Bruges Belgium



Bruges from the top of the Bell Tower



Bruges is a romantic city, the city center is charming and easily identified by the tall bell tower.  Surrounded by canals, the water and visitors meander around this "little village" seemingly from another era.  By train, it is about an hour from Brussels or Antwerp and only a half an hour from Ghent.  Belgium is known for Lace, Tapestries, Waffles, Chocolate, and Beer, but not necessarily in that order.

Notre Dame of Bruges - The tower is scaffolded but in the cover of darkness and with a few building silhouettes, one can mask the necessary upkeep and still get a lovely picture of this majestic Cathedral.  Location, Location, Location, and camera angle!

  At dusk, Notre Dame with its scaffolding reflected. 

Near the ocean, and the Netherlands, Windmills are not an uncommon sight in Bruges and other parts of Belgium.

Lace, I have a whole new appreciation for all things involving lace.  In the many lovely stores, there were a few displays to illustrate the time consuming and meticulous process of making handmade lace. 

Lace, close up!

In Notre Dame of Bruges, is one of the rare Michaelangelo sculptures outside of Italy.  This Madonna and Child is a gorgeous sculpture that illuminates the tender relationship between mother and child. 

Notre Dame Interior

Basilica of the Holy Blood

There were several interesting churches in Bruges, this gorgeous chapel in the corner is dedicated to the relic of the Holy Blood.  It is said Joseph of Arimathea wiped away some of Christ's blood at the crucifixion and it was preserved.  No photographs were permitted in the chapel but it was magnificent - Google it, its worth a look! 

This structure was next to the Basilica and it is now a museum, but  I ran out of time for a proper visit inside.

Jan Van Eyck, buried in Bruges, is memorialize with this statue in Bronze.  His art, as well as many of his contemporaries is typically on display at the Groeningemuseum in Bruges, but unfortunately I did not do my research for the visit early enough to see the show that was on display until January 30th.  Unfortunately I missed an incredible exhibition on Northern Renaissance artists And the museum was closed for reconfiguration!  I did however visit the Memling museum at the former Hospital in Bruges, which was great!  Several Memling masterpieces and a Bosch tryptich were on display.

Humourous Window

Natures "elk" sculpture?  Can you see the elk?

Men in Tights, playing horns

Chaotic Chocolate shop display

The city mascot of Bruges is the Bear!  No wonder I felt at home in Bruges, one of my favorite animals, in a charming place recalling medieval europe.

I am far behind my adventuring in the Blog updates, but I am trying to catch up!  Look for Ghent, Rouen, Amiens, Notre Dame Paris, and Milan in the near future!  Happy virtual traveling and feel free to be in touch if I can help you plan your next adventure!  : )

Brussels, Bruxelles, or Brussel (English, French, or Dutch)

Mannekin Pis - The Tiny Guy with a Big Reputation!

This little, and I do mean little, statue is quite the tourist attraction in Brussels.  He apparently has many costumes/outfits that he is dressed in for various occasions and they are on display in a museum that I did not actually visit (Limited time-Limited interest). 

Well, other than being difficult to spell, Brussels is an interesting place to visit.  I was in Brussels last Thursday, it is about 1.5 hours via the fast train from Paris.  All the adventuring that I have been doing caught up to me last Wednesday and I caught a cold.  I went to bed early to prepare for my Big Belgium Extravaganza! 

Central Square or Town Center

Guild Buildings

Alternate View on Town Center

Renard the Fox

Peculiar Gargoyle

I love to look at and photograph gargoyles, I am unsure about the iconography of this one?  The town center is a huge open square, around which are lots of restaurants serving Moules (Mussels), Beer (Belgium's favorite beverage), Frites (That's a fancy word for French Fries) and Waffles.  I am a fan of all of these culinary delights but I settled for the moules and frites in that it was only lunchtime, and I was sick.  There were also gourmet chocolate shops at every turn.  I bought a 100 gram dark chocolate sampler and was not dissapointed!  It started to rain with determination thus I thought it would be a good time to seek out the museums that I wanted to see.

