Bruges, Belgium
Posted on December 23, 2023 • 12 minutes • 2383 words
Out of the train station and we found a van taxi. 15 minutes later we were at our Airbnb. I had picked a place outside of town, as the ones in town that fit 6 were $600+ a night. This place was 1.5km from town and we figured we could walk or take numerous taxis a day and still come out ahead. This may have been one of my best picks! It was an old barn, constructed in 1853. Everything about it was adorable, even came with Santa hats AND there was a part about 50 meters away that we could see from the window at the dining room table. After the time at Robert’s place outside Liege, the kids had been asking for a place with a backyard. As we were in the taxi, Ben kept asking specifics on ‘how much outdoor space?’ Everyone was thrilled when we got there. Kids were excited to claim the room with the single beds and loved that there was a closable hatch to close off the staircase so no one fell down in the middle of the night. It was going to be an awesome place for Christmas.
According to my weather app, it was going to rain pretty consistently the next 2 days, so this was our day to explore without getting wet. We dumped our bags, did a quick ‘so cute!’ to the house and ordered an Uber to pick us up. We picked a random corner on the out skirts of the central area and were deposited into an adorable little town. Not always so little as we later learned, but felt so quaint and slow where we were in that moment. We walked along the river/canal, marveling at all the buildings and bridges.
Still struggling with getting kids to smile, we have now promised a silly one after each ’nice’ one. So half my family photos look like this now.
Dan had picked out a restaurant and as we were making out way there I fell a bit behind taking a few too many pictures. The place he picked was, yes, adorable, but teeny. We were able to fit in by splitting to 2 tables and taking up approximately 1/3 of all the seats. We got a variety of sandwiches. Dan gets very annoyed at me when I try to order something besides a cappuccino in Europe, because even if the drink I order (latte, flat white) sounds like what I want, ultimately the cappuccino is the best milk to espresso ration that I want. Pretty much I like my milk with coffee, not coffee with milk. Anyways, I ordered a flat white, he ordered a cappuccino and HIS was better. Ugh. I just don’t like cappuccino’s in the states (too high of a coffee:milk ratio) so it’s so hard to order them abroad, even if Dan might be right. It does pain me to say. Ugh. Maybe one day I’ll learn, but what fun is that really since I won’t be annoying to him anymore? Because clearly, this is the only thing I do to annoy him. Beyond that I’m basically perfect. haha
After lunch we headed to the town center. Crossed lots of bridges and canals coming together.
Much smaller central square than Brussels, but so many buildings with very intricate facades surrounding it.
Max even got to take some photos. This was the best one…meaning the most amount of faces were captured.
Every place was decorated! So many trees, garlands, lights, etc. It really added to the cuteness of this town. You couldn’t walk down any street in or near the center without lights hanging above, Christmas trees out front or windows trimmed in garlands.
We popped into a building, but we could tell kids weren’t going to be quiet for long, so snapped a photo of the cool ceiling and headed out quickly.
We walked past a giant beer shop and I decided to go Christmas shopping for myself. There were so many options! I went right to the ‘wit/white’ and ’tripel/triple’ sections and loaded up; added a few dubbles/doubles for good measure.
We ended up wandering around, not really knowing what to see or where to go. The building were beautiful and we were constantly looking up.
Eventually, we headed through the Christmas market…an overloadingness of food, stalls, good smells, happy people and more decorations.
After doing a lap and a hot wine for Dan and Tara (I’m not a fan) we decided to do a boat tour. According to the internet, they are all the same, so we went to the first one we saw. It was really fun. We got to learn a bit and relax while seeing the town from the water. It was about 35 minutes long and it went from day time to dusk quickly during our ride.
On almost all the buildings were iron pieces that were either simple vertical pieces or a bit ornate. They were oriented where the floor or roof ocurred behind. The more you looked, the more you saw. A very clever and architecturally approved (visually speaking) way to tie the heavy facade to the rest of the building. Sometimes they were designs or numbers.
After the ride we figured after all the walking and boating, we should treat ourselves to some waffles. And we have to continue the sampling. Dan found a cozy place and we got a couple Brussels style Belgium waffles and a hot chocolate. Pretty dark by the time we walked out, did a quick grocery store run and then all of us (except Dan who didn’t fit) grabbed a taxi back. Dan wanted a walk, so this worked out. I remember feeling for the key in my pocket to know we could get in, but turns out there were 2 keys. Dan realized this when we were almost home, so we figured we’d just sit outside until he got there. Kids played at the park in the dark, good thing there were some lights from neighboring buildings and Tara and I attempted not to freeze as we watched Dan’s little dot move on google maps. Good thing he’s fast and it wasn’t getting any warmer. Inside and right to the beer sampling, opening up beer by beer and dividing between our 3 glasses.
We had an easy pasta dinner with avocado and cucumber on the side and sampled a bunch of the beers I had bought.
With rain on the forecast for the day, we had an easy morning with the kids at the playground for most of it and Dan and Tara went to the grocery store to make sure we had food for the next 2 says when stores would probably be closed. No rain, just ominous skies. We stuck around for a snack/lunch and took an uber right back to the center. We had scoped out a museum the day before (always a good idea with rain forecasted), the Stadhuis (city hall). Showed up, but not raining yet.
First you walked into the gothic hall that was so overly decorated and fun to look at. I love wood paneling used at ceilings; just the pattern in which they are arranged adds so much to the building. That with stained glass windows and consoles at every intersections.
