A quaint little place

My, how I love this quaint little city!  This place is the epitome of quaintness!  Our travels from Paris have landed us in this Flemish town on the northern end of the country, about 15 miles from the beach.  Thus far, my entire experience can be summed up into a few main ideas.  However, the contrasts have never been more prevalent from city to city as they are here in Brugge.  My visits to a brewery, pub, and lace-making center provided for plenty of experiences to give me a grand idea of what this country is all about.

            Belgian people are all about their food and drink.  French fries, mussels, waffles, chocolate, and beer, to name a few.

  Why these foods are so famous and so delicious I’ll never know, but being recognized for them comes with a lot of pride.  My brewery tour gave me insight into how to make beer (it takes a lot of work!), but the most significant finding was with the tour guide.  She was a drinking lady (one might call her an alcoholic in the states) and very well educated in beer.  I understand her being required for her job, but it seemed to me like she would give her life for the survival of Belgian beer!  I was curious as to how far the entire city would go.  She told me the city survived a bomb threat in an early war…no big deal, right?  The peculiar thing is that the breweries received the same amount of attention and security as did the churches!  Beer is sacred!  I tried to compare this bizarre plan of action to anything in the states.   Though, nothing compares.  We save ourselves before we try and salvage any precious buildings or monuments.  The best we can do is board up windows in the threat of a hurricane.  I feel like Belgians have a great sense of pride for their country and are willing to do whatever it takes to save their most important buildings.  We have so many similar cities back home, what’s one devastated?  Bruge, however, is a landmark in itself.  Famous beer, famous towers, famous food…take those away and you’re taking the heart and soul of every Belgian in the world.  This was not only evident in beer sales.  Fry and waffle stands were fixed to the city squares, standing nearly as strong as the colossal Belfry tower next to it.  I look back in time and see those same types of people selling fries, asking me if I want Americain, Frickandel, or Andolous sauce.   This truly unique loyalty to food and drink opened my eyes into what Bruges means to Europeans and people everywhere.  We may never take Bruges for anything more than a great restaurant, but these natives show only compassion and dignity for it all.

            Most of us went to the pubs our first night in Bruges to watch the US play Italy and I really wish you could’ve been there for it.  Of course, actually being in Germany’s stadium would’ve been better, but this felt pretty close.

  In a smaller square away from the Belfry Square one can find a series of pubs and restaurants full of locals and tourists combined.  Tonight, however, there was a fusion of Americans, Italians, and local Belgians into one as sport drew everyone to this area.  I went with a few people to a smaller pub (but big enough for a flatscreen TV) to watch the game, and was heartily greeted by the bartender.  Everyone in the bar was there for the game.  I went outside…and everyone in the square was either sitting or standing, but somewhere their eyes were glued to a TV.  This was amazing for me!  It felt like an Olympic-type setting, with your angry fans and ecstatic fans down the street, like we were, from the actual event.  This awesome experience opened me up to a ‘behind-the-scenes’ realization, so to speak.   Everyone was concerned about the game, but the Belgians didn’t seem to care that they aren’t even in the World Cup.  Instead, they happily catered to us and our foreign needs.  This led me to think of Bruges as the ultimate city of accommodation.  Architecture is pleasing to the eye, prices are very reasonable, and the people are overly friendly.  Am I in Disney World?  The buildings of Belfry Square make more sense when viewed as if one is in an amusement park!  It’s funny how such a unique experience can make me think of something so unusually paralleled to my entire stay in Bruges.

            Bruges must be visited.

  I want you to, and the natives want you to as well!  This city may be small and not a huge tourist attraction, but this ‘Venice of the north’ has been a nice break from the bustle of the larger cities.  While you can find similarities in cities of the US comparable in size, the uniqueness of Bruges comes from being different from anything I’ve known before, including these recently visited European cities.  I simply haven’t done this city justice by the words I've written to describe it.