Europe Trip - Day 6 (16-Sept-2012)

Day 6 : Bruges, Belgium

Bruges ( Brugge in Dutch ), also known as the "Venice of north" is a UNESCO world heritage site. It’s a picture postcard city with quaint little bridges, houses and canals. Though we had heard that its very touristy, we were very excited to explore this small town of Europe and experience something different not found in the big cities.

This was a “car free” sunday in Brussels so we either had to head out before 9 am and come back after 7 pm or take a train. We chose to go by train as we couldn’t leave by 9. Only taxis, buses, police and vehicles with special permit were allowed. The special permit vehicles had to maintain a speed limit of 30 kmph. Also another wonderful thing was that the public transport was free on this day. So you could just hop on and hop off buses, trams and metro without buying a ticket! This concept impressed us a lot and I can only visualize Bangalore having a day like this!

So we hopped on to a bus and got to the train station. After an enjoyable train ride of 1 hour, we reached Bruges. Before I explain more about Bruges, I would like to add that it’s a fairytale place with picture postcard beauty and old world charm. Old stone buildings, windows with dainty lace curtains, bright colourful flowers adoring the windows, creepers on the walls, century old small bridges and narrow canals, rows of chocolate shops made up Bruges. The whole town looks frozen in time about 100 years back. The only signs of modernity are the scores of tourists hoarding this small place. This remains one of my most favourite places from the trip.

Lake of love

As soon as we stepped out of the train station, we entered one of the narrow roads as per the map. We soon saw a beautiful park with lot of swans relaxing in the water. This is called the “Lake of Love” or the Minnewater. It was the ideal spot for some beautiful pictures. This is the place where the coastal river Reie enters the city. It is then canalized through the town.  Legend has it that a fisherman’s daughter Minna hid in the woods to escape an arranged marriage and to wait for her warrior lover Stromberg. While he did return from war, she was too drained out with the wait and died in his arms. He built a dam and buried her here.

Minnewater lake and park

Swans at Minnewater

The swans also have legend. In 1488, Bruges executed one of the town administrators belonging to the court of Maximilian of Austria. The family coat of arms featured a white swan. Legend has it that Maximilian punished Bruges by obliging the population to keep swans on their lakes and canals till eternity.

Buggy ride

Also, as we walked along, we saw several horse driven carriages ( buggy ) adding to the charm and the romance of the place. Also it was heartening to see several women driving these carriages. We wanted to take a ride around the city but by the time we decided on that activity, all the carriages had retired.

After a quick lunch of fresh waffles (chocolate and strawberries of course!), we were waiting in line to buy the ticket for the canal cruise. The café had an interesting display of 2 large boards with world currency pinned on it. On taking a closer look, it was revealed that the guests here have left a bit of their native currency (sometimes along with hand written notes) on the pin board representing a world map. Such a cute and innovative idea! I too wanted to pin a 10 rupee note onto this, but I couldn’t find one handy.

Another pinboard

World money !

Waiting for Canal cruise

After buying the tickets we were all set for the cruise. We were the first ones in the line, so we were made to sit in the very end of the boat, giving us a good view. The guide spoke in English and explained the various landmarks of Bruges. Some of the bridges were hundreds of years old and shows signs of moss and decay. Some of them were so narrow that we had to duck our heads to avoid a bump! This is the oldest bridge dating back to the 14^th century and it has not needed much repair as well!!

Oldest bridge from 14th century

The most endearing sight was of a dog sleeping out of a window, gazing at the canal below. My friend’s husband said that he saw the same dog on his previous visit too. Must be a regular activity for this dog then ! I later came upon several pictures on the internet similar to this one. I also saw a picture postcard dedicated to the doggy. So this must be one famous (not to mention lucky) Dog!!  

As the boat turned for the return, we saw the dog again, with its head turned to the other side.

One of the tiny bridges

Pretty windows and dainty curtains

Floral decorations all over

Frites with Mayo

After the delightful canal cruise, we went back to the same café for some snacks. We got the most amazing cone of frites ( Belgian fries ) topped generously with Mayo. It looked absolutely sinful. Belgian fries are double fried, making them very crispy. Our friends had veggie burger and omlette. It was all very delicious and much better than the fries sampled yesterday at the highway restaurant.

We the promptly got tempted by the display of cupcakes in a shop and my friend picked up a few of them.

