The touristy bits around Bruges!
Bruges is a town with lots to see. Every street could qualify in a travel book, every building window can be featured in a movie and every canal can tell a thousand different love stories. I started my day at the Belfry Tower. This was lovely. You can see the whole of the town from the top, the only problem is that the view is a little restricted, they've got meshed windows and it's hard to get pictures. But I did manage to get a few good pix!
From here, went to the Chocolate Museum which wasn't the most interesting thing in the world, and the free chocs they give is shit as well. But it was a good timekill. From here was the most touristy thing - the cruise around town. The 45 min ride is really very interesting. It is touristy, but you get to learn quite a bit about the city and I was impressed how the guide was narrating it in all 4 languages.
The next stop was the Groeninge Museum. This museum is worth it in my opinion: it contains some really rare paintings aged between the 15th to the 20th Centuries. I spent a couple of hours here, no history to tell but very random yet very nice. Lunch was pizza for a change - very well made. And from here, went to the Frites Museum. Yep, those Belgians have a museum for french fries. But as tacky as the idea might sound, I really enjoyed it - it was nice learning the history of "potatoes", the origin of the name "French fries" and also what makes frites so special. You also get 2E off at the rsnt downstairs. I really did start liking frites, too bad I found out it was cooked in animal lard. Bah! I then spent the evening visiting a few churches around town and went to the Jerusalem Church and the Lace Centre where I saw a live demo of lacework.
I couldn't believe it was close to 7pm and I hadn't realised that I was walking all day. Dinner was stew in the rsnt attached to the hostel, and I went for my night walk around town. It was quite nice, met a nice couple from England who were chatting to me about their experiences on the Eurostar. I got back to the hostel and my room and the wicked 82yo around 11pm, and slept by midnight. We had 2 roommates - American boys studying in Germany who were spending the long May Day wknd in Belgium.
