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Thursday, August 3

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My view in Hans and Anneke’s living room as I drank coffee and listened to the Audio Bible chapters for the day. Notice, I am wearing my mis-matched socks. 🙂 As you can see, I am the first one who is up for the day.

Our first goal for the day was to visit the old city of Brugge.

In the Brugges area, the first fortifications were built after Julius Caesar’s conquest of the Menapii in the first century BC, to protect the coastal area against pirates.

Again, we found ourselves walking on cobblestones and learning much about some very old history of this area and city.

After walking through a narrow street, we found ourselves in a very large City Center called Grand Market of Brugge. Church bells were ringing.

There were many people (I expect most were tourists) and horse drawn carriages.

A museum that included a photo of Marie Theresa, the mother of Marie Antoinette.

King William 1

A picture of Napoleon (left) because he died at the battle of Waterloo.

The Battle of Waterloo was fought on Sunday 18 June 1815, near Waterloo (at that time in the United Kingdom of the Netherlands, now in Belgium), marking the end of the Napoleonic Wars.

That lock should keep people out of this large chest.

Our next stop was a Catholic church where the ordinary people worshipped on the ground level and the wealthy and royalty worshiped upstairs.

The ground level.

Upstairs where the wealthy worshiped.

If you have been to Europe, you recognize this area where the priest shared his sermon. They are always elevated above the audience and often with a covered area above the pulpit.

Back on the street and walking to another area of the city center.

We saw many bikes and people on bikes.

It looks like he was on a long trip.

When it was lunch time, Rebekka thought Cerwin would appreciate a hamburger. 🙂 Each restaurant had different style and color of tables on the restaurant side of the city center.

When you find a Burger King, you know you are in a tourist area!

Looking down on the restaurant area.

By this time, we had walked over a lot of cobblestones and were ready for a carriage ride through the old city. Hans, Anneke and Rebekka on their side of the carriage.

Cerwin and I were facing them with the driver and guide behind us.

It began to rain during our ride, which was okay, because our carriage was covered.

There are many canals throughout the city, the reason Brugge is called the “Venice of the North.”

Halfway through the tour, the driver gave our horse a break – in an area where all horses were given a break.

There were canal tours as well.

At the end of the ride, we were back to walking through a variety of streets.

A statue that honored the men who gained independence during a war.

Our next stop was a very interesting history tour about the city of Brugge.

Anneke with a vintage dress.

Hans knew we were looking for a coffee cup – which is usually the only thing we buy when on trips. We love coffee, so enjoy using a variety of cups. He secretly went inside a shop and bought us a one – a cup from Brugge.

We came home with two cups. One from the wildlife park visit the other day and the one from Hans.

We were all fascinated with the beauty of this lace shop.

Hans surprised me with a tiny, handstitched cross.

Cerwin and Hans at the other end of a very narrow street.

Then we stopped for a warm chocolate-covered waffle on a stick.

Oh, my! It was amazingly delicious. A warm waffle covered with warm milk chocolate.

One of our last stops before walking to their van was listening to a very good street band.

The map of where we were when visiting Brugge.

From here we travelled to the North Sea. I will tell you about that in my next post.