Bruges was our last visit of the day and it had a much different character than that of Gent. Bruges is pronounced "Brugg-uh" in Dutch with a very guttural "G". It is spelled both Bruges and Brugge.
We had two site visits in this city. The first was the beguines and the second was the Church that contained Christ's Holy Blood.
The beautiful weather had tons of people out and walking around in both cities.
There were tons of horse and carriages trotting through the city. It was a perfect thing to do in the great weather.
This was the beguines. It is now a convent however it was originally a community of houses full of mystics. The beguines were women who had individual relationships with God however they felt it unnecessary to be affiliated with the institutions of the Church.
The Houses of God
Bruges is known for its handmade lace. There were a ton of shops. I had never seen lace being made before. The prices ranged from reasonable to extremely expensive.
Looking at the top of the Basilica of the Holy Blood.
If you were looking this way at the Basilica, there was a separate room off to the right that had stairs up to a priest holding the vial with the Holy Blood.
After the basilica we walked across the street to the Town Hall. There was a small band playing in the square that I have several videos of. I'm hoping to be able to put them into here as soon as I have time to format them.
This was the upstairs building of the town hall.
We then went into the old courts.
The wall above a massive fireplace.
After this we had an hour and a half to explore on our own. Once again we walked along the shops.
Awkward solo photo.
We went into one of the handmade lace shops. I got myself a birthday present ;)
The outside of the store.
There are a lot of tea stores in Belgium. This was one of the shops we walked into.
We had dinner on Rhodes at a steak restaurant. We all had the local beer, tomato soup, steak and frites. This was a photo I took to show Dad what I was doing and I didn't expect to put it on here or I would have taken a higher quality shot. I figured I'd put it up anyways!
I couldn't get the photo to turn but this is a Dame blanche. (White lady) This is a traditional Belgian desert which creamy vanilla ice-cream and hardened chocolate on top. So. So. Good
After dinner we left Bruges to take the hour and a half bus ride back to Antwerp. This was a great view to leave the city with.
Lovers Lake.
Poofy sleeves...
Heading back tot he bus.
From there it was back to Antwerp!
Emily
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