I woke up with a headache that wouldn't budge. I headed into town before 9 in search of breakfast. I thought for sure that I'd be able to get something as I'd seen cafes the day before advertising their petit dejeuners... I couldn't find any! So I headed in toward the Market thinking that since that's where the tourists go.... I took the opportunity of photographing inside the Belfry and Halls before all the tourists arrived:
Still chasing food, but the only place that had breakfast was in the big Market Square which I'd been warned against eating at. However, I was hungry, in dire need of coffee and figured eating would probably cure my headache. There was nothing for it but to eat at one of the (few) restaurants offering brekky. I sat down and waited and waited and waited. Obviously don't need my custom. I left and went to the market in search of coffee (none to be had) and food. The only 'fast food' they had was grilled trotters, chickens (or more like spatchcocks or something - smaller than chicken anyway) and chips. went to a bakery stall and got a dry bread roll and ate it straight away while searching for something more. A croissant ended up being the only thing I could think of. I wandered around some more, away from the market, and finally found somewhere willing to serve me coffee. Yay! It was even cheap (since it wasn't on the Market Square). I planned my route for the day over coffee and then set off.
First stop was St Walburgha's Church. It had a lot of Madonna and Child and showed how they were dressed and some of the rich costumes made for the statues. Quite interesting:
Next stop was the Liberty of Bruges with its Renaissance Hall. It's not easy to find, being hidden behind an archive library. The transvestite selling tickets seemed to have to perfect job in the low light and cool room so she could wear a scarf (it was a hot day outside). The room was a lot like the one in Bremen City Hall that I photographed last European trip (I'd link but I'm working offline), but a lot smaller:
Next stop was the Stadhuis (City Hall) with its Gothic Hall (both these two Halls were included in the 2 Euro admission fee – very reasonable, I thought). Very beautiful:
Since I was nearby I thought I'd go and see what the Callebert Design Caffee (where I'd been for a beer yesterday) had on the menu. It turned out they don't serve food. The waitress from yesterday and her friends were all eating something from the market. She told me to go and buy something from the market and bring it back and I could eat it there with a drink. I didn't really want to do that, so wandered around and had a look what was on offer. There was nothing that appealed as much as the smoked mackerel I'd seen at the market earlier, so I went back for it and bought a bun and a salad to go with it at two further stands and took the waitress up on her offer and brought it there to eat. She even gave me cutlery. So nice! That and beer went down really well! I had another coffee as well (the cup and saucer were cute - the red handle and centre of the saucer were covered in velvet. Not dishwasher safe, I'd reckon! All this did manage to cure my headache:
As I paid for my drinks, I got talking to the waitress and it turns out she lived in Aus for 4 months and again for 12 months. She loves it there. What's not to love....well...
I decided that since I was nearby and it was nearly 2pm, I would go into the Basilica of Holy Blood. They had a little ceremony and allowed people to venerate something or other (probably the holy blood) and pray over it - for a donation of course.
No photos allowed inside the Basilica, but since that stopped nobody, I didn't let it stop me either. It's beautiful!:
I headed off in the direction of St James' Church:
And went inside. It had a sweet little porcelain alcove:
I headed off to play typical tourist and do the boat ride thing. There was an older American couple on the boat with me and David (that was his name) started chatting with me about their travels and my travels etc and he wrote down my blog address. So David, if you’re reading this, G’day! And drop me a comment to say hi! Even with the chatting and being squished up on the boat, I did manage to get some good shots:
Next stop was the Groeninge Museum. I'd thought I'd go in, but the day was so nice and they wanted 8 Euro admission and I'd just seen the Old Masters at the Staedel, so I didn't go in. That didn't stop me photographing the area around the museum though:
I headed off again, determined to have a bit of an early day today, in the direction of the Beguinage, on the way back to the hotel.
The Beguinage is where the widows used to live, from what I gather. Sort of like a convent but not exactly:
I continued off in the direction of the hotel, past the Minnewater park:
And then back to the hotel, via the shop near the station. I bought some tuna salad for dinner, a small loaf of bread to have for dinner and breakfast(s) and some chevre (goats cheese) to have on my bread for breakfast. Their celeral selection was sadly lacking and I didn't have a fridge either... I ate my tuna salad dinner and worked on my blog and was finally able to post a couple of entries! Anyway, next day I was heading for Ghent, so didn't stay up too late.
