BRUGES

Bruges Canal




















At the Pand Hotel

















Afternoon Latte

















Yet another postcard view




Oh My God, I can't believe this place! For years everyone has been telling me, "Oh you have to see Bruges, it's just wonderful!" So Hector and I caught the high-speed train from Paris and 2 hours later we arrived in Bruges, Belgium. After we got checked into our adorable hotel, The Pand, we went out for a walk and I just literally was dumbfounded. It IS the most picturesque place I've ever seen.

Centuries ago it was a very prosperous port city but as the canal began to silt up it sort of faded away and has remained unchanged. Now it's all about tourism and the place is one big postcard. Gorgeous old buildings, cobbled streets, winding canals, large parks and millions of tourists. While we were there it was some kind of 3 day weekend in Europe and the place was crawling with middle-class visitors from the UK (rowdy), Netherlands (fat), Germany (loud) and Belgium (fatter). It was fun. We just wandered and got lost and discovered great little cafes and wine bars. Every resident seemed to speak 6 languages.

We spent a lot of the time doing what most of the other tourists were undoubtedly doing: fantasizing about living in Bruges. We found our perfect little house for sale and decided what kind of cafe we would open. I guess I better start learning some more languages.

At 5pm on Monday the whole place went dead quiet as the tourists left, the shopkeepers went home, the canal boats stopped. It was like closing time at Disneyland. But we got to wander around by ourselves and enjoy the peace.