Early in the morning after our day at Disneyland, we caught the high speed train to Brussels at the Disneyland Metro stop. In no time we were there and caught a local train to Bruges, which is nothing short of enchanting. We stayed at a small B & B recommended in the Rick Steves guidebook. It was very nice, the owners were very welcoming, the food was great, and the location could not have been any better.
We started to take an orientation walk around town, taking photos of everything we saw, when a fellow rode up on a bicycle, started giving us advice on photography, and then handed us a flyer advertising photo tours of Bruges. I read the flyer and told him we already had reservations to take his afternoon photo tour about two hours later. His name is Andy McSweeney, and he's a Canadian who married a woman from Bruges. Andy took us to places away from the normal tourist flow and we saw some beautiful parts of the city that we would have never seen and got some nice photos.
The next morning we followed the recommended walking tour of the city from the Rick Steves Guidebook, visited the city's last local brewery, toured the city's two small but excellent art museums, viewed a Michelangelo sculpture (featured in the George Clooney film Monument Men), ate some great chocolate, waffles, mussels, and other local specialties. We also took a carriage ride around town and a boat tour of the city's canals. It was on the canal ride that we saw Bruges' most famous living symbol, Fidel, a Labrador retriever who spends his days watching out the window as tourists float by taking his photo.
We enjoyed Bruges a great deal and would encourage any travelers with the time to spend a day or two there. It's easy to get to, everyone speaks English, and it's quite unique.
We started to take an orientation walk around town, taking photos of everything we saw, when a fellow rode up on a bicycle, started giving us advice on photography, and then handed us a flyer advertising photo tours of Bruges. I read the flyer and told him we already had reservations to take his afternoon photo tour about two hours later. His name is Andy McSweeney, and he's a Canadian who married a woman from Bruges. Andy took us to places away from the normal tourist flow and we saw some beautiful parts of the city that we would have never seen and got some nice photos.
The next morning we followed the recommended walking tour of the city from the Rick Steves Guidebook, visited the city's last local brewery, toured the city's two small but excellent art museums, viewed a Michelangelo sculpture (featured in the George Clooney film Monument Men), ate some great chocolate, waffles, mussels, and other local specialties. We also took a carriage ride around town and a boat tour of the city's canals. It was on the canal ride that we saw Bruges' most famous living symbol, Fidel, a Labrador retriever who spends his days watching out the window as tourists float by taking his photo.
We enjoyed Bruges a great deal and would encourage any travelers with the time to spend a day or two there. It's easy to get to, everyone speaks English, and it's quite unique.