Europe 2009: Brugge, Belgium

Sunday June 28, 2009

Brugge, Belgium

Brugge is so crowded you’d think someone left a hose of tourists running.  Man, is it beautiful though.  When you think about it, there isn’t much about humankind that you can’t criticize for having screwed up in one way or another, but the people who built this place really knew what they were doing.  Every street you turn down is lovelier than the one before.  Even the alleys are beautiful.  And clean!  You don’t see dumpsters or trash anywhere.  You don’t see any homeless either.  Hm.  Maybe stay away from the tar-tar. 

Monday June 29

5:30AM

I didn’t sleep again.  We are going to go for a walk.  We will snag some crowdless photos, have breakfast and then come back around noon for a nap.  Oh life. 

           
The city was deserted and quiet.  The footage we got is breathtaking.  On our walk we stopped by the train station and bought our tickets for the high-speed train to Paris tomorrow.  The ticket agent couldn’t have been nicer.  She sold us the last two seats.  The parking lot of the train station was filled with row after row of bicycles.  It seems this entire city bikes to work! 

Passed out when we got back to the hotel.  Lu woke me at noon, forced me to get up.  Felt like I had been tarred over.  Lunched on spaghetti bolognaise at a café by a bend in the river.  The food was fine but the service was terrible.  I tried hard not to generalize but it was pretty clear the waitress was reacting to my being American.  She heard my every request (“Can I have another Coke, please?”) as a demand.

The sun was blazing, bright and hot.  There weren’t nearly as many people as yesterday.  On our return to the hotel we stopped at a charming garden café for coffee and a waffle with whip cream and strawberries.  Now I know why so many people bike.