(I had a beer sampler and waffle at my hostel at dinnertime - you will have to wait for my post on Bruges for my exciting hostel story)

St. Michael

Front Facade of St. Michael and St. Gudula Cathedral

Exterior Apse

Interior Nave

Incredible Baroque Pulpit, carved wood

Statues and Stained Glass

St. Michael trampling Satan

After the quick transfer to the Central station in Brussels the first point of interest I found on Thursday was the Cathedral of St. Michael and St. Gudula.  (It is most commonly referred to as St. Michael's)  This gothic church took over 300 years to construct and replaced several earlier cathedrals of differing styles.  The interior was filled with light, in that some of the windows were not  the original stained glass and were replaced with clear panes.  I spent an extra couple of euro and visited the treasury which was filled with intriguing artifacts and reliquaries.  While walking around this beautiful structure someone was tuning the organ, and thus I got to hear a lot of the tones from the various pipes.  The really nice gal in charge of the Treasury visit said that if I stayed until about 2pm I would hear each and every pipe.  Tempting, but I did have other things on my list in Brussels! 

Rene Magritte Museum

This was the really interesting lighting in the welcome area at the Rene Magritte Museum, a relatively new attraction opening in 2009.  It is attached to the Royal Museums of Fine Arts in Belgium, which has two sections, the Beaux-Arts and the Modern Art Museums.  I am a big fan of Magritte, so I was thrilled to visit this museum dedicated to his work and it made it easier to accept that the Modern Art area was under renovation and closed.  The Beaux-Arts Museum has several works of art that I was very excited to see including the Hieronymous Bosch tryptich The Temptation of St. Anthony and a whole room filled with Brueghel's.  The rain continued to pour outside so the museums were a great place to spend time! 

Magritte Art as Light fixture

More Magritte Art as Lighting

Very intriguing idea for display!



There are several other things that I would like to see and do in Brussels - so I will need to visit again.  Hopefully the sun will visit with me : )

Adventures and Interesting things in and around Paris

Sculptures made from Public Works 'Manhole' Caps?  from all over the world

Exploring around the Bercy stop of the Metro, a sculpture park with these charming figures was revealed.  From a distance I thought they were just intriguing caricatures of different cultures, when investigated they were revealed to be even more interesting in that they were created with patterned metal seemingly from discarded public works systems in cities from all over the world.  Some had nameplates to reveal their country of origin:   Spain above, Venice with the White mask, Brazil with the big hair and Jesus silhoette placed rather provocatively, and Canada has the red Maple leaf.

  \          Mosaic tile graffiti?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Invader_(artist)

Apparently there is a 'mosaic griffitiest' called Invader that began to place space invader characters around Paris and other cities in the mid-90's.  I spotted an Oscar the Grouch looking mosaic - I don't know if it is one of his? and then there was another near Sacre Coeur.  I know I have seen others but I didn't think get photographs of them.  I will continue to be on the lookout for this fun 'graffiti art.' 

By venturing outside the city center and visiting other arrondissemonts you can see more than just the tourist attractions.  We live in the 14th arrondissemont, and visited the 12th on Sunday. 

Skate Park

It was really cool to see that Skate Parks look very much the same, no matter where they are found.  One of the biggest differences, and boarders - let me know if this is true in the USA - is that there were very few boarders.  There were far more bikers, bladers, and 'scooter's'...  I am not sure of the correct term for the object that the young man doing a flip above is riding.  The Graffiti/tagging is relativly similar as well, however, in Paris I have found a few more of what I call more creative graffiti.  I will continue to take pictures and post what I find.

Statue with a pigeon assisting in directional cues

Gargoyles are also wonderful places to 'chill' for pigeons.

Finally, I took my classes to the Pompidou on Monday after a visit on Free (National) Museum Day - otherwise known as the 1st Sunday of the Month in France.  The detritus on the floor was unimpressive until I looked up and saw what the artist had done - clever.  I wonder how one goes to the museum directors and asks to cut a hole in the ceiling, would have been fun to be a fly on the wall for that one!



I love looking for new ways to frame monuments that are world renowned and photographed by tourists everywhere.  I know it is small, but that is Sacre Coeur in the hole of the Alexander Calder sculpture.

Up next:  Brussels, Bruges, & Ghent. 

Still to Post:  Chartres, Baden Baden Casino & the Black Forest, Colmar (aka Little Venice) & the Unterlinden and more..