Waffles, Frites and Clouds

I have arrived in the land of waffles, frites and lots and lots of clouds. Bruges is amazingly touristy and two days was more than enough to see the canals, climb the bell tower, have some beer and then get a little bored looking for other things to do. The first couple days seemed to be the only days I felt bored though as I got into the habit of sitting in a park to read or going into a church to listen to nuns chant if I found myself at a loose end.

The first night I went out with a group from the hostel to get some can-only-get-in-Bruges beer. A fun group and we went to a club afterward and I was impressed by how the group looked out for each other to make sure we stuck together or let people know when they were leaving. As I've gone out with other groups, I have found that this is the exception rather than the rule which endears me to the group all the more.

Other nights end with me leading a group of drunken young things back to the hostel from whatever bar we were at. These groups can't always remember each others names, but can remember where people are from so at some point I yell ahead "Stockholm, go left."

"The hostel is left?"

"Yes."

"Really?"

"Yes."

After a few minutes of other conversation, when the hostel is in view, Stockholm exclaims "Boston, I'm so impressed you knew how to get back. It's so, so impressive."

"Yes, I'm very impressive."

This is Garden Fairy. Lainie made her and I've been sending her pics so she will be making occasional appearances.

 

And here's Fidel, the most photographed dog in the world. It's a tough life dealing with the paparazzi.

This is what I called the Fountain of the Vomiting Horse because, well, that's what it looks like. Horses can't actually vomit, so this is kind of like a unicorn. The fountain is designed like this because it is water for the horses that pull carriages around town, so not a place to fill your water bottle.

When you're in Brussels, definitely check out the Museum of Musical Instruments. It's a four floor collection of all different instruments from different eras and there's an audio tour that has recordings of all the instruments being played. Most impressive was Ben Franklin's armonica which has layers of glass domes that spin in water using a foot pedal and the player touches the edges of the domes to play different notes, similar to running your finger around the rim of a wine glass. There were a couple Americans looking at it with me that were musicians so we got to geek out about it together.

There was also an organ with this sculpture on top of it. Wtf?!

I went to an art exhibit in the ruins of a palace (destroyed by fire in 1731). You're underneath a now-museum and it's a little cold and a little musty and quiet except for your footsteps and an occasional train going by and there are these haunting paintings on the walls. Loved this.

Watching the German countryside go by!

 

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