going on so I didn't stay in there long, but I went back later.
Service in St. Salvatorkathedraal:
Next I went back to the Markt and spent a bit more time there. One building there is Heilig Bloed Basiliek, or the Basilica of the Holy Blood. They have 'one of the most sacred relics in Europe', according to my guide book. It's a vial of, supposedly, blood and water washed from the body of Jesus by Joseph of Arimathea. If you wait in line and make a donation, you can pray on it or whatever, it's a pretty big deal. There were a lot of people doing it.
Basilica of the Holy Blood:
People at the relic:
Next stop was the Burg, another big square. The buildings here are really pretty too. It started raining so I ducked into the City Hall (Stadhuis) and paid only 1 euro to go into the museum there. It came with an audioguide so it was a nice way to pass the time until the rain stopped.
Stadhuis:
After that I went into a chocolate shop called Dumond. Bruges is really famous for their chocolate and this shop handmakes it all. I bought a little box of assorted chocolates and all the pieces were incredible. I restrained myself from buying more, but it's hard when every other shop is a chocolate shop.
Chocolate from Dumond:
The tour took me through a few scenic streets after that until I ended up at the Vismarkt, a fish market. It was pretty smelly but cool. By the way, all the streets and houses and canals and bridges and stuff in Bruges are really beautiful and picturesque.
Carriages at the Burg:
Fish market:
It started raining again so I stopped for lunch at a cafe right in the most scenic part of the city, Rozenhoedkaai. I didn't know what to get so I asked the guy and he got really excited that I would try whatever he thought was a good traditional dish. He ended up giving me beef stew and fries (which Belgium is also very famous for). Both were delicious. After dinner I decided to do a canal cruise. It rained just after I got on the boat (there were umbrellas though), but then after that it cleared up for a half hour and it was a very pleasant ride. It was fun seeing the city from the water.
The oldest bridge in Bruges:
Canal tour:
Right after I got off the bus it started pouring so I ducked into Onthaalkerk Onze-Lieve-Vrouw, or the Church of Our Lady. It's famous for a white marble Madonna and Child by Michelangelo.
The weather was still bad after that so I went to a cafe for hot chocolate, and it was probably the best hot chocolate I've ever had. Chocolate in Bruges is very good...
Revived, I started following the second itinerary. It passed a lot of museums that I didn't want to pay to go in to so mostly I just walked along the streets. Eventually I got to St. Walburgha's Church. It's kind of out of the way but I decided on a whim to go in. I walked in and saw that while it's not as grand as more well-known cathedrals, it's a beautiful building. There was powerful music playing so it made quite the first impression. The second thing I noticed was that I was the only person there. The priest came over to me right away and we started talking. He was very welcoming and we talked for awhile about why I was there, and where I'm from and that kind of thing. Then I walked around the church (a few people came in), and when I had finished we talked some more. He seemed very sad that I was only going to be in Bruges for a day. Right before I left I took a picture of the cathedral, and he offered to take a picture of me in the cathedral. Sure why not. So now I have a picture of me in a cathedral taken by the priest.
Picture the priest took of me:
Eventually I ended up at the windmills. I saw two of them, and they're pretty cool for windmills. Those were the last things I wanted to see and the weather was pretty bad so I decided to go back to the train stations. It was 4 pm by then so I decided not to go to Ghent, which I had considered. I just didn't care about Ghent enough to make the effort.One of the windmills:
Luckily I got to the train station right before a train back to Brussels was leaving, so that was convenient. I made it back with no problems, and took the metro back to my hostel. I bought some food at a corner store, took a shower, and read for awhile.
I don't know what to do tomorrow. I wanted to go to the coast and go up the whole Belgium coast on the tram (the longest in the world I think) getting off at all the little towns along the way, but I think it might rain the whole day so that might be kind of miserable. So I guess I could go to Ghent and/or Antwerp, but again the weather will be bad and I might as well save money on the train ticket and I might be feeling sick... But there's not really anything else in Brussels that I want to do, so I'm kind of stuck. My bus to Berlin doesn't leave til 11 tomorrow night. Plus I have to check out of my hostel in the morning. Hmmm I would be fine just going to an internet cafe, getting caught up on uploading pictures, then going somewhere to read, but that's not enough to do all day. I don't want to waste a day but I don't want to spend a lot of money. I wish I could go to Amsterdam for the day but that's way too expensive. Oh well, I'll figure something out. I'm enjoying relaxing though, it's nice to take a break after heavy traveling.
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