Europe 2012-Day 8: Chocolate, Lace And So Much More

Dave and Kristie went to Finland for the week, and got back really late on Friday night. They were supposed to get back at 6pm but their flight was delayed due to a plane issue. Luckily they were able to get on the last train down to Eindhoven from Amsterdam after their flight landed.

Saturday we decided to head to Brugge, Belgium to indulge our love of chocolate. I drove to Brugge to get some more practice. The freeway is pretty much like the US other than they are very strict on the left lane being only a passing lane, and never passing on the right. That is how it’s supposed to work at home, but there are tons of people that don’t abide by it.

On the way we hit some nasty traffic from construction and added at least 45 minutes to our drive time. As we neared the city I pulled into a parking lot to let Nathan drive. As Brugge is a very old city with narrow streets, I figured I would let him have the fun of navigating and parking our boat of a car.

A narrow street in Brugge

The city center of Brugge is surrounded by a canal, so the first thing we had to do was find a bridge that would allow us to go over. After driving part way around the circle we finally found a bridge that wasn't an exit. As there is only one or two parking garages in the city center most of the parking is just along the narrow streets. Just after crossing the bridge we saw an open parking space and took it. Since it was street parking though we could only stay for 2 hours.

It was after lunch time so we grabbed the GPS and headed toward the city square. We stumbled across a church along the way and went inside to check it out. There was some modern art exhibit going on inside, which consisted of neon lights saying YESHERENOW, don’t know that I understood it, but that’s art.

We continued on in search for the center. As we got close we started seeing restaurants, and we eventually decided on Mozarthuys. Nathan, Kristie, and I all had lasagna, and Dave had an omelet. All of the food was very good.

Just outside the restaurant was a little market where Kristie found some cute and fun little items, such as a little clay pot you put water in and you can blow on it and it sounds like a bird. I almost bought a clay pitcher but I really didn’t know if I would use it or not.

By this time our 2 hour parking was almost up, so Nate went back to the car to find a parking garage where we wouldn’t have a time limit for parking. While he did that Dave, Kristie and I walked around the city center and into some chocolate shops, souvenir shops, and lace shops. There were so many yummy, cute, and amazing things to buy that it was hard not to just buy it all. 

Chocolate shops are everywhere.

An example of how lace is made

Street musician.

In the city square there was a band playing.

You could hire a horse and buggy for a tour or the city.

After meeting up with Nate we decided we wanted to go on a boat tour of the inner canals. We went and bought tickets and waited in line. As the boat started filling us it became apparent that we would need to wait for the next boat, but that was better anyhow as we would have first pick of seats on the next boat.

Our tour guide gave some brief history in Dutch, French, English, and either Spanish or Italian as we cruised the canals. As it was early evening the temperature was perfect, and the setting was lovely as we enjoyed the ride.

Nate caught this picture.

Lots of swans.

When the tour was over we settled on an Italian restaurant for dinner. Dinner was great and we then headed towards the car. It took a while to get there though as the sun was going down and making wonderful photo opportunities everywhere.  We walked by a dessert shop and had to stop for a Belgian waffle. Dave and Kristie had one with strawberries and chocolate and Nate had one with banana and chocolate while I had an ice cream cone.

As we drove home the sunset was getting red and beautiful. I admired it as much as possible from the mirrors until it was gone, and so ended a beautiful day.