Lace, chocolate, and holy blood
After my day in Antwerp, I decided to venture out to another part of Belgium: Bruges. It's a popular tourist destination, pretty near the North Sea coast. I liked Bruges a lot. It's a small enough place that you can explore everywhere on foot. And they had a lot of stuff to see. When I first got off the train and was walking toward the center of town, there was a huge outdoor market area. Many people had booths set up selling clothes or food or crafts. I walked around there for a while.
I saw a lot of lace shops in the city. I bought just a simple bookmark handmade in Belgium. Bruges also had a big shopping street, just like in Aachen. I went in H&M and saw the exact dress I'd bought for half the price! Grrrr! I also checked out a Swarovski crystal store. I think I like that stuff even more than diamonds. Everything was so beautiful and sparkly. Unfortunately, I didn't have enough money to purchase anything.
Then I went to the chocolate museum. The student price was only five euros. They told the history of chocolate starting with the Mayans in South America. It was very interesting. They used to mainly drink it (hot cocoa) before someone thought to make a chocolate bar. They would pour the hot chocolate from like five feet high to create a lot of foam, since that's the part they liked. Chocolate used to be just a royalty thing, but luckily, it's available to everyone now. They had a room with some sculptures made of chocolate. I've never been in a better-smelling museum. And finally, they had a demo. Someone showed how to make chocolate. And, of course, it wouldn't be a good demo if we didn't get a free sample! After you get that one little nibble of chocolate, they feed you into the gift shop where they have tons of overpriced sweets available. I saw a powdered mix for white hot chocolate. I should have bought some, but I didn't. I didn't feel like carrying it in my already very heavy backpack.
After the chocolate museum, I went to my hostel to check in. The place was called Charlie Rocket's. It was a very American place. They had license plates form all over the U.S. on the walls, and I saw a poster of John Wayne. In my room, a 6-person mixed dorm, someone was already there. He was an older guy named Todd. Todd said he was heading to the grocery store to try to find some cheap chocolate and invited me to join. I was unsure at first but finally decided to go. We had trouble finding the store, but got to see more of the city while we wandered. Bruges has lots of canals running through it; some people call it "Little Venice." I could have taken a boat ride down one, but that seemed too romantic to do by myself. Todd took pictures of everything. There's definitely a lot that's picture-worthy in Bruges, and everywhere in Europe in fact. But you can only take so many photos of sculptures, old buildings, gardens, fountains, etc. I've already stopped photographing any of that stuff; I'm sick of it. Being with Todd made me slow down again and appreciate the city's beauty.
We stopped and got some Belgian waffles. I ordered one with whipped cream; it was SOO GOOOD! Then we went back to the hostel. It was beginning to rain. Todd took a nap. When the sun came out again, I left; I couldn't stand Todd's snoring. I had read that biking to the North Sea is pretty doable from Bruges. That sounded really cool to me, so I went looking for a bike rental place. I walked along a canal near the edge of Bruges and saw some really cool big old windmills. Then I saw a map showing a bike rental place back near my hostel. By the time I'd found it, it was pretty late, like 7:00. I didn't want to start a bike trip that late; I decided I'd go for it the next day. I spent the rest of the evening trying to find the Michelangelo statue. My map showed generally where it was. There were lots of statues all around, but I don't think any of them were the Madonna with Child. I concluded it must be inside somewhere that's already closed.
The next morning, I wanted to get going pretty quickly so I could at least spend a little time in Brussels before my train back to Aachen that evening. First, though, I went to the place where I could rent a bike. They said there were no more available for that day. I guess I'll have to come back to Bruges some other time if I want to bike to the North Sea. Heading in the direction of the Bruges train station, I stopped and went inside the Holy Blood Chapel. In there is, supposedly, a vial of Jesus' blood. I went into the basilica and it was absolutely beautiful. They had a sign saying mass was at 11:00. That was only an hour away, so I decided to stay for church. During the service, they lit the candles and turned on the lights, so all the gold colored trim really glistened. Most of the time, old churches and cathedrals are pretty dimly lit, so this was nice to really see all the detail. The sign said mass was done in several languages, including English--yeah, like two sentences were in English. Oh well. And I was the youngest person there, besides the four little kids I saw. Ninety percent of the congregation was senior citizens. Afterward, people had the opportunity to venerate the Holy Blood. They lined up, and, one by one, knelt down and kissed it or something.
