Bruge... Brugges... Bruges... Yeah, That place.

Depending on the language you are speaking, one of these is the proper way to spell this city's name.  Today was the first of two consecutive days off for us at Corteo, the "double-dark" as it is referred to.  Alex and I decided we would take a day trip to Brugge, pronounced "Brooge", which is directly west of Brussels by about an hour.

Our day started with a train ride at about noon.  We got our tickets, headed to the platform and within two minutes were comfortably seated in a beautiful train car enjoying our lunch. I felt pretty good as I wasn't too sure what this train would look like and it was Alex's first time on a train (lame but true...)  I was in the process of impressing her with our wonderfully comfortable seats when, approximately two minutes later we were escorted to the second class cabin... Apparently we missed the #1 on the door when we got on and had seated ourselves in the first class cabin.  After a brisk walk backward on the train, through the cars, we found the "not-as-comfortable-but-still-ok" seats designated for the "not-so-fortunate" travelers.

Our train ride was rather uneventful outside of a few really huge pigeons (aka. Beefy Pigeon), and very tiny horses, which we dubbed mini-horse.  It was about an hour long and traveled west through some very small towns and one major city, Ghent.  A few interesting things we noticed were the size of fields.  Coming from both Chatham-Kent and Mt. Pleasant, we are both used to farms and farmland but here, even in the city people have chickens, sheep, and small 1/2 acre fields.  It was very odd to see big business buildings and small houses with sheep on the same lot.  Different world over here.

We got off our train at the very edge of Brugge and we were told by some fellow Cirquians that it was easier to just walk into the town rather than take the bus.  This was very good advice as we got to see a ton of the city.  We walked from about 1-7pm.  There was a whole lot to see and we took loads of photos.  Some notable areas we saw were:  The Belfry Tower at the centre of the Central Market, The Canals running through the city and in most places under the city, The huge Churches and Cathedrals (about 10 in the small town), the Horse Drawn Carriages, the Brick Roads, and of course the Statues.

Here are a few photos that we took today, just a quick look at Brugge.

On the Canal

Alex on a Bridge

Old Bridge Over the Canal 

Aa and Alex in Brugge

  

He's wearing my UWO Ring

14th Century Sandstone

Alex and her Lion

Belfry at Night

The Belfry (Tower)

View from the top

  Most of our day consisted of walking around the city.  We mostly followed the canals into and around small subsections.  We walked though the campus of the old Sint Jans Hospital and also went to the Center Market, very similar to Brussels.  We even took a very steep walk up the steps of the Belfry (Tower) at the center of the city. This was built in and around the 13th-15th Centuries and it it was very noticeable. The placard on the wall says that the tower leans over 1m southwest... Cool.

Leg Cramps: 15th Century Stairs

After our climb (366 steps) we had a beautiful panoramic view of the entire city and we had a lovely song played for us by the bells hanging above our heads!!  It was very loud but pretty nonetheless.  On our way down, both Alex and I had leg cramps and literally had to stop halfway and stretch.  These stairs were about 5 inches wide each and very very steep.  I actually fell down a few of them while making a video of our expedition.  After the tower, we went to a few local pubs and restaurants, tried a couple beers (10% alcohol) and some wine.  After our long day of walking and exploring we jumped back on the train home, which is much shorter when you fall asleep!
We woke up at our stop and went to a grill nearby for some dinner. 

We're now back home relaxing and eventually going to sleep!
We had a great day today and tomorrow we plan on exploring Brussels again!  We'll most likely have lots more pictures tomorrow and a new story for everyone tomorrow night.  We miss you all.

Til next time!
Aa and Alex