Vive la LIFE: Brugge Belgium...the home of chocolate and lace

Sorry for the delay, apparently my pictures were too big and I had to shrink them down to size. I still have some to convert but I have created enough space to keep going, so onward....

Brugge (the Dutch spelling), Belgium is a very beautiful city. My parents had visited the city a couple of weeks before I arrived and they thought that it would be a good place for me to get a good sense of the area and I was enchanted.

One of the ways into the "old city"

The old city square

Different view of the city square

There is my Dad

My Mom

And me (if you couldn't tell)

Established in the 1200's, it is sometimes referred to the "Venice of the North" because there is a canal that surrounds the "old city" and you can take a boat or gondola and ride through it. At one time, it was the "chief commercial city" of the world because of its strategic location at the crossroads of the northern Hanseatic League trade and the southern trade routes. The wool market, a woollens weaving industry, and the market for cloth as well as Normandy grain and Gascon wines were some of the the items that went through Brugge during its hey day. In fact, in 1277 the first merchant fleet from Genoa appeared in the port of Bruges, first of the merchant colonies that made Brugge the main link to the trade of the Mediterranean.

In the 15th century, Philip the Good (how would you like that as your name), duke of Burgundy, set up court in Brugge, attracting a number of artists, bankers, and other prominent people from all over Europe. Weavers and spinners of Brugge were thought to be the best in the world and new Flemish-school, oil-painting techniques became world renown. The first book in English ever printed was published in Brugge by William Caxton and Edward IV and Richard III of England spent time in exile during this time period.

Starting around 1500, the Zwin channel, which had given the city its prosperity, started silting. My dad said that there was so much sand that the channel and the ports became land and the city lost its ability to be the crossroads for trade and went into a deep decline. During the 17th century, the lace industry took off, and in the last half of the 19th century, Brugge has become one of the world's first tourist destinations. After 1965 the original medieval city experienced a "renaissance". Residential and commercial structures were restored and historic monuments and churches generated tourism and economy in the ancient downtown area. International tourism has boomed and it has become like the Park City of Utah or Jackson Hole in Wyoming.

Mom and I were able to do some shopping as you could not help but notice that Belgium chocolate and Belgium lace were being sold out of every store (they would trade off, one would be lace then the next chocolate then lace then chocolate and so on and on). When Dad went to pay the meter, Mom and I indulged in a Belgium waffle covered in chocolate sauce and whip cream (we were just thinking of Dad's health) while wandering in and out of every store, trying to find the best chocolate and lace to bring home.

Oh no, he will be crushed!!!!

Dad said this is how they trimmed there trees for easy harvesting

Rapunzel, Rapunzel, let down your hair!!!!

Surprise!!!!

Here are some looks at the different architecture that was all over the city. No two buildings were the same.

Interesting thing is that in Belgium all the churches have been converted into museums. You pay a fee to get into the church and get to see all of the art, but they are no longer places of worship. That being the case I only visited one, The Church of Our Lady.

While the art was beautiful, I picked this particular one because it housed Michelangelo's sculpture Madonna and Child. It is believed to be the only sculpture to have left Italy within his lifetime. It was worth the price of admission.

Dad then drove around and allowed me to take pictures of whatever caught my eye. It actually turned out that Dad would see something interesting and then I would get out and take a picture. It worked well because I got some interesting ones.