Bruges

 So today we are off to the city of Bruges. According to many this is a great little town full of charm and character.  Since it is Monday we know no there will be no museums open but we head out anyway.  

Getting off the train we are not sure what “great little town” means to people. We have a 4 lane road in front of the train station full of cars, bikes and a few pedestrians. We head into the center of town.  As we near it is a little cuter than by the train station.   Buildings are all brick , narrow lanes, and horse drawn carriage tours.

First stop the de Halve Mann brewery. This is the oldest independent brewery in Belgium and their claim to fame is a 3 km pipeline that transports beer to the bottling facility that is not in town but on the outskirts. Seems they are so busy they needed more space.  A creative way to handle processing and delivery since trucks would be impossible on the small lane like streets. 

We wander further into town among the wall to wall chocolate shops, waffle shops and fries stands not to mention side walk cafes. Next stop was the chocolate museum. We weren’t really interested in that museum but the one about lamps and lighting that was part of the combo ticket. Because of our wandering and spending time in the brewery we missed the entry by 15 minutes. I guess there is another we need to come back. We did enjoy the ambiance weren’t real excited about. How many bikes there were; we thought we left that in Holland. 

Time for Bruges fries.  Again highly recommended,  I was let down. Perhaps I need to try another location.  I am not sure about the Belgium people. They use mayonnaise with fries and as a sauce. Oh well it’s a cultural experience.  We did find the widest street in Bruges.  It had a ton of high end shopping and the longest lines in front of the gelato stores    So having gotten a late start we still  had over 15000 steps.

A walk through the park to get back to the train. We have had terrific weather not real warm low 60’s but with the sun shining I was actually down to 2 layers and Dan was in his short sleeves. 

Tomorrow we explore near our apartment.  This is near the EU parliament buildings.