Bruges was brugeatiful

9/23 Brugge truggely bruggeautiful

The morning started off a little shaky. We were checking out and I had to run and get the car. That was the easy part-the hard part was trying to get back to the hotel. I didn`t get the warning that the city was worse than a labrynth in that all of the streets were one way so if you got lost the only way to get back was to leave the city proper and go around the ring again, which was tantamount to spending an additional 20 minutes of driving.

I got lost and decided to park the car and come back by foot. After being gone about an hour, I finally hooked up with Marie and Zach to take a look around the city. We got lucky since Wednesdays are the days that they have all the farmers/local vendors come to the square to sell everything from fruit to Goi Cuon(Vietnamese Spring Rolls). We all found things to eat...from salads to roast chicken - all for 10 euros or so.

After knoshing for a bit, we did some sightseeing and shopping. It has been tough to find things for our friends and relatives...the stuff they sell is just for the most part too tschotchke like and not worth buying.

Bruges for those of you not familiar has an area around the city centre that has become a world heritage site by Unesco. It is that old...the city charter for Bruges was granted on my birthday 7.27.1128... The first signs of fortifications go back to Caesars invasion of the area back around the 1st century B.C.

The town is just so beautifully maintained with the flowers, canals and the architecture. We would go into a building and the owner would say.." This building was rebuilt 200 yrs ago, but our cellar dates back to medieval times.

I love that...they really value the heritage and the integrity of history.

After finding a few things, we had to change B&B`s and found an even cheaper better place on the other side of town. Had dinner next door where "the locals ate" and had an average meal.

Zach and I went to play some soccer outside and ran into some Spanish students who were travelling around Europe. They were Tuna band members-

playing traditional Spanish guitar at different venues around Europe. They invited us to join the festivities at a local pub-which allowed Zach in...and we had a blast! Had a Bruges beer and zach had a OJ on the rocks...while we rocked out.

9/24

Woke up early at 9am and headed out for some more shopping and browsing around the city. Took Zach to the park for some needed exercise with the soccer ball. Afterwards, had some very average Thai food..at the only Thai restaurant in the city. The weather was alot better than the previous day(cloudy and cold), so we decided to hop into a canal boat for a ride around the city. Wasn`t as beautiful as Ghent, but still was a sight to behold. We all had ice cream after the ride and I have to say that it was the best ice cream we have had on the trip...

Drove to Brussels and had to make an executive decision-do we stay in the centre of the city or the outskirts? We decided on the suburbs and we sure were glad we did! Funny story...I know we have been going on and on about how about how bad the service has been in Belgium, so you will be shocked and awed by the next story. We had a volte face in regards to our view on service after stopping at a local hotel(literally just dropped off the highway to find the nearest hotel). First off, the guy was so apologetic that they didn`t have a room and proceeded to call numerous places and check on the internet for a hotel nearby. There was a big label expo going on so all the rooms were full in Brussels and the surrounding area, but luckily he found a place somewhat closeby. The guy went so far as to get in his car and drive 20 minutes out of his way to show us where the hotel was located. It was out of circa 1960`s - frozen in time- the place was musty, dank and a ghost town(nary a customer in sight). Still, the room was big and we had no complaints(just hoping it wasn`t the scene of a crime scene in the past. Got a recommendation for dinner, which ended up being closed when we arrived. Luckily for us, the restaurant next door called Margaux was open and had only opened 1 week ago-it was great food. I had squab and Marie had halibut for the gazillionth time! Finished it off with one of those Gateau Chocolate that ooozes out warm choco in the middle...nice.

Going to bed now.

Will make the trek into the city tomorrow.