Day 3 Walking and Floating around Bruges

Belgium Day 3 – Wednesday in Bruges

I have an important addition to make to yesterday’s blog.  Some of the girls saw snow flurries yesterday while we were wandering around in the town.  I knew it was cold enough but I didn’t get to see the snow.

This morning, we made it to breakfast at 8:45.  It was a nice buffet type breakfast in the hotel bar.  Then Sue and I toured to basement of the hotel to see the artifacts from hundreds of years ago when a church was on this site.  There were quite a few broken pieces of pottery and there were also large parts of oak that were used in the construction of the moat around the town.  We also saw part of the town wall from long ago. 

Then we met up with everyone else for a walking tour of the city.  Guess where we toured first???  That’s right, the basement of the hotel!!!  We broke into two groups and Annie was our guide.  She was quite good but she really told us a lot of history of the city and the country.  She told us so much that after a while I tuned her out – I just couldn’t absorb any more.  We walked quite a ways through the old area – down cobblestone streets and by many churches, over bridges over the canals and through courtyards.  The tour lasted 1 ½ hours and it was a good one, just too much information.  We then went on a boat ride on the canal with a tour guide who had a most unusual tone of voice – it was very singsong and boring sounding.  We saw many beautiful buildings, many swans and ducks, some swans sitting on nest to hatch their young and we really enjoyed the ride on the canal.  Each time the tour guide would walk to a new spot and wait for everyone to catch up with her, she looked for me in my green cap and Sarah MC (nicknamed Queen of Sheba by the guide).  When we were there, she knew everyone else was also there.

Flanders Stew and Ham/Cheese Sandwich

Fries

After that, Daniel took us to a lace shop and we were addressed by a man who has made lace by hand for many years.  He explained the difference between the different types of lace and showed up how to make lace using bobbins.  It’s not a hobby I want to take up, that’s for sure.  And then we did some shopping, first in the lace shop and then in several other shops.  We had a nice lunch of ham and cheese sandwiches, cheese on bread and roasted asparagus.  We had very nice Belgium Fries with the Belgium mayonnaise.  Then, more shopping.  I was able to get Frank and Rachel a set of beer glasses that are held up by a wooden stand and the gift also includes some of the Kwak beer.  They wrapped it very strongly and I went to the post office to mail it home.  They sent me back to the shop to get it put in a box and cushioned some more.  Then I got it mailed.  The postage was not quite as expensive as the gift but at least I no longer have to handle it myself and that’s a good thing. 

The weather started out quite cold and partly cloudy and then it turned quite a bit warmer.  It stayed warm for about five minutes and then cooled off and began to rain.  It was windy the whole time.  I was able to find gloves in a very small shop but all the larger shops (and I went in quite a few) have changed to the ‘summer selection’ and no longer sell gloves.  Sure does not feel like summer to me!!!

We went back to our rooms and napped or knitting or surfed the internet or just rested and then met back with the group to walk to dinner.  We took over a whole little restaurant (there are 43 members of this group) and had shrimp, Flemish Stew, mussels, chicken, ham and then sorbet or mousse for dessert.  It was a nice meal and Sue and I sat next to Bill and Barb from Sedona, Arizona and discussed all the traveling we’ve all done and lots of other stuff too. 

We got back to the hotel and Sarah MC called a meeting so that we could decide what to do when tomorrow.  Looks like we’ll meet for breakfast about 9 – 9:30 ish, then take a carriage ride, see a Michelangelo statue, maybe shop a little.  We are all planning to go on an optional trip tomorrow to see Flanders Fields and a city named Oudenaarde before returning to the hotel about 9:30 tomorrow evening.   We will remain in Bruges until about 2:15 Friday afternoon when we will leave for Antwerp and the riverboat portion of the trip.

The pool at the hotel

After the meeting broke up, I went up to the top floor and scouted out the pool.  It looked really nice so I decided to try it.  I put on my swimming suit and swam (really floated) between ten and twenty laps and then returned for the room.  Hopefully that will help me sleep better tonight.  Sue spent my swimming time uploading photos to Picasa so maybe you can see some of us.  We did put some photos and even one video of the boat ride up on Facebook today.  If we get some photos uploaded on Picasa, I’ll send you that address.  We only got three loaded but they may be there.  Look in the first album, Belgium, April 18.  This may be the address to it, but I'm not sure.  Someone, try it and then email me to let me know.

https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/myphotos