Bruges is an incredibly lovely, walkable, charming city. We got into the train station around 11am and took the bus to our b&b. Our host is named Maggie, who is Scottish and absolutely lovely in every way. "Now this place is a good full meal. I know how girls are on holiday, a little here, a little there, but here you'll get a good meal and it'll be good for ya." She led us up to our beautiful blue room with twin beds (I think for the first time for a while) and a shower in our room (first time since cinque terre). We immediately went and found sandwiches and then Kelly bustled off to do laundry. I wandered around Bruges by myself for a bit, which was quite nice. I went into some lovely coffee and tea stores (and had to remind myself that not only was that lime green espresso maker out of my price range, but I would never get it home). After a nice walk, I got a latte at a wonderful little tearoom that was softly playing, "night and day" in the background. I sipped my latte, and read another chapter of Lord of the Rings before meeting up with Kelly again. Naturally, we grabbed waffles -- chocolate and banana -- and they were phenomenal. We wandered along, enjoying our waffles and the fact that it was actually sunny. After putting laundry away, we started our traditional walking tour (amusingly enough, Maggie was like, "Do you have rick steves' book? Do his tour, it's brilliant" "yup. We do one in every town..." We walking toured for a couple hours -- with on and off sprinkling of rain. Highlights of walking tour: very old, dark, caverny church and a chapel with a relic that was said to have held Christ's blood (dried up by the 13th century). The Crown Plaza hotel is actually on the site of the oldet building in Bruges -- and in the basement you can see the walls and artifacts from 900AD. So that was pretty cool. We wandered across canals, and along pleasant streets. Ultimately we ended up at Minnewater, which is a park with a nice lake and huge swans....huge. We wandered some more and helped two sets of tourists find their way places (we're so good at this) and then found our way home before it started pouring. We also got our first handmade chocolates (SO GOOD AND SO CHEAP!) and savored their excellence. We took maggie's recommendation and went to a lovely dinner of soup, fish, a delicious salad, and naturally, fries.. We ran into other guests of Maggies -- three gregarious and friendly Scots, who gave me lots of advice about Edinburgh and were generally fun to talk to. We talked to the boy waiting on us for a while, seeking recommendations for pubs, but he was rather difficult to understand when he spoke Flemish. He was funny, though Bruges is not his favorite place, "i hate Bruges. Where I'm from, there are trees." Kelly and I just looked at each other. There are about 80 times more trees here than in LA. We ended up trekking across town in hopes of going to a bar with a large selection of beers, but it was closed (it's closed for the entire week we're here). When we headed back towards our place, we got caught in a downpour and were soaked. That was enough for me. I went to bed, but Kelly went to the oldest pub in Bruges (just down the street) and had a nice time.
This morning we had a lovely breakfast, chatting the the Scottish couple (their friend left early) and Maggie. We played with Maggie's dog, Jake and she gave us more restaurant recommendations and extra croissants for later (love her). Then, we headed out. First stop, Dumon chocolates: a family owned chocolate shop in a little brick building off the markt. "Where are you from?" "Los Angeles" "Oh! Do you know Rick Steves?" Anyways, we were served by the owner's nephew who explained each chocolate to us. He apparently eats a small box of chocolates every day, although he looks very fit. 100gram bags in hand, we walked over to the Half Moon brewery for our tour. The tour was quite enjoyable and we learned about how beer is made and why it is a necessary part of your diet =) We also got complementary beers at the end: the Bruges Zot (the crazy Bruges). It was full of spice and I could taste the barley. I drank about half an then passed the rest off to Kelly. Each beer in Belgium has its own special glass. Even our water at lunch had glasses to match -- it's rather fascinating. It was pouring rain when we left the brewery so we finally broke down and bought umbrellas -- Yellow ones with tulip handles -- and were immediately so much happier in the rain. We peeked into the church of our lady to see the only Michelangelo sculpture to ever leave Italy in his lifetime, but it had been sectioned off into the museum (read ticketed) part of the Church. We wandered more and then settled down at a random bar and had mussels for lunch. Incredibly delicious mussels. Omygoodness. Although, I must say, it is proving hard for us to find cheap eats here. There are three course meals for a fixed price, but Kelly and I can't afford that (and it's wayyy too much food). We're hoping that pubs will be more reasonable. Again, the mussels were amazing (cooked with veggies) and we both were shocked at how full we were. After a break, we headed to our second chocolate shop (which Maggie says is better and leas expensive than Dumon) of the day. De clerck was basically like a Wonka candy shop and we got 100 grans of handmade chocolate for under $2. Delicious. After a chocolate and some coffee (me) and tea (kelly), Kelly went back to rest and I wandered through town a bit more. Currently we're both relaxing until we find a pub for dinner (and beer, Kelly is so excited about beer). Tomorrow we're planning on bike riding to the windmills on the side of town and then maybe onto Holland, who knows! Let's hope the weather holds!
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