Brugge

 

We decided to visit Brugge after reading thru Rick Steves' travel book and watching his Brugge segment on public TV.  We were not disappointed.  It is an older city that time seems to have forgotten, often called the Venice of the north due to its numerous canals   It is well-known for chocolate, lace, lots of kinds of beer, architecture, and many other cool things.  It was just beautiful to walk thru and visit.  Our next European trip will definitely include a return to Bruge - we'd like to bike the surrounding country-side.

Our starting point for our Brugge adventure was Brussels.  We took the Eurostar from London along with a train full of soccer fans (yes, it was Euro2000 with lots of soccer fans around Belgium).  Quite an experience, especially when unloading at Brussels.  British soccer hooligans were carefully secured and sent back.

We hopped in our rental car and our first turn was headed the wrong way down a one way street.  I quickly did a mid-street correct (glad i checked for reverse when orienting myself with the new car) and all was well.  Brugge was about a mile up the road and we were there.

 

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Brugge town square

 

 

 

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View of Brugge from the bell tower

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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One of the wonderful European bakeries...

 

 

 

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Brugge bell tower from restaurant in the town square.  We ate most lunches and dinners outside.

 

 

 

 

 

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Ben eating Flemish stew on his 16th birthday

 

 

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Street scene in Brugge.  We walked around about half the town.  We also took the boat tour and carriage ride.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Some American tourists along a street in Brugge

 

 

 

 

 

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Canal along a residential area

 

 

 

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Another canal view in Brugge

 

 

 

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Tour boat in Brugge.  We took the tour on a sunny Sunday morning.

 

 

 

 

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View during boat tour

 

 

 

 

 

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Three tourists waiting for the start of the boat tour


 

 

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View from the boat docks.  Flowers were everywhere in Europe.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Sarah standing in the stairwell of our second nite B&B.  We tried to stay in B&B's whenever possible.  Due to the Euro2000 taking place in Bruge it wasn't possible to get boths nites in the same B&B.

This was a beautiful B&B, e-mail me if you want any particulars.  Another reminder that it is good to be in good physical shape when visiting Europe -otherwise you will be limited in seeing lots of cool stuff.