Bruges

Before we left on this trip when I mentioned to people that we would be visiting Belgium, most of them would ask if I was going to Bruges and would go on to tell me how it is the most gorgeous place in all of Belgium. It is often described as the Venice of the North since there are numerous canals throughout the city. It is also well known for it's large population of swans, there are literally swans everywhere, they definitely add to the beauty of the canals and the city.

I saw these pillows in the window of one of the many embroidery shops on our way into the heart of town. I fell in love with them instantly, they now reside on my red velvet chaise in my bedroom and are as gorgeous as ever.

After a lovely little stroll into town, we boarded canal boats and sailed on the water for a long city tour. As you can tell from the numbers of pictures I took, Bruges in indeed a very beautiful and unique place.

This sleepy pup is extremely well known. His name is Fidel and this golden retriever is often referred to as Bruges most famous citizen.

The leaves were just beginning to change and the falls colors against the bright blue sky were gorgeous!

These funny little fluffs greeted us as we disembarked our boats after our very relaxing cruise around the city. They gave me a serious case of the giggles. 

After seeing the city by boat, it was time to see it by foot, so we set off on a walking tour of some of the inner parts of the city that we couldn't see from the canals.

We toured the inside of city hall, which was breath taking.

The last stop on our walking city tour was to see Michelangelo's famous Madonna and Child. Michelangelo's depiction of the Madonna and Child differs significantly from earlier representations of the same subject, which tended to feature a pious Virgin smiling down on an infant held in her arms. Instead, Jesus stands upright, almost unsupported, only loosely restrained by Mary's left hand, and appears to be about to step away from his mother. Meanwhile, Mary does not cling to her son or even look at him, but gazes down and away. It is believed the work was originally intended for an altar piece. If this is so, then it would have been displayed facing slightly to the right and looking down.

This was yet another wonderful work that I had studied during my college years. I find it a very beautiful and sweet rendition of the holy mother and son.

One of the paintings in the church had a nautilus cup! I had never seen a nautilus cup portrayed in a religious painting before, they are usually only depicted in still lives. Makes me wonder what the significance of the cup in a religious setting would be. Symbols often had multiple meanings.

After our walking tour, we had the rest of the afternoon free to explore Bruges on our own. Mom opted to return to the boat for a relaxing afternoon and to avoid the rain that was obviously on it's way. Dad and I set out to get some Leige waffles for lunch!

I had been looking through my photos on my camera and phone, and I was noticing a serious lack of people pictures. So I pulled out my phone and my selfie stick and started acting like a real tourist. I made dad take pictures with me in front of everything! He was a very good sport.

We found the perfect little waffle stand to be the source for our liege waffle experience. The minute we got in line, it started raining. So we got a little wet while waiting for our waffles and trying to find a dry place to enjoy them.

They were definitely delicious. I love liege waffles, so that is why I was so adamant about getting at least one while we were in Belgium. I'm so grateful my dad us up for the experience.

The rest of the afternoon was spent looking at the cute as well as majestic architecture, and taking pictures in front of it.

Bruges is not a big town. We had three hours of free time, we spent one getting lunch and exploring all the streets we hadn't been down, we spent another hour looking for a curling iron since mine broke and I had anxiety about having bad looking hair, that left us with an hour to spare and we were looking for things to do. I suggested trying out some Belgium frites from one of the local places, it was still raining so finding a warm dry place to hang out for a while sounded good to me. We found a place that had frites and tons of different aioilis to try. It was fun and they were alright, but nowhere close to the frites we had on our first night in Belgium in Antwerp.