Bruges

Bruges, (Brugge?) Belgium,  is a medieval town with canals where the moat of the castle used to be.  Cobbled streets, tiny alleyways and old buildings make it dangerous to cars, and when you add in hordes of tourists on foot, bikers who own the roads and a GPS which tries to take you the wrong way down a one-way street and you've got fun!   We saw an old lady in traditional costume making lace,  (why do we have no pictures of her?)  a bajillion tourists in the market square, and an early-morning fish market and produce market in the other square.

On the road that morning we stopped in a tiny town at a fritterie to try the frites.  I was not impressed, but I'm not any kind of a french fry fan.  Much better were the pastry pockets filled with curried stuff and simply divine were the pear filled pastries we got from the patisserie next door.  Nobody spoke English and they seemed sincerely confused by my attempts at French.  Luckily pointing and pantomime seem to work everywhere!

Bruges is a city made for bikes.  We wanted to try biking around, but with only one day and only one bike at our hotel with a kid seat in back we opted to walk.  (and walk and walk and walk. . . . )  Saw museums, an old church, canals, parks, and at the end of the day we headed to a park to let the kids blow off some energy before dinner.

 This may have been a mistake since Zak cracked his head running out of one of the tunnel and required stitches.  Our hotel was very helpful, finding a doctor across the square within easy walking distance and so we sent off Ben and Zak with a washcloth held on his head.  Much to our surprise, they were back within the hour in plenty of time for dinner.   Oh, and I ate a lot of chocolate.  Ben didn't believe me when I told him that we needed to buy at least double what he got, and I was right--we ran out before the border of the Netherlands.  Sad, sad.

Oh, and Bruges is a UNESCO world heritage site.  I want to go back when it's not crawling with tourists and day-tripping river cruisers.  Maybe.