BRUGGE, BELGIUM: Windmills, beautiful art and places of worship . . .

Thank you everyone for taking the time to read my blog and to those who have left such wonderful comments.  I appreciate them a lot.

I'm back in Amsterdam and wow what a fantastic time I had in Brugge, Belgium.  I was so sad to leave this afternoon.  This is funny but when I went to check out the hotel receptionist told me that I was very lucky to have good weather because it had rained heavy for days before I arrived.  I do feel lucky.

First, to elaborate on why I missed my train connnection (in case someone might find this helpful) . . . I missed my train because I looked at the wrong schedule.  Lesson learned: always check to make sure that you are looking at the correct departure posting.  In Antwerp stationm, they post their weekend and weekday schedules separately and I went to the wrong "spor" (aka train platform) because I looked at the weekend rather than weekday departure board.  The mistake wasn't all bad as I was able to take photos of this really beautiful train station where they filmed the very famous YouTube video of a staged dance performance to the Sound of Music Movie song, "Do Re Mi".  That was fun to see.

I arrived in Brugge about 1:30 and started out (map in hand) looking for the Belgium Windmills.  They are a little smaller than I had imagined but still a thrill to see. They weren't working windmills though so they weren't spinning. Notice the fabulous weather (for November).

Next on my must see list was the Church of Our Lady to see the Madonna and Child marble statue made by Michelangelo.  It is such a beautiful piece.  And as I had already mentioned, being in this church really felt amazing. So calm, peaceful . . .

My hotel was wonderful (I'll do a review when I return home). It's location was excellent, only a 5 - 10 minute walk to the main Market Square and only 5 minute walk to the square with the City Hall. There was a fabulous Italian Food and Wine bar directly across from it. I had drinks and dinner there my last night.  Excellent food and friendly service. The main town center is all cobblestones and can be difficult to walk on as some of them are uneven and guess what they have a lot of bicylists here too. In fact a lot of people here have those fold up bikes and travel by train. Very cool.

This is Burg square is only a 5 minute walk away . . . I saw it while exploring around at night.  In the far right corner you can see the Basilius church and the Chapel of the Holy Blood.  It was closed by the time I got to it on Wednesday but while walking out to catch the bus at the Market Square I noticed it was open and had time to go in but not to see the vial because it would not be open for viewing until 11:30 and my train was leaving at 12:19, too close to try.  But just seeing the interior of the church was plenty. I will have to do a post trip entry on this church because I found it interesting. No photos were allowed so I purchased a little souvenir book.

What a delightful first day . . .