Distance: We weren't biking so it doesn't matter
Ride Quality: Wonderful
Accommodation: See day 10 - two days in one place!!!
So I've been told that rest days don't apply to blog posts. But since I'm sitting in my room drinking free wine and munching on my giant block of Belgium chocolate, I can't complain too much. :-)
We had a great rest day in Bruges today. Breakfast was quite tasty and even had some boiled eggs, which Saroja greatly appreciated. As we had nowhere to be we didn't eat until later, so I appreciated the sleep in. Mmmm..... Sleep.... After a glorious morning we headed out to explore Bruges. I didn't even have to put in my contacts in case we had to bike in the rain, which my eyes were thankful for. Especially after I tried to readjust one of my contacts a day or two before, only to have it blow away in the wind...
Our first stop was the Historium, which tells the story of a day in Bruges back in the 1400's. It was sort of dramatic and not particularly historical, but still very well done. Afterwards we wandered around the town to visit some chocolate shops, of which there are SO MANY!!! And they all smell delicious when you walk in. Needless to say we have a good stash of snacks for the next few days.
There were a few other good stores too. Lots of lace stores, with curtains, dresses, bookmarks, underwear and pretty much everything else made of lace. Saroja fell in love with a tapestry of Klimpt's 'mother and child' in an art store - although as of now it remains in the store as the odds of it surviving in the trailer are fairly low. We also picked up a cute Christmas decoration, which is becoming something of a tradition for us when we travel.
After a quick snack of pommes frites for Saroja and a delicious waffle for me, we went on a tour of the Half Moon (Halve Maan) brewery, the only active brewery left in Bruges. It was a fun tour, and of course we had some tasty Zot beer at the end. The building was purchased in the 1600's so even walking through the building itself was neat. After the beer we went on a short boat tour along the canals and then walked to the Begijnhof which is inhabited by nuns and "single women" (according to the boat tour). They have a nice old church there where Saroja lit a candle and soaked in all the art and architecture. Next we went to the Minnewater, also known as the Lake of Love. The legend, which is based on the tragic love story of Minna and her warrior love Stromberg says that if you walk across the bridge with your partner, you will have eternal love.
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| A beer fridge chandelier... And this wasn't even at the brewery!!! |
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| An artsy photo down one of the canals of Bruges. |
We checked out a couple of restaurants for dinner before settling on a place that had some good veggie options for Saroja. It was like a pita place, but with fries instead of bread and a variety of sauces for your meal. We both really enjoyed it! They also had some very strong sangria that Saroja liked. We'll see if she remembers that part in the morning...
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| Note the difference in food types. Penguin is ready to devour his chocolate, ice cream and whipped cream-topped waffle... |
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| ... while Saroja is very excited to eat vegetables and falafel. |
Dinner was followed by a short walk to see some windmills on the edge of the old town, then a stop at the oldest bar in Bruges from 1515 - which of course is closed on Tuesdays. Good thing there was still some wine at the B&B!
All in all it was a great rest day. Tomorrow we head to Ghent for two days. A mere 50 km of biking along canals will hopefully seem like a breeze! Now that the weather looks better we'll be doing some camping too. Saroja is very excited for Ghent as the city has vegetarian Thursdays and even hands out veggie street maps. And I'll have lots of Belgium chocolate and beer so I'll be happy to eat anything. :-)
-Penguin
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