Cupcake with burnt cream

Display at The Chocolate Line

The streets were lined with chocolate shops and the displays were tantalizing. On the way to the market square, we soon spotted the famous Chocolate Line store. I was pretty excited.  This is highly rated as one of the best chocolate stores in Belgium. Once inside, I was overwhelmed with the variety. We even spotted a chocolate lipstick (lick able of course :P ). 

The chocolate line store

 Yogurt cherry chocolate

I finally settled on a slab of yoghurt and cherry chocolate. This seemed exotic and never tasted before. The store person broke off a piece and packed it for us by weight. It tasted different and wonderful.

Right across the street we saw a small open square with couples dancing to live music. Most of them looked middle aged or elderly, but were dancing with grace and ease. How very romantic! This city continued to amaze and delight me throughout.

The Belfry

We soon reached the market square- or the Grote Markt , which had a live music performance today. We took some pictures around the square and of the famous belfry. I very badly wanted to climb the belfry (83 meter high building with 366 narrow steps!!) but refrained from doing so, considering my sore and swollen ankle.

Grote Markt

There was a small alley near the square called the Blinde Ezelstraat or the “Blind donkey” street. One of the legends say that a donkey was blindfolded so that it doesn’t see the boring route travelled every day. Or one of the donkeys could have been really blind!

We then decided to head back and walked towards the train station. There was a cute little flea market ( every weekend ) – the Dijver Flea market along the canal. It sells trinkets, small collectibles etc. They were a fascinating sight.

Display at the flea market

With  "Brugse Zot"

The oldest brewery of Bruges, De Halve Maan was spotted next. It is the only family brewery still active in Bruges and is famous for its speciality beer. They also have a tour of their cellars which I quickly decided to skip since it would involve a lot of steps L  We picked a small bottle of citrus flavoured beer called “Brugse Zot” or the Bruges fool for just 2 Euros !  From the website of De Halve Maan – “The legend behind Brugse Zot : To welcome Maximilian of Austria to their proud town, the people of Bruges organised a colourful parade of merrymakers and fools. When they asked him at the end of the day to provide money for a new madhouse he replied : ‘Today I have seen nothing but fools. Bruges is already one large madhouse !’ Since then the people of Bruges are called ‘Brugse Zotten’ (fools of Bruges).”

Outside the brewery - De Halve Maan

All this walking made us really tired so we stopped over at one of the benches of Minnewater park and watched the world go past.  We also managed to get a picture of this fairytale like castle, the Minnewater castle. I read that its converted into a hotel now.

Fairytale castle !

We then proceeded to the train station and took the train back to Brussels. The only sign of modernity I saw in Bruges was the railway station. I heard that there is a new part of the city as well, but we did not see it.

Outside the railway station

Bruges railway station

It been another really long and tiring day but had been worth every minute and we were all set to head to Amsterdam the next day. We decided to take it a little slow and start a bit late. We had a hotel booked for a night in Amsterdam. Unfortunately our friends had to get back to work the next day, so we had to proceed on our own.
-Yes and Why

Europe Trip - Day 4 (14-Sept-2012)

Day 4: Paris and Brussels

A Sinful, freshly baked breakfast !

After our experience with yummy croissants and raisin roll from the boulangerie next door, we decided to skip the expensive breakfast at the hotel today. Also it was meant to be a relaxed travel day and I was hoping for some rest to my sore ankle.  We got a variety of croissants, buns and also 1 large macaroon ( chocolate flavor ) which I had heard was a Paris specialty. We ordered coffee from the hotel and finished the very sinful breakfast.  As we missed requesting the hotel in advance for a late checkout, they couldn't accommodate it and we had to checkout by 12 and store our luggage in a safe place. We decided to pack, leave our luggage with them and explore Champs Elysees. I wanted to see the Louis Vuitton store as I had heard so much about it. I had also heard that there are long queues to enter the store! We had a brief photo stop at the Arc de triomphe ( to capture it in the daylight ) and proceeded down the Champs Elysees.  It was a delight to recognize many brands as we walked past. My first stop was the Swatch showroom. It was a huge store with a huge collection but I was keen on buying myself a white watch. Though I spotted it here, I thought of buying it from Switzerland, so we left the store. This was a mistake as I never found such a big Swatch store in Swiss L

Arc de Triomph 

The multi-storeyed Louis Vuitton store

Very soon we spotted the flagship Louis Vuitton store! And I was overwhelmed by the size and a bit hesitant to enter. Hubby had his famous dialogue ready – You don’t have to pay to See, its free!”  So we went in and looked around a bit (especially the price tags!! ) for general knowledge ! We missed seeing the top floor with the designer ceiling.

