Bruges

Today, we went to Bruges, Belgium.  The drive is about 4 hours from Paris and well worth the trip.  If you are looking to wander through a fun little European city, this is the place.  Due to the freezing cold, rainy, windy weather, I didn't get my Canon out much so we took mostly iPhone pictures.

We found our way to The Chocolate Line, a shop with a very creative take on traditional Belgian chocolates.  They even sell a chocolate filled with Cuban tobacco.

Then we found ourselves in a cute little restaurant in the "Markt." Lunch started with a Belgian waffle.  I can only assume that each meal eaten by Belgians starts this way.  

We followed it with traditional Flemish beef stew and FRITES! The Belgians are proud to be the creators of the "French" fry.  They fry them twice and serve them with mayo.  The church near the restaurant claims to have a vial of Christ's blood, and they bring it out during Sunday services.  In true Isaac-and-Maren fashion, we spend the majority of our lunch arguing about whether that is physically possible, in light of the resurrection and how efficiently blood was/wasn't stored in the year 33 AD.  I love us.

After lunch, we found a lace shop.  I recently saw a video about bobbin lace, a centuries-old craft that started in Bruges.  The lace makers weave threads tied to wooden bobbins.  The shop owner, a master lace weaver, gave us a demonstration.

It almost gives me a headache considering the complexity of some of his handkerchiefs that require the weaving of 400 bobbins. 

Then, Isaac and I found a Salvador Dali exhibit. It was as you would expect...trippy.

After some shopping and enjoying the Belgian architecture, we stopped at The Church of our Lady.  The music was beautiful, and the art was incredible.  There is a door to the side where you can pay 3 Euros to see a small chapel with their prized sculpture, a Michelangelo, one of the few outside of Italy.  No one seemed to notice the door, or they weren't keen on spending the extra money.  Either way, I had the little sanctuary to myself for a bit and got some great pics.