Trip to Bruges and Brussels

Another late blog... :)

My trip to Bruges and Brussels in Belgium during end of May 2007.

Bruges: Took Thalys (Belge version of TGV) from Paris to Brussels and then caught a local train to Bruges. Bruges is a beautiful small city towards north of Belgium. They speak a language called Flemish, very close to Dutch. Called Bruge' in French, Bruges in English and Brugge in Flemish, it is the Venice of Northern Europe. It has beautiful canals going through the city and some lovely buildings along the canals. One should not miss out on the canal tour of the city. Also famous for its Bell tower called Belfry and the Chapel which has Michael Angelo's sculpture 'Madonna and the Child'. The sculpture is a real beauty. There was a shop dedicated to Tintin, the local comic hero. Then went to the City hall which features a beautiful Gothic room full of paintings and carvings on the wall and also the Basilica of holy blood where a vial carrying a drop of blood supposedly of Jesus Christ. Interiors of both these buildings had a rich artistic feeling to it.

You cannot miss the chocoloate shops selling Rich Belgian chocolates, then Belgian waffles with whipped cream and choc sauce and the Fries with many different toppings. I bought a few belgian chocolates, some of which I still have, whoch were heavely once you put them in your mouth. I loved this concept of mixing many different sauces as toppings for the fries. I tried a couple of diferent vareities and also had Fresh Belgian waffles. Belgium is also renowned for its beer. So i had to try some vareities of Beer with every meal. It was a day well spent doing the walking tours with a lonely planet in one hand and a yummy waffle in the other :). I had to leave for Brussels after this to meet up with a friend to explore brussels.

Bruxelles: Brussels or bruxelles is the capital of EU. It is such a huge city full of modern buildings and some parts which has lots of beautiful old buildings like Grand Place. Since we had just one day, we decided to first take a guided bus tour to cover the most important tourist landmarks and then explore some on foot. Since the city transportation was very nice, we also took a pass just in case. We sw different landmarks like EU buildings, Atomium, Place cinquintinairre, Royal palace, Court of Justice and finally ended up in Grand place. Grand place is a beautiful city square with some beautiful buildings and the most visited place in Brussels. It is full of nice restraunts, eating joints, pubs and chocolate shops incl. the famous Godiva chocolate shop. Right around the corner of this square is the 'Manekin Pis'. Legent has it that this is the statue of the boy who pissed on a bomb fuse and defused the bomb and saved many people. The boy has diferent dresses for different occasions. Then we wound off the day with a yummy Waffle with whipped cream, strawberry and choc sauce. Yummy...yummy...

Click below for the photo album.. ( I love this flash player :)