Off they go to Belgium! Sat, 6/15/24

 

As usual when we leave on an overseas trip, we have to "rise and shine" long before the sun does!  Our 7:20am Saturday departure from Sacramento Internat'l Airport to Brussels, Belgium, via Washington's Dulles, meant up at 4 and out the door at 4:30am.  We knew it would be a very looooong day of sitting, but we arrived w/o mishap (always a good thing) in Brussels at 7/ish/am the following Sunday morning.  Neither of us slept much the entire way -- even in premium economy, the seats aren't comfy enough for me to sleep, and we were dog tired when we stepped off the plane.

I'd made train reservations from the airport to our Bruge destination, and we were on our way in short order.  (Although 50 minutes waiting in line at Customs dragged on.)  Bruge is not far from the coast and we planned two days being tourists in the city before joining our friends on the Boat/Bike Tour this coming Tuesday.  

We have a tiny garret room in the Hotel Jan Brito (with skylights) and it's very cute.  The hotel was built in the 14th Century and it's quite unique.  I suspect it's undergone some renovations over the years ... or centuries!  Most of the group are staying in this hotel.

We've made up for all that sitting by being on our feet, exploring Bruge.  It's a beautiful (small) city, with lots of tourists roaming about.  Our hotel is centrally located, close to cafe's (waffles, beer, and chocolate) and plenty of scenery!  Canals and boats, bicycles and cobblestones.  We'll be biking in Bruge tomorrow (Tuesday).

Jimmy, gawking in Market Square.  So easy to do here.

The old buildings are architectural triumphs!

And full of tiny detail.

Narrow cobblestone streets fold into each other.

"Two unicorns for purity."

A castle we didn't tour.

Listening to Pascal (at right) on his "free tour," which lasted till after 7pm, and -- remember -- though his two-hour Storytelling tour was interesting, we hadn't been to bed yet, so we were ready to eat dinner and get back to our hotel.  (Belgium is nine hours ahead of Nevada City, California.)  Above, we were in front of the old St Johns Hospital.  Dating from the 12th Century, it's one of the best preserved hospital buildings in Europe.  Jimmy, with cap on, is at left in the background.

How can you resist taking photos?

Part of the castle, I believe, that I mentioned above.

The next few pics were taken on Monday, the 17th!  Look at the gorgeous sky!  Look at mass of tourists!  Yesterday on the free tour, we were with Leslie and Dee.  We walked around Bruge today with our friend, Sheila.

Me and Jimmy in front of the giant Cathedral tower,

visible from all over Bruge.

Close up of us.

We also visited the Church of Our Lady, dating mainly from the 13th, 14th and 15th Centuries, whose tower is the tallest in the city.  Sheila and I paid the Eight Euros to visit the museum in the church so we could see Michelangelo's early-16th-century marble sculpture (below).  Above are the gilded bronze effigies of Charles the Bold, born 1433, and his daughter, Mary, born in 1457.

Michelangelo's famous Madonna of Bruges.

Exquisite.

You might expect to see Swans in Bruge's canals.

You would not be disappointed!

This is all I have time for today.  I can tell you we slept hard Sunday night and didn't awaken till after 8 in the morning on Monday!  Tomorrow (Tuesday) we schlep our luggage and ourselves to the boat and begin our week-long boat/bike tour.  Looking forward to it.  Over and out for now!