Brugge Belgium May 11th 2011

After the four of us checked into our rooms, we ventured out onto the streets of Brugge for a bite to eat and to stretch our stiff leggs. It was just starting to get dark and the streets weren't crowed at all. We walked to the central courtyard and found several nice restaurants open for weary travelers.

We didn't stay out long after dinner. We were all tired and wanted to get up early to explore this lovely city...

After an okay night sleep, we met Cathy and Sean downstairs for breakfast in the hotel and talked about the game plan for the day. Sean needed to round up cash for his treasures so he and Cathy headed off in one direction while Mason and I went in another.

It was Wednesday morning and in the central courtyard they were having a wonderful farmers market with beautiful flowers, fresh fruit, vegetables and hot fresh Belgium waffles. Mason and I had to share one... Can't go to Belgium without eating a Belgium waffle... Right!!!!

I'm not sure what this amazing building is, but it's beautiful...with all it's statues, arched doors, steeples and windows.


There are cute little shops one right after another that you can pop into and find unique treasures.

Belgium is also known for it's lace, chocolate and beer. Cathy and I spent some time in one of the lace shops and talked to a man that has worked with lace for years.. he showed us the art of lace making.. it was amazing to watch him. He is so fast!

Cathy picked up several bags of chocolate for friends in Anchorage and I picked up more for my Mom... I try to send her some from each country we visit.. The chocolate in Belgium is wonderful.. I'm not a big chocolate lover, but for those of you that are, you don't know what you're missing unless you've had chocolate from Belgium.



We really enjoyed Brugge and would like to go back, but there are so many places to see before we return to the States that we probably won't make it. Here are so more pictues I wanted to share with you of Brugge.

After walking through the town and enjoying all the sights, we found a beautiful church and went inside.

There is a lot of very pretty statues to see inside the church, but the one I liked the best is the Madonna and Child by Michelangelo done in 1504-1505. It's carved from Carrara marble.













We must of left Brugge around 2:30 pm and headed back to pick up Sean's barometers. We arrived there at 5:00 pm and tried to get all four boxes that were the size of small coffins into our station wagon. If one was watching I'm sure they would of thought we were crazy.. Poor Cathy and Sean. They ended up in the back seat with Cathy sitting on Sean's lap...it's a 4 hour drive home so I'm sure it was't comfortable for either one of them... one box had to be shipped to our house.. it just wasn't going to fit..

On the drive home, the Germans had a check point set up on the Autobahn.. we thought for sure we were going to get stopped for not having enough room in the car for everyone. But they let us go through.. We were all very thankful....

It must have been around 9:30 pm when we got home.. Mason and I had to work the next day so we unpacked the car and got ready for bed...

Our next adventure with our guest... Paris....

Sweet Dreams...