Also fun…ceiling ribs that go to non-existent columns.
After the gothic hall, we walked into a side room where a very well done ‘History of Bruges’ was displayed on a relief map and we listened and watched as the terrain and cities changed over the years. The landscaped changed so much with the tides and human influence.
And that was it! Short and simple museum that was perfect for us really. Our ticket also got us into the Alderman’s chamber. Not really knowing what to expect, we were blown away. You walk in to a room with a large fireplace and wooden carved mantel piece with some marble below that extended well beyond the fireplace. You think it’s crazy, such detail, etc. Then you see the large oil painting on the other side of the room, dated 1639, that depicts this room during a trial, but basically in it’s current state. Correct, the room looks exactly like it did in at LEAST 1639. All the paintings along the top of the room and the WHOLE mantel piece that was shining and looking in perfect condition…400 years old!
See a better photo here that shows more of the extended mantle piece…was basically the length of the wall.
https://www.museabrugge.be/en/virtual-tours/brugse-vrije#5
Dan wanted a couple minutes in a chocolate shop to get the kids Christmas presents from us. All I had at this point was a beach ball/globe and he wanted them to each be able to open something from us. He went to the chocolate shop and the rest of us headed to a waffle shop. We got a mixture, all with some form of strawberries, nutella and/or whipped cream. The best part…the strawberries were super flavorful and were the small kind! Sat on a bench to eat them with a view of the big Christmas tree.
1 napkin per 1 waffle was not going to be enough.
There was a walk of lights along the river that I really wanted to see, but we were an hour to sunset. Dan seemed fine staying, as long as I had a solution for the next hour…it was now sprinkling. Just haven eaten and not with 3 kids hopped up on sugar, going inside anywhere was not an option. This sums up half the situation pretty well.
I was at a loss, but Dan had the idea to go to the Christmas market and drink some hot mulled wine. I’m not a fan, but did okay with a beer.
Where are the kids do you ask? There weren’t enough seats together under the gazebo, so Dan took one for the team and sat with them at another table where they played write-draw-write. We lasted a bit and felt it was ready for the lights to almost be on.
We were wrong and waited by one. It was 10 minutes after sunset, but not quite dark enough. The drizzle had also turned into a pretty decent rain now. We tried to wait, but we were getting wet. We walked along the water to the next 2 and nothing…just too early. We pulled the plug and started walking to where it would be easy to get a taxi. Sam now decided he NEEDED to see the lights so we started picking out any light we saw and claiming that was the light ‘show’ we were looking for.
Quick taxi home…8 minutes! We took off the wet clothes and threw them straight in the wash and dryer. Sausages in baguettes and roasted potatoes, with Heinz of course, for dinner…and more beer sampling. Pretty chill night before Christmas as we explained to the kids that Santa couldn’t find us with all the travel. No last minute letters, no cookies, no arguing over with reindeer should get the biggest carrot. We had no tape, so I wrapped the kids’ presents from Dan and myself with glue. Worked like a charm, if I do say so myself.
We slept in on Christmas morning! When I finally felt conscious and looked at the time, it was 8:20am! Dan said the kids had just gotten up. We came downstairs to a few presents and they were so excited. I probably could have wrapped up magnet or pencil case and they would have been thrilled. They opened their 3 presents each and it was perfect. Nothing big and most consumable or wearable. Zero pictures taken, just sat there with my coffee and enjoyed.
Dan made us Belgian toast for breakfast, which is really just French toast that is made in Belgium…with spray cream on top.
A couple games of jenga and the kids headed outside to the park for hours. Ben with protection up incase it fell.
Not joking, really hours. After they were out for a bit and it still wasn’t raining, I decided to go for a run. Why yes, I would love to go on the ‘party route’
Came back to this.
Demanded kids come in for a late lunch finally, only with the promise they could go back out again. Pretty yummy and we had a lot to consume before traveling the next day.
Immediately following lunch, kids went back outside. This time it seemed like it was misting a bit, but no one cared. Stopped and we decided to talk to another park, a bigger one, that I saw on my run. Exactly 0.5 miles away I promised. About half way there, it started raining. We made it and huddled under a bike shelter while the kids played. Now really raining, I gave Max one last chance to make it to the top. He did, but not fast. I guess no easy to climb on the ropes when wet and wearing hiking boots. An extra obstacle for the climbing, or falling I guess, that it was a huge puddle under the whole rope pyramid. Max fell once.
Came in even wetter than the day before and again, clothes straight in the washer and jackets and hats in the dryer. Chicken and broccoli for dinner, packed a bit, sampled more beer of course.
Checkout wasn’t until noon, so we took our time. Dan took the kids back to the cool park so they could climb more since ‘Mom made them leave SO soon’ the day before.
After the trip, kids wouldn’t come inside and just stayed at the close park where they had fun following worm trails.
I did another load of laundry and got a lot of writing done. Basically left our lovable place 10 minutes before checkout for a quick trip to the train station. Even the train station had a ton of Christmas trees.
Shortest train ride! 24 minutes and we were in Ghent. Very cool looking train station.
Public transportation seemed so straight forward, and we didn’t have the big bag nor Max’s suitcase, so we took the tram. It would have been awesome had we gotten off at the right stop. Not pointing any fingers, hint hint.