Just another Sunny Day. In Bruges

That would normally be a sarcastic comment about the bipolar weather that rivals even Saint Louis' conundrum of elements, but recently the rain has been good to us!

Yesterday we went to Bruges after having class at Café Belga in Place Flagey. For those who have seen the movie In Bruges, they will probably appreciate the old-town beauty of the city. I do not count myself in that number, so I can only attest to its real-life fairy tale appearance.

Apparently in that film, the main character talks about how boring Bruges is. I couldn't agree more.


It was a gorgeous town! Don't get me wrong. But there is nothing to do for a small band of college-age kids looking for a good time. We spend a good deal of our few hours there sitting along a canal and observing the tourists in the canal boats. There was even a Dutch boy in suspenders in one of the apartment windows--so cute.


But all said and done, I'll probably never go back to Bruges. Quaint and pleasantly run-down as it may be, it holds little interest for me. To be honest, the place seemed a bit fake.

Dinner last night was Moroccan chicken and couscous--only my second time ever eating it and my first time making it. Definitely an experience, and I'm so ready to make it all the time in the States!

It was an early night for all of us, and we got up ready for class at the BelVue Museum today. That was certainly one of the prettiest buildings we've been in thus far! It's located directly next to the Royal Palace. In fact, we had lunch in a courtyard off to the side of the museum and we could literally have walked into the King's Garden if not for the iron gate (but only an iron gate) separating us. Gareth commented on how in Britain there would be barbed wire and guards posted all around that gate. If you ever come to Brussels, I highly recommend this museum and the Green Kitchen for lunch.


It was a museum of Belgian history. It told the story mostly from Belgium's independence in the mid-19th century onward, as well as a really cool time-lapse map at the beginning that displayed all the changes in European rule since the year AD 1000. I meant to film this but completely forgot. Guess I'll have to go back someday.

Apart from having lots of information and royal families' personal effects, there was a separate museum that was a self guided walk through what most people would consider a dungeon or series of catacombs. In fact, however, it is the remains of a previous Royal palace, side street, and hotel all of which were destroyed in a 1731 fire. There is active excavation still going on, so we were literally walking amidst and atop an archaeological dig. The rooms are large, open, and empty, but the signs posted around informed you "you are standing in..." My favorite was Isabella Street. Reading the sign, to my left was the royal palace, and to my right was the Hoogstraat Hotel. Very interesting sensation.


And the best part of touring the Coudenberg (the former palace) was being able to hear the cars and busses passing by overhead.

After class we took a stroll through the royal parks where it seems all the locals hang out.

Then we went to northward to Botanique and took a walk through the botanical gardens of Brussels. They were so pretty, and we were enjoying the sun so much, that we stayed on the lawn for several hours just soaking it all in. An Eden in the middle of a busy city.


Tired and hungry, we all came home and Nicole, Brandon and I went grocery shopping. We found Aldi!! The reason we couldn't find it before was because it's called Lidl here. How in the world would I have known that Lidl tranlates to Aldi? Regardless, we got all the food we've been waiting for--jelly, peanut butter, vegetables, sliced bread. Life is good.