When in Bruges…

We are just 15 mins by train from Bruges so we made the most of a not so nasty day to visit the much celebrated town.

On hearing we were going to Bruges one friend warned me is terribly expensive, another that its excellent for second hand stuff, much cheaper than in England! Seeing as we are travelling with stuffed backpacks, neither made much difference. But we did find a great second hand, errr… Building full of stuff! From sofas to sketches! As always I looked for a glass for Clare but came up empty handed… Who would have thought with this selection!

As for expensive… Check out this box of chocolates!

There were so many chocolate shops. Even next to each other! I have no idea how to distinguish which was better than the other, well without buying some from everyone and rolling to the winner! I assumed most of them are tourist traps though, according to our Use-it map, in high season there are much more tourists than locals here. They bike them down as a sport.

In fact we did see someone get hit by a cyclist, he literally went up in the air, but they were both fine.

It is a lovely place, full of little canals and cute houses. Its curious that tourism has grown here through critasicm. First in 1892 when its described as ugly, poor and dark in a popular book called ‘Bruges la Mort’ which brings romantic tourists pouring in. And again in the 2002 movie ‘in Bruges’ where Colin Farrel describes it as a ‘shithole’.

Its a shame that quite a lot of renovations and maintenance was going on while we were there but I guess they have to make the most of the low season to get it out of the way…

We spent most of the day walking around as we always do, but we did go up the tower. You know the one were the big shoot out is in the film? They must have had a hell of a time running up and down during the filming! Just as you think its got to be close to the top and that the stairs can’t possibly get steeper. They do. And again!

On the way up there are little rooms you can go into with benches, information and artifacts. This was the treasury, there are 10 keys to this gate!

We eventually reached the top and it was really worth it! Much better than the Ferris Wheel on Vienna – I think it was the movement that got me. The views were amazing…

Getting back down was almost harder than the climb up! Everyone clung to the rope!

David added a squashed coin to his collection :)

And a paper artist cut my portrait! The likeness was good, it only took him a couple of minutes, if that. Not even long enough for me to feel uncomfortable! Its a shame we didn’t get a photo of the final piece..

We wandered through the chocolate streets pointing out the more extravagant ones and found a biscuit shop where we got a delicious palmier.

Next we stumbled across a sweet shop that made their lollies in front of the public! Appaerntly, using very traditional methods…

It was so sweet we had share it and even then we couldn’t finish it!

On our walk back to the train station we finally saw swans! The map kept joking about how they are everywhere but we were yet to see any. This made up for it, I don’t think I have ever seen so many in one place!

There were ducks too, and this funny bird… I’m not sure what he is though…