Yesterday, we spent the day in the capital of West Flanders-Bruges, Belgium.  Upon arriving in Bruges, the first thing we did was pass under one of the original city gates.

We drove through the streets, which all had a very “old world charm” to them on our way to the market square.

At the first city square, we saw some elaborate buildings.

In addition, we went into this church which is called The Basilica of the Holy Blood and was built in the 1100’s.

The reason it is called this is that inside they have a vial that contains a cloth that is supposedly stained with the blood of Jesus.  According to the history, the blood was wiped off of Jesus onto this cloth after the crucifixion by Joseph of Arimathea and sealed in the vial which was brought from the Holy Land by Thierry of Alsace, Count of Flanders in the 1200’s.  They allow people to view the vial, which we did.  The vial is watched over by the woman in the photo and laying on a table in front of her.  After looking at it, she hands each group a prayer card with a prayer in many different languages.  It was interesting, though I must say, the children thought the contents of the vial were a little gross looking.

We also grabbed some lunch in this first city square.  The adults decided to go traditional with a Flemish beef stew and Flemish rabbit (and some Belgium beer and fries of course!).  Both dishes were very good.

After lunch, we walked to the Markt square.  Interestingly they were having a small parade and concert to commemorate the troops that helped the city during WWII, particularly some Canadian forces which liberated the city.

Next, we made our way to the Church of Our Lady, which houses Michaelangelo’s Madonna and Child sculpture-his only sculpture to leave Italy.  We weren’t able to see the sculpture on this day, but we have plans to go back for another event so we will hopefully see it then.

We then visited Hospital Sint Jan, an 800 year-old hospital where monks and nuns took care of the sick, poor and travelers.  We were able to see the main area, the chapel, the attic, and the pharmacy.  The buildings house a museum with medical and pharmaceutical instruments, paintings and other relics of the past.

While heavily invaded by tourists, the city was still very lovely as we wandered around.

To end our trip to Bruges, we left the busy city squares and other tourist areas and headed to an older district.  Aside from the modern cars, signs and parking meters, you could almost picture how it would have looked hundreds of years ago.

This area also features a walking path with four turning windmills.

All in all, though it was rather touristy, the city was very charming and had many interesting historical and cultural items.

And finally, on our way home, we saw these “mowers” working hard on the side of the road (they were there in the morning too, so it was an all day job)!

Our first excursion out of The Netherlands was to Brussels, Belgium, which is a short hour and a half from our home.  Belgium borders both The Netherlands and France so both Dutch and French are spoken there-decidedly more French the further you go from The Netherlands’ border.  They also speak a mixed language known as Flemish.

Our first stop on arriving in Brussels was a small statue that has become very famous known as Manneken Pis.   Sometimes this statue is dressed in different costumes, but today he was au natural.

Essentially it is just a fountain statue of a little boy tinkling.  But the street he is on is filled with souvenir shops, chocolate shops and Belgian waffle shops.  And almost all of them pay homage to the statue (like this chocolate version).

After sampling a little Belgian waffle with white and semi sweet chocolate, we headed on to the Grand Place.  This is the center square of the city and houses the Town Hall as well as a museum and other buildings (hard to see in the picture but there is lots of gold overlay on the buildings).

After the square, we walked through a market building with a very cool ceiling.  Again there were lots of chocolate shops (one even had a bust of their founder carved from chocolate), lace stores and a whole lot of displays with Smurfs-apparently they were created in Brussels.

Next, we visited the cathedral of St. Michael and St. Gudula.  Being that it was Sunday, they were having mass so we were only able to see parts of the church.

Next we toured the Royal Palace, though the royal family do not actually live there.

They even had dinner ready for us!

But, alas, we had to decline as we had more pressing matters such as viewing this room with a ceiling covered in beetle wings.

After the palace, we visited the Notre Dame du Sablon.  Mass was also being conducted here, so while we didn’t get to see a lot of the cathedral, we did get to hear some beautiful singing.

After heading back to the main square for a lunch of mussels and beer and grabbing another Belgian waffle each (sorry no pictures-by the time we thought to take one, we had eaten it all! But, I can report that they were delicious!), we decided to leave Brussels and head north to Antwerp.

In Antwerp, we went to the Middelheim.  This is a large park with various modern art sculptures and other works spread along the walking paths.  It was an interesting trip-our son was excited to see a play area with swings, only to be disappointed when he got there and realized it was actually an artwork.  He felt that was trickery.  And all of us were a bit surprised to walk upon this statue (warning-not suitable for tender eyes!)

So after a good laugh, we decided that we had had enough male genitalia for one day and headed back home.

All in all, our trip to Belgium was a nice day trip.  And I’ve got a few Belgian chocolates to try over the next few weeks, so I’d say it was a success!