I'd already eaten two of the three most popular food items in Belgium (waffles and chocolate), but I still had to try some fries. Bruges also has a fries museum, but I didn't get a chance to go to that. I ordered some fries to eat while walking to the train station; there was nothing special about them. I guess I should have gotten some special sauce to go with them or something. Then I was on to Brussels for the afternoon.
I saw a lot of lace shops in the city. I bought just a simple bookmark handmade in Belgium. Bruges also had a big shopping street, just like in Aachen. I went in H&M and saw the exact dress I'd bought for half the price! Grrrr! I also checked out a Swarovski crystal store. I think I like that stuff even more than diamonds. Everything was so beautiful and sparkly. Unfortunately, I didn't have enough money to purchase anything.
Then I went to the chocolate museum. The student price was only five euros. They told the history of chocolate starting with the Mayans in South America. It was very interesting. They used to mainly drink it (hot cocoa) before someone thought to make a chocolate bar. They would pour the hot chocolate from like five feet high to create a lot of foam, since that's the part they liked. Chocolate used to be just a royalty thing, but luckily, it's available to everyone now. They had a room with some sculptures made of chocolate. I've never been in a better-smelling museum. And finally, they had a demo. Someone showed how to make chocolate. And, of course, it wouldn't be a good demo if we didn't get a free sample! After you get that one little nibble of chocolate, they feed you into the gift shop where they have tons of overpriced sweets available. I saw a powdered mix for white hot chocolate. I should have bought some, but I didn't. I didn't feel like carrying it in my already very heavy backpack.
After the chocolate museum, I went to my hostel to check in. The place was called Charlie Rocket's. It was a very American place. They had license plates form all over the U.S. on the walls, and I saw a poster of John Wayne. In my room, a 6-person mixed dorm, someone was already there. He was an older guy named Todd. Todd said he was heading to the grocery store to try to find some cheap chocolate and invited me to join. I was unsure at first but finally decided to go. We had trouble finding the store, but got to see more of the city while we wandered. Bruges has lots of canals running through it; some people call it "Little Venice." I could have taken a boat ride down one, but that seemed too romantic to do by myself. Todd took pictures of everything. There's definitely a lot that's picture-worthy in Bruges, and everywhere in Europe in fact. But you can only take so many photos of sculptures, old buildings, gardens, fountains, etc. I've already stopped photographing any of that stuff; I'm sick of it. Being with Todd made me slow down again and appreciate the city's beauty.
We stopped and got some Belgian waffles. I ordered one with whipped cream; it was SOO GOOOD! Then we went back to the hostel. It was beginning to rain. Todd took a nap. When the sun came out again, I left; I couldn't stand Todd's snoring. I had read that biking to the North Sea is pretty doable from Bruges. That sounded really cool to me, so I went looking for a bike rental place. I walked along a canal near the edge of Bruges and saw some really cool big old windmills. Then I saw a map showing a bike rental place back near my hostel. By the time I'd found it, it was pretty late, like 7:00. I didn't want to start a bike trip that late; I decided I'd go for it the next day. I spent the rest of the evening trying to find the Michelangelo statue. My map showed generally where it was. There were lots of statues all around, but I don't think any of them were the Madonna with Child. I concluded it must be inside somewhere that's already closed.
The next morning, I wanted to get going pretty quickly so I could at least spend a little time in Brussels before my train back to Aachen that evening. First, though, I went to the place where I could rent a bike. They said there were no more available for that day. I guess I'll have to come back to Bruges some other time if I want to bike to the North Sea. Heading in the direction of the Bruges train station, I stopped and went inside the Holy Blood Chapel. In there is, supposedly, a vial of Jesus' blood. I went into the basilica and it was absolutely beautiful. They had a sign saying mass was at 11:00. That was only an hour away, so I decided to stay for church. During the service, they lit the candles and turned on the lights, so all the gold colored trim really glistened. Most of the time, old churches and cathedrals are pretty dimly lit, so this was nice to really see all the detail. The sign said mass was done in several languages, including English--yeah, like two sentences were in English. Oh well. And I was the youngest person there, besides the four little kids I saw. Ninety percent of the congregation was senior citizens. Afterward, people had the opportunity to venerate the Holy Blood. They lined up, and, one by one, knelt down and kissed it or something.
I'd already eaten two of the three most popular food items in Belgium (waffles and chocolate), but I still had to try some fries. Bruges also has a fries museum, but I didn't get a chance to go to that. I ordered some fries to eat while walking to the train station; there was nothing special about them. I guess I should have gotten some special sauce to go with them or something. Then I was on to Brussels for the afternoon.
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