We then had a quick look at the Mercedes showroom which had interesting collectibles, small models, USB sticks etc.

The Mc Donald's store was very tempting to grab a bite, but it was heavily crowded, so we took the metro back. As it was the last day in Paris, we decided to have Crepes one more time and headed towards the crepes stalls around Eiffel. We decided to try the cheese crepe which was a bad idea as the lady stuffed a whole load of grated cheese onto the crepe and nothing else !! We couldn’t finish it L. Thankfully we also ordered the regular Banana nutella crepe, so that offset the heavy cheese taste.

 We called a taxi to the Paris Nord station as I didn't want to lug the baggage across metros and stairs at the stations. I was really having a bad ankle by then. The taxi arrived promptly and took us to the station in about 20-30 mins. There was a huge mechanical display board ( I found that very fascinating ) but we had to wait for a long time for it to display the platform for our train to Brussels. Quite a huge crowd gathered over time and I got nervous trying to be cautious of our luggage !

Display board at Paris Nord station

Finally the platform was displayed and we rushed to the train- the high speed rail Thalys. This was our first train in Europe and I was pretty excited as I had heard so much about the efficient European trains. Not to mention the scenic countryside views as you traveled  We quickly settled down on our reserved seats ( All train tickets had been booked on raileurope.co.in ) and also placed our luggage on the racks near the entrance. The seats looked so comfortable, I couldn't believe it was 2^nd class. Hubby wanted to catch up on  updating the trip journal while I wanted to catch up on sleep ! But the train whizzed past and we were nearing Brussels in a little over an hour.  At times the train sped so fast that we had our ears popping. I later read that the train can reach peak speeds of 300 kmph. Wow! We were wishing that we could travel Bangalore-Chennai in an hour like this. There were no border checks on the train, just the ticket checking. We were to stay at Brussels with my friend’s family for the next 3-4 days. As planned, my friend’s husband was waiting for us at the train station.  After relaxing a bit, we headed out to see the Grand Palace and Manneken Pis.

One of the various waffle stores

And it was a rainy evening once again on this trip! Also we had left the umbrellas in the car, so we hoped that it wouldn't be a big downpour. We stopped over on the way to the palace for the quintessential Belgian waffle. Samples of all the flavours were on display and we were spoilt for a choice. Finally I chose a waffle with strawberry and chocolate topping and hubby chose strawberry, chocolate and cream. We received the waffles but it didn't have any cream. When we pointed it out, the store person very generously painted the whole waffle with cream ! He even offered to do it for the other one ! We decided to share this serving of cream itself. Needless to say, the waffles took us to a new height of pleasure, surpassing the crepes at Paris ! It was hot, soft, slightly crispy and had very fresh strawberries.  

Fresh Waffles 

Grand Palace square

Manneken Pis

With renewed vigour we took some pictures around the Grand palace square and walked in search of Manneken Pis.

After some search on Google  we found our way to the little statue. But not before we passed through a narrow street lined with chocolate stores, with most of them displaying several miniatures of Maneken Pis. Only after we saw the statue, we realized that some of the miniature chocolate models were larger than the statue itself, which was a small one on the corner of the street! Maneken Pis literally means Little Man Pee in Marols, a Dutch dialect spoken in Brussels (also known in French as le Petit Julien). Apparently he has over 700 costumes which are on display at the Grand palace. There is a board displaying his dressing schedule for the month. At that time, he didn’t have any costume on.

Costumes schedule

From Wikipedia – “The costumes are managed by the non-profit association The Friends of Manneken-Pis, who review hundreds of designs submitted each year, and select a small number to be produced and used.” Wow!!

One of the various chocolate models of Manneken Pis

There are several legends behind the statue. One of it is that of a little boy who put out a fire by urinating on it and thus saving the city from burning down. Another is that a wealthy merchant’s son went missing and he was later found urinating in a garden. The wealthy man got the statue and fountain built as a mark of gratitude for the locals who searched for his son.

Our next stop was for souvenirs. We picked up some magnets and a miniature model of the little boy for our collection. Our friends decided to treat us to some lovely Indian food at a nearby restaurant which was a perfect end to the day!