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| One day, two chaps from Cambridge decided to visit the Venedig of North,
the town of Bruges.
More exactly one of them decided, while the second heard about this affair only two hours before the departure... So we arrived: me -- carrying a bag and a rucksack with a coat, an umbrella, food (for at least a week - just in case!), a camera, an extra pair of shoes, a pillow, and a lot of other useful stuff, and Ben -- just a little Sainsbury's bag. |
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| The name "Venice of the North" is not surprising, whereas there is a lot of little cosy canals all around the town. |  |
| I had taken provision for everything, except for carring my stuff all day long, so the first thing to do was to reduce substantially the weight of my rucksack... |  |
| Now, having finished the lion's share of the food, I would gladly have had a little nap, happy and undisturbed, untill the coach to Cambridge would pick me up... |  |
| ... but Ben was relentless. |  |
| Probably, the reason that Ben succeded was partly that I felt thirsty
and so we went in the search for a drink.
In the the Beguinage 'De Wijngaard' (the Vineyard) we found a well, but no wine unfortunately... |
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| No, no, this not a view in the well... |  |
| ...this is the view on Grote Markt (the Market Place) from the
83 metre high Befry tower.
The original tower dates from 1240. It was, however, was destroyed by fire in 1280. The present octagonal lantern was added to the tower between 1482 en 1486. |
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| Despite the heavy brakfast, we climbed up the tower and were rewarded
by a memorable panoramic view of Bruges.
A tourist guide says: "Nowadays, the belfry tower charms the visitor with the lovely music of a carillon, which consists of 47 bells." We have a little correction to this remark: it deafens you or, at least, it startles you if you are so unfortunate to stand nearby when the music starts and the carillon carries on. But from the Market Place it is a charming piece of music indeed. |
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| Also we visited the Burg square, the heart of the administrative Bruges.
On the photo you can see, from left to right, the former Court of Justice
in neo-classicist style (1722-1727), the Old Civil Registry in renaissance
style (1534-1537), and the gothic town hall from 1376.
Opposite the Court is St. Donatius church (not on the photo), where the Flemish painter Jan van Eyck is buried. |
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| Another attrachtion of Bruges is the famous Madonna by Michelangelo, one of few sculptures of the great Italian artist that are situated outside Italy. |  |
| Bruges is a small town; its population is only 120.000 people (center together with the suburbs). Although there are always many tourists, it is easy to find a quiet street only 5-10 min away from the busy centre. |  |
| Finally, I got crazy:
Ich bin der Papageno
Let us finish our story on this optimistic note. |
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