I read in my guidebook, and in several other places that Bruges is quite a touristy place. I had the philosophy that, well, how could that be an altogether bad thing? After all I am, for all intents and purposes, a tourist myself. Then I got to Bruges.
There are people everywhere, and they're certainly not Belgian. Spanish, French, pretty much everyone you could think of (not that I hear much English being spoken), but its just crowd infested. It's almost like a theme park. Every few shops is either a chocolate shop, a beer cafe or a waffle shop. There's a few cathedrals / towers thrown in for good measure, but it basically feels like the city is screaming "Hey, check me out! I'm Belgian!!". At any rate, it hasn't done much for me and I expect to be leaving soon. I'm going to check out the chocolate museum, the belfry to get a panorama shot, and maybe check out the "Holy Blood". Apparently they've got some vial here which is supposed to contain some Jesus blood. I am skeptical at best.
At any rate, here is a link to a map that depicts my journey so far:
Map!.
One interesting thing I wanted to note, is that when I travelled from Amsterdam to Antwerp, the train crossed the Netherlands / Belgium border. I didn't even see a "Welcome to Belgium!" sign, let alone be asked for something like my passport. I find it interesting and encouraging that they have such open borders here.
Oh, and the Photo Gallery is updated!
5 comments:
i'll have to read the actual blog later...bit inebriated (that's totally spelt wrong)
but 'cafedrall'? hahahahaha...those witty belgians? oh what a clever people. ho ho ho... Good pictures though. that river (with the swans) looks bloody awesome
- Andre
Loving the photo's of the poultry/fowl of Europe! And the 2 photo's of the chocolate shop made my mouth drop open, so yes, it may be something to do with the chromosome issue!
-Carly
Hi James, just got onto your blog - hilarious, keep up the good work. Message from my 6yo who has been following your exploits with me;
Which is your favourite place in Europe? Is the chocolate better there?
Love the pics
George
Aha, the lack of passport checks at borders: you are in the Schengen Zone, as am I, one giant 15 nation immigration zone. The link is here.
As to the Jesus blood, I share your sceptisism. They reckon they have the body of St. Luke here in Padova, which they reckon they just dug up one day, even though there is no documentation of him ever being buried here. You could drive a truck through the hole in their story.
Heh heh, Firma de Cock.
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