Day 7

Bruges, Brugge, Brujas, Brugse. There's so many different ways to say it, but regardless of the spelling and pronunciation, it is a beautiful place. The morning started off early, just like every other morning on my trip so far. 7am came and I was up getting ready for the day. Because it had been so cold lately, I decided it would be better to wear a long sleeve shirt and my sweatshirt. And I was right. It was pretty foggy all morning and even though it didn't look like rain, it didn't look like sunshine. We made our way to the Markt square and saw the very beautiful town hall and Belfry Tower (which we would climb later in the day providing the weather cleared up). After walking through the city and grabbing some nice bread for breakfast, we spent some time near the canals and found some very hungry looking swans. We shared our breakfast with them and they proceeded to follow us all through the city. The next stop was the Church of our Lady and even though every city seems to have one, this one was special. It houses Michelangelo's Madonna and Child, one of his few pieces of work outside of Italy. It was beautiful. After the church we decided it was time for our canal tour. We hopped in a boat and spent a good 30 minutes touring the canals of Bruges (the Venice of the north) and learning about the history of some of its older buildings. The Hospital, which is no longer a hospital, was built in the twelfth century and is the oldest hospital in all of Europe! It was founded by the same woman that the Church of our Lady was named after. After that relaxing tour it was time to visit the Basilica of the Holy Blood. Now the interesting story behind this church's name is that a Flemmish man, I don't remember who, went on the second crusade and came back with a phial (not vial) containing a piece of cloth that is said to have drops of Jesus Christ's blood. It resides in the church and visitors are permitted to touch it, behind the several inches of glass casing. And that is exactly what we did. It was pretty amazing being so close to something like that. After the church, our stomachs told us it was lunch time. Now if you remember, I won a bet several months ago. Adam and I wagered a nice meal in Bruges for the winner of the NCAA basketball tournament bracket. And it was time to pay up. Luckily we found a nice restaurant that was offering a very good lunch deal. He ordered the mussels, which I sadly tried some of. It was not very good. Luckily I chose the safer option and had a nice chicken stew, which was very good. And very Flemish apparently. With our lunch deal we also got dessert which was some kind of chocolate thing. And you know me and chocolate. So it was gone in a minute. After lunch we decided it would be a good idea to climb 366 steps to the top of the Belfry. We made it, slightly out of breath. But the view was gorgeous. But sadly, the sky was still gloomy. We made our decent and headed over to De Halve Mann Brewery for a guided tour. After all of the brewery tours I go on during this trip, I will probably have enough knowledge to brew my own beer...not that I would want to. It was interesting to learn about Bruges place in the history of beer. This brewery has been running since the 1800s and has been run by the same family for that entire period of time. It is in its sixth generation. During the tour we got to go onto the roof of the brewery and watch an amazing view of the city. And lucky for us, the sky had cleared up and the sun was shining through. Afterward we tried some Brugge Zot beer, which means Brugge Fools. The rest of the day was spent walking through the city and taking more pictures, and picking up some dinner. I'm still full from my chicken stew so I might have to save my soup for tomorrow. Other than that, today was great and I can't believe it's already been a week! But I miss everyone at home, so don't worry, I'll be back in 5 weeks!!