Bruge (two syllables) or Brugges (one)

We had the most exquisite place to stay in Bruge -or- Brugges (depending on Dutch or French).  A 400-year old house with loft for William, fold-out couch for Tim and I, and a renovated bathroom.  This was in downtown, historic Bruge!

This isn't the most flattering pose for Sibylle, I'm so sorry!  She was a foreign-exchange student who stayed with the Putaansuu's and graduated with Tim.

Emeric and Tristen were much smaller that last time we saw them when they stopped by in the states 8 years ago.  Emeric got William going on learning some Finnish.

The loft during the day with sky-light.

Sybille took us on the walking tour of the city.  It was wonderful having a native tell us what everything was... now if I can just remember what some of this is! 

First off, canals are everywhere.  There is only small tourist boats allowed on them.  So, they remain lovely... unless you get drunk and fall in.  It happens.

She took us to the fish market first.  And then later that night, we had mussels from the first of mussel season with REAL Belgian potato fries.  Belgium, not France, started that style of frying potatoes.

This was near the fish market.  I took a pic because some things never change.  Some of these would depict what was in the building, like a creamery, or a cobbler shop.  Lovely little pieces in the bricks. BTW, this is now over the entrance to a restaurant.

This is one of the oldest sections in town (you can see the belfry in the distance), and if you take a closer look...

You see the old wood houses.  

Bruge was never bombed, therefore there is a lot of historic houses and history preserved.  

I think this is the spire of the Church of Our Lady, where the Michelangelo mother and child is.  We get there later in the day...

But, as you can tell, the canals make every view amazing!

I hate to say it, but I can't remember where everything was, or what it was.  However, it was wonderful seeing beautiful statues everywhere!

See the new on the left? Bikes were EVERYWHERE!!!

This is the Basilica of the Holy Blood.  To us, it looked like the cool building with a line...

A closer look at one of the knights protecting the phial of (supposedly) Christ's blood on a cloth.

The door next door to where you enter.  Newly painted!

This was the city hall from the 1300s.  We were in Burg Square.

Belgian waffles... this was a class field trip I saw while on a shopping street.

This is a street.  Yes, officially a street.  At one point only one person can get through. 

A restaurant that wasn't open but she said it was good!

Sibylle

Then on to SHOPPING!  Christmas, anyone?  We get an ornament from places we go.  I went with a lace one.  REAL ones are $54.00.  Little Chinese-made ones were only $4!  Times have changed...

We did go to the beer wall, but skipped this place.

Yep, Tim was a bit sad... 

Market Square has so many beautiful houses.

Bikes everywhere, and up on the top, middle...

Mermaid!

I found this statue interesting.

We could have taken pictures of the architecture all day!

We were told this is a pilgrimage marker.  Either that, or something ELSE to make you trip and fall besides the worn cobblestones!

I found the quaint homes along the different canals beautiful.

Of course, you have to deal with the neighbor's kids.

Just watching the world go by was relaxing.

Sure, the houses are cool, but THAT is like the Mercedes I used to drive!  A160.

We didn't drive while here.  We didn't need any more tickets! 

Tristan works here, just down the street from their house.  The boys were looking for their burgers!

This is a 'chick beer.'  It is cherry flavored.

They had an excellent selection of beers to choose from.

And the burgers were amazing.

Wm can attest to that!

And then, a small rain shower!  One of 2 we had to trek through whilst on our trip!

The Church of Our Lady has one of the very few Michael Angelo marble statue works outside of Italy.  She is the small one in the center.

Exquisite.

There were other beautiful items in this church. 

This one I can't get to rotate. So, tilt your head to the left and you see Jesus on the cross.

Besides lace, tapestries from Belgium...

I leave you with this tranquil scene before finishing off our day on another post.

Ik at paardenvlees in Nederland

We 'exited' Germany, and went to....

...the Netherlands!  Okay, so it was only a tiny bit of the country, but if we ate in the country, we counted it.  And yes, there are windmills there!

We stopped at a wonderful Brew Pub called Het Koffiehuuske.

I'd researched, and it was said it had good beer.  So, I knew Tim would approve!

I was on to drive afterwards, so I only got a sip.  Even though it almost has my name:  Carolus

So, I wanted to eat something that was a traditional Netherland-style dish.  Of course, Tim and William went with the Huuskeburger.  Yep, they kept joking they'd eat hamburgers in every country!

The bread was good, and we were hungry!

My dish:  horse meat.  Think crock pot chucks of meat with a BBQ, very sweet sauce with a bit more of the allspice in it.  Not really a fan, but notice that the fries come with mayonnaise in both the Netherlands and Belgium.  Tim was happy.  That is how he always orders them!

Tim got another beer.  This dwarf cannot be grumpy!

We were upgraded on car.  It was a BMW touring car, and it was SO COOL!  The window shield above the driver, in the lower part, had all the info. you needed, plus a GPS cheat sheet with what the speed limit in that area was.  Too cool, I WANT one! 

Tim also liked it because it was an automatic diesel engine.  I was looking forward to having a stick shift... but we were happy, as diesel is less expensive in Europe.

There was a GPS in the center, as well.  We'd paid $100 to upgrade our GPS to Europe.  It was cheaper than $14 per day, plus tax for the one with the car.  But, since we refused it, we got this one for free.  William loved it, although my elbow kept hitting the controls for it.

That's only 160 kpm.  Tim didn't find the 'sport mode' until we were out of Germany, and off the autobahn.  He loved driving it!

We were glad to get such a great car.