Brugge Trip: Leaving town

We met up again in Market Square where there was now a large carnival.

There were a few tears when we said "No," to requests for go on a ride or play a game.

We got our last servings of Belgian fries from one of the two famous fry shacks in front of the Belfy.

Carriage tour guide with her little assistant

The Brugge lion and bear atop a fountain

Another type of fountain

David bought everyone hot chocolate spoons -- wooden spoons inside a chunk of chocolate that you melt in warm milk.

Making our way back to Germany, we once again passed through the Netherlands and tried to make sense of the road signs.

Brugge Trip: Post-Carriage Tour Tour

We had time after the carriage tour to walk through town before we had to meet up with David and the older kids. Here are Em and Bex at the famous Rosary Quay.

This fellow was playing a violin equipped with a horn to amplify sound. We're suckers for street musicians and always throw some coins in their hats.

Looking toward part of the restored 15th-century palace that is now the Gruuthuse Museum.

The smallest bridge in Brugge

On the smallest bridge in Brugge

In front of a toy store

In 1488 the people of Brugge had executed one of the town administrators belonging to the court of Maximilian of Austria. The town administrator was called “Pieter Lanchals,” a name that means “long neck,” and his family coat of arms featured a white swan. According to the legend, Maximilian ordered the people of Brugge to keep swans on their lakes and canals forever. Today the swans are a symbol of Brugge.

More Almhouses. This row of houses are some of the priciest apartments in town.

Back at the Beguinage

In front of the Beguinage

Child seat in front of the parent. We saw several of these types of bikes around town.

We also saw a bike like this one with two toddlers sitting in the cargo area in front.

In front of the Minnewater, also called the "Lake of Love,: a man-made lake formed in the 13th century as a commercial dock.

The lake is now surrounded by picturesque buildings.

Bride and groom having their pictures taken in front of the Lake of Love.

Inside the Beguinage, we saw a real live nun.

Gables of the Beguinage

A city gateway

One of my favorite street musicians ever. He produced mysterious tones from the metal bowl, stomped his foot to ring bells wrapped around his foot, produced a drum beat somehow and then played a didgeridoo.

Brugge Trip: Carriage Tour

Once David, Micaela and James had begun their Segway tour, Emilie, Rebecca and I made our way back toward Market Square to take a horse-drawn carriage tour of Brugge.

Corner Madonna sculpture close to our hotel.

I had to take a picture of this store's sign. Emilie and Rebecca are both crazy about their little stuffed foxes George and Fanny.

I try not to employ the overly used adjective cute when describing things, but what other word can you use for this little chocolate boutique?

I allowed the girls to pick out one treat each and indulged myself a bit with some caramels. The woman behind the counter asked us a few questions about how we liked Brugge and when I said "very well and I'll be sure to write about your wonderful little shop in my blog," the poor woman went into a bit of overdrive. Her face lit up, she shoved a bunch of brochures into my hand and even followed us outside to give us a few additional free samples. I thought to myself, "Oh, dear. Did she think I do some kind of popular travel blog and is looking for some positive free press?"

Carriage tours depart from Market Square. I was hoping to take some photos, but the horse trotted at such a brisk clip, I figured I would get no good pictures and put my camera away.

After only about 15 minutes of riding through town, we arrived near the Beguinage, and were told by our guide that the horses get a 15-minute break.

There is a horse fountain nearby where all guides fill up a bucket with water for their horses to quench their thirst and each horse then munches on some grain.

There were many swans in the canal in front of the Beguinage and many tourists taking their picture.

Entrance to the Beguinage

After her short rest, Bella was ready to take us back to Market Square.

Brugge Trip: Segway Tour

One of the mantras I find myself repeating at some point during every week of our life in Europe is "Thank God for the internet. Thank God for the internet." I say it several times a day when we're planning a trip. Trying to find hotel rooms and arrange for any activities would be so much more difficult without it. My hat is off to everyone who lived the expat life before the internet. David and I did just that back in college, but when you're a college student, you just wing every trip you take anyway. Not so when you have kids in tow.

One of the sites I like to go to when planning a trip is Tripadvisor.com. Type in a city name and you get a ranking of things to do in that city from "Must do" down to "don't bother with this." At the top of almost every city I've checked are bike tours. For Brugges, the #3 ranked thing to do was a Segway tour. People raved about this unique way to tour the city. And the price was reasonable. Sounded like the perfect thing to surprise the kids with. And on the phone, I got the OK for a dad with a broken wrist to participate.

Right after breakfast at the hotel, we walked through town and arrived at the Segway tour office. We had told the kids we would be doing a city tour of some kind and they were not looking forward to it. When we arrived at the Segway Office, they asked with disbelief, "We're doing a tour on Segways?"

Micaela's big smile didn't fool me. David, Micaela and James first did a little training session inside and Micaela's glistening eyes and nervous demeanor betrayed her anxiety. The kids were not in the least bit excited. They were instead more than a little uncomfortable.

Outside for more practice with their eccentric tour guide Charles. At this point, Emilie, Rebecca and I left to do our own tour of the town. I didn't get to witness Charles' first order of business: sternly lecturing Micaela and James about the dangers of doing drugs. This only served to alienate the kids from him and, unfortunately, the tour wasn't as much fun as it could have been.

Micaela and James were not happy they had to wear the bright yellow vests and helmets.

You could also take boat tours of Brugge, but many reviews on Tripadvisor.com said that on a boat, you're seeing the town from its basement.

In front of the Beguinage. In the 13th century, some people became more attracted to a purer and more mystical form of religion separate from the regular clergy. These new religious orders were very often persecuted or forbidden. In the Low Countries, however, the female followers of the mystical movement were tolerated in the form of the Beguine movement. 

They were allowed to live in separate parts of the cities, in Beguinages so that religious authorities could control and supervise them. The beguines lived like regular nuns, but did not make the same binding vows that nuns normally made. Beguines usually made the vows of obedience and chastity, but not the vow of poverty. Moreover, they could at all times break their vows and leave the beguine community.

In the garden of the Beguinage.  In 1937 the beguinage became a monastery for the Benedictine sisters who still live here now.

Godshuis de Vos, a group of 8 Almhouses in Bruges. The town has 46 Almhouses, homes built by rich families so single women or poor people had a place to live. In return for the use of these houses, the tenants had to pray for the rich family three times a day. Some say that these rich families bought their way in to heaven.

Taking a peek at the church at the center of this group of Almhouses. It is the smallest church in Bruges. These particular Almhouses were for widows and were considered quite luxurious as each house had its own private outhouse.

Nieuwe Gentweg Almshouses

Individual pose.  At this point, the kids were comfortable on the Segways.

James did not like how much attention their private tour was attracting. He said he felt like everyone was laughing at them and no amount of David telling the kids that people were probably wishing they could take such a tour helped.

Charles giving some history of the town

Getting the history of the sculpture known as The Governor's Carwash, which cost $1.6 million.  It has not yet earned a place in the hearts of the citizens of Brugge.

Some pretty views of the Canals

Market Square, feeling conspicuous