Brugge, Belgium March 23rd

Ok, so if I had a "favorite" day of my whole vacation - THIS was the day! We started out our tour of Bruges, or Brugge, with a short canal ride.  It was only about a 20-25 minute cruise around the canals, but we had PERFECT weather so I absolutely loved it!

 

Why is it every time someone else takes your picture, its always out of focus! You win some, you lose some!

I loved the windows overlooking the canals. If my house were up against a canal, I would be looking out on it too! Don't kid yourself! I think everyone needs a canal in their backyard! (Maybe the world would be a happier place if that were true.)  moving on...

This is the outside of 'Our Lady's Church' that we could see from the canal.  Our tour guide was MUCH easier to listen to today. (Still a little difficult at times.... but much better than yesterday!) He did say, however, that we had the 'way of right' when he mean the 'right of way'. Thats how hard it was to translate my own language!

Inside 'Our Lady's Church' we not only saw our own breath (because it was SOOOO cold!) but the church is home to Michelangelo's Pieta.  It is the only Michelangelo statue to leave Italy. (I had to google half these things when I got home.)  The statue was looted by French revolutionaries around 1794 and Nazi Germans in 1944, both times recovered and brought back to Bruges.

This church has the second tallest brickwork tower in the world, and is the tallest building in Brugge. This city is one of the most beautifully preserved medieval cities. I absolutely loved it here!

This is the market square. (Most market squares were the center points of these cities... which most of you already know.) But I didn't know, so I found it very interesting. Everything was build outward around this point.  This city was very different from Amsterdam and Antwerp too... lots much more chocolate and lace!

Another tour group on the canal. I found the gardens in the town very well manicured, and peaceful.

Just like tourists... we all are taking pictures of each other. Our Viking River Cruise had about 180 people onboard the ship.  Groups of us took different day tours. We saw others of them all day long.

Brent and I had to leave the city early for a marketing luncheon. Before leaving we did visit the Chocolate shops which were 3 or 4 side by side each other! What could be different in each of them! (It didn't stop me from going inside them though!)

Oh yes, here you pay to use the poddy! No one told me so my first visit into the McDonald's sent me right back out, unrelieved! A woman kept yelling at me "40 cents!, 40 cents!"  I didn't know who I was more mad at, her or my husband for holding all the change!

I just loved this home. Be grateful, I had to weed my way through 500 pictures we took on this trip. You're only getting a small sample. So if I throw in a random photo here or there, just deal with it!

The End

(Until tomorrow...)