Free Day in Brugges

As I write this my tummy is full of hot chocolate and a waffle with fresh strawberries from The Old Chocolate House.  We had a variety of chocolate sources and waffle toppings. I chose Fair Trade dark chocolate which arrived in tiny pellet form inside a chocolate form in the shape of a cupcake paper.  I put them all into a large mug of hot milk and stirred them with a tiny whisk. Premilla ordered chocolate in tiny disk form from Papua New Guinea. She ordered a plain waffle. That was our lunch which we finished at 4:30 PM.  

We are to meet our group, 23 total, two guides and our great driver, Rob in a half hour for appetizers. That may be my dinner. Oh well, I am on vacation.

The day began overcast and cool. It had rained in the night. Premilla and I made it to St. Salvador's cathedral in time for the reading of the second lesson. During the sermon, in Dutch, I read the three lessons in English.  There was organ music. It came one of the two auxiliary organs, for the main organ is being renovated. That's OK, for I was longing to hear organ music..

The service lasted just 45 minutes. About 50-100 persons took communion. The priest had no acolyte, and he did not greet anyone after the service.  We walked around the cathedral, looking at private chapels, tombs of important people, thinking how our home parishes could use the open and unused spaces. This Gothic structure has a very high vaulted ceiling and stained glass figures with white skin.

We spent the next hour walking around the cathedral, feeling lost, studying our city map, and wishing street names were posted. We asked a few local people how to get to the fine arts museum, Groningen, one gave confusing directions, and two told us they didn't know. We made it, however, and ran into six of our two group.

The Groenige Fine Arts Museum is the best collection of Flemish art in the city. Portraits and religious themes were the major subjects. It was an honor to view these masterpieces. Each room provided a large card with a description of each piece of art in that room.

We then visited the Gruuhuse, a four stories house of former royalty. The house is located next to an important church. Yearly the family gave a large donation to the church, and the family had a special room designed in their home for the family to "attend" the service by viewing it from the third floor windows. The home showed examples of the way wealthy people lived in Brugge.

It was raining a little when we left the second museum and went for our lunch of waffles and hot chocolate.  After this special treat we walked back to the hotel to get ready for our tour group happy hour, champagne, and savory cheese and sweet snacks enabled happy conversations. We played the name game, naming each person, a Rick Steves' tour staple. We hung around a bit discussing Putin and the Ukraine and Etelka's Hungarian view of Putin's desire, namely only the Don Bas region of Ukraine.

We went with another couple for supper at a recommended Flemish restaurant. I had onion soup. We learned a bit more about each other and discussed Rick Steves tours, which is a common topic of conversation. It is now after 11PM, and we have a 7 AM breakfast and 8 AM departure tomorrow morning.

So.........Gute Nacht 

Susan


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