G planned a wonderful birthday weekend in Brugge. We left town early Friday morning and took the Eurostar (the train that goes beneath the English Channel) and arrived just after noon. We wandered about the old streets lined with Dutch-style step homes and sampled their local gastro delights (Belgian Beer, waffles, mussels & fries & lots of chocolate).
We also took a boat tour on the town’s canals, saw Michaelangelo’s Madonna and Child (originally intended for the duomo in Sienna…interesting…), toured a Belgian Brewery, stayed in the lofty A-frame “attic” room of a Dutch step house, rode bicycles about town all day Saturday, witnessed the hand-making of personalized hard candies (ie they chance the colors on the outside and can also include words and letters in the center and generally just had a great, low-key weekend.
For anyone planning a trip to Brugge, our favorite Chocolate shop was The Chocolate Line. They have these marshmallow/smore chocolates that melt in your mouth–amazing. And, of course, they also have more mainstream chocolates that are quite good as well.
If you continue to walk beyond Chocolate Line toward The Church of Our Lady (or some derivative thereof–home of Michaelangelo’s sculpture), you’ll pass “Zucher”, the candy shop mentioned above. They have glass windows so that you can see the process and they offer samples inside.A fun town and a fun birthday. Great job G!
Happy Birthday!!!