In Bruges

Back in November Stuart and I headed to Bruges for a little weekend break.  We picked Bruges partly because of the film In Bruges (one of my favourite films ever) but also because I love Christmas, and Bruges seems like the most festive place to start the season.  We jumped on the Eurostar from St Pancaras, which although might take a little longer than flying was far more relaxing.  Once we arrived in Brussels it was an hour train ride into Bruges.

Now we hadn't done much research, or even really look at a map but as we discovered Bruges is pretty small, and extremely scenic so you're fine to wander and see where you end up.

 

We spent most of the weekend wandering aimlessly, eating waffles, chocolates and chips. Apparently Belgium chips, or frites are pretty special so we took at trip to the Potato Museum to find out more.

Stuart was captivated by the the different type of potatoes out there whereas I wanted to get behind the counter and serve the frites. In all honesty Belgium frites don't taste different to chips, but we learnt a lot about potatoes and that's the important thing.

Back outside we wandered around and stumbled upon this fountain in t'Zand Sqaure. It was pretty impressive, there are four sculptures which represent different parts of the local culture. I had a great time taking photos, but we made our move when a group of school boys came over. Needless to say they all spotted a particular sculpture which by the sounds of their laughter, made their day.

Although we didn't have any concrete plans, one thing I did want to check out was Michelangelo's Madonna of Bruges.  This is a marble sculpture displayed at the Church of Our Lady and it is the only sculpture of Michelangelo's to have left Italy in his lifetime.  We  rocked up to the church in anticipation only to be greeted by scaffolding and builders. We were able to enter the church but unfortunately they were renovating the area where sculpture is displayed so we could only see it from across the room by tiptoeing and looking through blue tarpaulin. Luckily my disappointment was short lived as that afternoon we headed to the Chocolate Museum, and some kind person had replicated Madonna of Bruges out of white chocolate. Sorry Michelangleo, this version looked great!

I loved Bruges and a weekend is a perfect amount of time to see everything, relax and recharge your batteries. And the chocolate, don't forget about all the chocolate!