In Brugge

We had a wonderful weekend. Actually, we probably rated the trip more in the "good" category. Of the cities in Europe with canals that we have visited, Brugge is #2 behind Venice, which we LOVE, and high above Amsterdam, which we didn't much care for. It was a quaint city with some very OLD houses (built in 15 or 1600's) and lots of churches--- almost all of which were locked. This is the first place we have come across in Europe that didn't have carte blanche entrance into the churches. The one we did get into see, on the 3rd attempt, the stained glass was amazing... how do they do all that fine detail??? and the colors were unique and striking... a panel of brown and blue was particularly impressive. See our photo site for an example. We all enjoyed the canal boat tour, particularly Anna, who love love loves water, birds, going through tunnels, boats and every other aspect of the trip. However, after completing our boat tour and wandering through the city on Friday evening, we didn't have much left to do on Saturday. We weren't bored exactly, but it is a small town. We persevered and went off to explore some old windmills and arrived back into the old town in time for the morning market for lunch.

In typical Erin style, which has rubbed off on James after 9+ years of marriage, if the food is good, it colors the whole experience in a more positive light. Things looked much better after we gnawed on some delicious chicken legs and ribs on a park bench. Amazing how 2 big and one little person can eat 11 euros worth of meat so quickly! Also, the yummy ice cream treat that afternoon added to our feelings of happiness.

Anna's loves pools and thankfully, I pulled a last minute switch to a cheaper hotel that had an indoor pool. The hotel karos was not the poshest place, but the pool was clean and heated, so we enjoyed ourselves throughly there when we ran out of touristy things to do in town.

All in all, it was a good trip, though we did catch an earlier train on Sunday, arriving home just in time for Anna's (everyone's) afternoon nap.