Still In Love

Day 126

The people here are just amazing. They will actually ask which language I would prefer to speak in then then give me half a dozen options. I feel a bit stupid for only being able to pick one of those.

I got up early because, well, I had things to do, old things to see, and beer to drink.

My first stop of the day was the Groeninge Museum. This holds mostly Flemish masters. They also gave me a free audio guide and that always makes me happy. Most of what I saw are referred to as Flemish Primitives. They are considered primitive because of the inaccurate way that the human body is portrayed. The fabrics, furniture and plants would be in perfect detail. However, human anatomy wasn’t really understood and artists were expected to used classical ideas of how the body looked. This didn’t really change until di Vinci came along, and then took some time to filter up to Flanders. A perfect example of this was Gerard David’s 1498 Justice of Cambyses. Cambyses was a corrupt judge who was skinned alive, this is what the painting depicts. The pain on his face looks quite real, but the exposed mussels and veins are not quite right.

There was also a good collection of Jan van Eych’s here. There should be though, he was from here. It is claimed that he invented oil painting but this isn’t quite true. He just mastered it with a skill no one had had before.

My favorite, and the one I came here to see was H. Bosch’s Last Judgment. It’s a bit odd because most of it is surreal, with over sized knives and shoes attacking people. I had always thought that it must have been really before its time, but apparently each object he used had some deeper symbol for the people of the time.

I wandered to a church with one of the 3 Michaelangelo statues not in Italy. After that I wandered down the smalled street in Bruges and what used to be the red light district.

I then had about 40 minutes to kill before my tour of the Halve Mann Brewery. There were already people at the bar with beers, but it wasn’t noon yet and I thought it was a bit two early. Instead I grabbed a tea.

The Halve Mann Brewery opened in 1856 and is the last one left in Bruges. The tour was pretty good and the guide was funny. In addition to the malt, hops, water and barley other things are often added to beer. Coriander cuts down on hangovers. Corn flakes adds color and sugars to lagers. I guess I could have had that morning beer after all.

Every beer in Belgium has its own glass and it is always served in that. Trappist beers are served in chalaces because it is like communion. The glasses are shaped for the beer to breathe, just like wine. There are often ridges on the bottom to help keep the beer cold.

The day before I went on this tour American Budweiser was bought by a Belgian company that also owns Stella and Leffe. One would hope that Bud was about to get drinkable. I don’t think this will happen, but perhaps we will get more good beer imported through their extensive channels.

After the beer tour I went and took a picture of a cannon buried in the cement. No one knows why it is there.

Another place that my map suggested was a candy store that was opened in the 50’s and is still run by the same little old lady. When I walked in I could see that it was really more of a small grocery store. The elderly proprietress got up from her chair in her attached house and came to ask me what I wanted. I really didn’t want anything, but I felt bad for making her get up. I got a water. I still feel bad for making her get up for fifty cents.

I then attempted to stop at the oldest bar in town for a late lunch but it was closed. Things have really odd opening days here. Instead I picked up lunch at a nearby restaurant.

Back at the hostel I spent some time with the blog and some credit card confusion. I was really just waiting for the free walking tour to begin.

I decided to give myself the evening off and didn’t take any notes. Although some buildings in Bruges do date back to the middle ages most are 19^th century recreations. Several years ago they had a big problem with rats in the canals, so they let an alligator loose and over several weeks he ate them all. Now the alligator is in the zoo and they don’t have any more rats. I don’t know if that is really true or not.

I spent a little bit of time hanging with some people back at this hostel bar, but I was tired and soon I headed up to sleep.

I’m Moving to Bruges

Day 125
Today was a Monday and I knew from the beginning that most things would be closed. The map I had been given at the hostel was pretty cool. It called itself a travel guide for young people and had a whole bunch of off the beaten path things to check out. I planned on spending the days doing these things and trying my best to act like a local.

However, first things first. I really needed to get some blog work. I don’t want to let it get too behind because it takes days to catch up on. After about 3 hours my stomach was growling and I knew that it was time to stop and start seeing the city.

For lunch I knew that I needed a local favorite, I was going to get fries! The main square has two shacks that sell fries almost right next to each other. They have been on this location since 1896. Everyone likes to fight about which one is better. This is a bit silly though because every three years they are auctioned off and often change hands. I just decided to pick the shortest line. I had garlic mayo with mine, they were fantastic.

As I was wandering to my next destination I was happy to see that the Bruges Museum was actually opened. This small museum consisted of a big meeting room. Bruges made its money off of trade and banking in the middle ages and this building was meant to show off that wealth. The meeting room had been redone in 1884 to reflect the medieval style. It pictured important events and people in Bruges over the past 1000 years or so. One was the signing of the city charter in 1190, another of Jan van Eych painting in 1433.

The facade of the building was no less spectacular. There were four rows of statures, 49 in all. The statues took centuries to create, mostly due to money. Each statue was about 5’9 and weighed about 100 pounds. They ranged from historically important to saints, and a rather naughty one of Adam and Eve.

My next stop was the Chapel of the Holy Blood. It was quite ornate and people were lining up to touch the container that the blood is said to be in. I didn’t feel a need to do that.

Included in my museum ticket was a room in an adjacent building. This room had been decorated in 1520 and hadn’t really changed. The audio guide was exceedingly detailed. It was older than my country and really amazing.

Next up was a little bar called Garre, which was located in a garre (alley) and served a beer called Garre. This is only served here and was pretty good.

At this point I had to figure out what to do with myself for the evening. After going to the grocery store for dinner food I headed to the movie theater. I planned on seeing In Bruges while in Bruges. It just really seemed fitting. I just didn’t expect the movie to be so violent.

After the movie I made myself some dinner and spent the evening hanging out with some people at the hostel. I tried to go to a bar that my map said had every beer in Belgium, but it was closed.