Well, now Sara and Julia are both asleep. This is two bedrooms, so Sara has her own room (with puppy and turtle) and we have Julia in our room. It has worked well. One interesting thing about this house is the steep staircase. I hold my breath everytime Sara goes up or down it! Thankfully, she has immediate acceptance of rooms. "This is my room" she said, and that was that. We bring her little-kid pillow for a bit of home, but she is using the blankets provided (and not those from home) unlike other trips where we brought her favorite blanket. It just didn't make sense to pack them when we already had enough stuff to pack!
Anyway. Today was our last day here. It is amazing how fast time flies. We began our day with something that most tourists (who probably spend 2-3 days here) do first. The boat ride. We went to the boat dock and I asked for a discount, and he said no. I figured it was worth asking and it didn't phase me that he said no. But when he asked how old Sara was, I said, "3" and he said "2 and a half, so she goes free" -- so he did give us a discount after all! Funny. The boat ride was super cool. We did it the last time we were here (years ago) and surely we have walked the whole route along side the canals, but there is something about gliding along the water - under bridges and along side towering churches, houses, and gardens that is just plain fun.
I had done a www.youtube.com search for brugge boat ride, to prepare Sara. I wanted to show her the boat ride before we did it. She watched the video (made by a tourist) about 4 times! And it worked, she did sit nicely on the boat and she enjoyed it. The boat driver pointed out which bridge was the oldest (from like 1623) and it was a tiny little brick bridge that only gave a few inches clearance for people's heads as we went under it. He also pointed out all the old houses, the spires, and other pretty things in town. The town is from medieval times, when it was very wealthy from the cloth trade, so the buildings are spectacular. The ride was 35 minutes. A fun thing to do first thing in the morning as some of the buildings looked especially nice in the morning light.
After the boat ride we tried to find one particular place to eat, but thankfully we ended up at another place that we really enjoyed. We had walked past it a number of times. Sara picked us a table right by the window, so we got to enjoy the people walking by as well as the interior of the restaurant. Dan had a house beer, and a ham dish, with salad. I had "Flemmish" onion soup, 1/2 a chicken, and salad. To drink I had something on the menu that sounded good. It was 70% a local beer, and 30% "lemonade" it was good! And it was only 2.50 Euro, versus more expensive water (yes really) and more explensive beer (beer is like 4 Euro). We all enjoyed the meal. I had a few paper plate in my backpack, so I just whipped one out for Sara to share our meals. That is handy since usually the server somes to take your order, deliver your food, and then doesn't return 'till you want your bill (and leave). So asking for a spare place isn't practical, so how nice just to have one. We gave her some chicken, some vegetables off our salads, and she ate some peanuts too. It was a happy meal of us just enjoying our selves.
After that we went to see the ruins of the oldest stuff in town - the Vikings were here in 900 AD, and there is a church that was built around that time, and you can go see the foundations of the church. They are under the new Crowne Plaza hotel - and they let you go see them. It was so cool!
Then we came back here to get the Bob Stroller (we had spent thus far with Julia in the Bjorn carrier and Sara on her feet) and then we did a walk - a long walk - on the ring around the former moat. We walked past the 4 windmills, and through town a bit. It was a nice good bye walk. Before long it was time to think about more food (does it seem like we are always eating?) so we got some snacks at Panos (a muffin, a waffel, and a raisin pastry). And then later we had a nice time at a restaurant on the market near the belfry, of a hot coffee drink for me, a beer for Dan, and a crepe (they call them pan cakes). It was 12Euro, and a great chance to sit down on a heated terrace and watch the world go by, while listening to the belfry chime every 15 minutes. I love hearing bells in Europe. It was one of my favorite things - I just find it to be so happy and charming. While at the restaurant on the market we also took time to nurse Julia, and change her diaper twice. We find that taking time out to meet her needs - especially around 2:00 is helpful. It sets us up for success the rest of the day. She is so low maintenance, a couple of feedings, a couple of diapers, and plenty of hugs and smiles is all she needs to be our happy travel companion all day. We have her wearing a little white hat and under a baby blanket to keep her warm as we travel around. Some times we carry her, which is fun for us (to snuggle with her) and fun for her (to see things from an adult's view point - since we basically carry her cheek to cheek). People always smile at her since she is so cute.
After that we did a long walk, to the back streets, where we were the only ones around. It is easy to feel like you are back in the 15th century. Super cool.
Back into the town we noticed Sara was asleep, so we wanted around a square. I popped into a store and bought a "belgian jar scraper" and a little spoon for Julia. Small things to remember this place by. We also got some ice cream while Sara was sleeping, a strategic move to have one less person to share with. It was run raisin, the specialty of the ice cream shop, for 1.50 Euro. He also makes chocolates, and says he likes plastic chocolate molds better because they are lighter and they make it easier to make flawless chocolates. I found that interesting since he had his old heavy chocolate molds out for sale, since he never uses them anymore.
To wrap up the day we enjoyed the view from the "post card" spot, which is known to be a super pretty view, and then we walked back here. We had a nice visit to Brugge / Bruges. It seemed like we had so much time and it just went zipping by. I've grown used to walking on cobblestones, hearing the clip-clop of horse hooves, and gazing at six centuries of architecture. :)
Tomorrow noon we'll have the rental car and continue our journey. Not sure if we'll have wifi where we go. Not sure when I'll update this next. We'll see! I want to keep it up - since this is my travel journal. I used to write this type of stuff with pen/paper to track notes of our days, but I can type faster!
'Til later,
Lori
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