Brugge - What's not to love!

Friday, we awoke to bright and clear skies.  After a wonderful breakfast at our hotel, we were ready to do some serious sightseeing.  There are two very clearly laid-out walking trails in Brugge.  We decided that we would take in the one that includes the "must-sees" that day; but first, there were two other more interesting ways to see Brugge---one was by canal (DJ wasn't to keen on this one for some reason) and the other was by carriage.  The carriage won:



It was still chilly enough for a coat, but we didn't have to use the blankets like the people had the day before!



Here's a shot of our carriage; our driver, Lisa; and our horse, Nun (or something like that---those accents get me every time!).

What fun!  It was a half-hour of sheer delight, seeing the city, and kind of getting a feel for what we wanted to see in more detail.  I'll post the pictures later because we saw so much of the same area as we walked.  So....we started off on foot.  Our first stop---right in Market Square, the same place that we caught our carriage ride.  Paris has the Eiffel Tower, Pisa has the Leaning Tower, and Brugge has The Belfry:

The  Flemmish Belfry was neither built as a state building nor a church building.  In the Middle Ages they were built to denote freedom and wealth.  The taller the Belfry, the better off the city.  Since then, The Belfry has become the symbol of Brugge.  We actually picked up a replica of it done in Belgian lace.  Anyway, the bottom part of the belfry itself (the part that goes to the square corner towers) was built in the 13th century, the middle section up to the pointed corner towers was added in the 14th century, and the top octagonal section which houses the carillon has crowned the Belfry since the 15th century.  At one time there was a pointed steeple section on top of that which burned in 1741.

The Belfry is 83 meters high (over 272 feet) and one is able to climb as high as the carillon---366 steps up a winding staircase that is not much more that the width of a wide ladder at the top.  Guess who climbed it?  We were up to the challenge; though, I wondered what I was doing near the top, and DJ wasn't so sure about our sanity as we were coming down!  We had to "scrunch" in the corners going up and down to let other people pass going the opposite direction.  But it was so worth the effort!

Here's some of what we got to see inside and out.  First, a door (I had a thing for all the cool, old doors we saw) and the flooring on a veranda in the courtyard before we started ascending the stairs.  Second, a replica of The Belfry when it had its steeple and a random bell of which I don't remember the story  Lastly, a trunk that would be locked and then locked again behind iron gates to hold state papers of importance:

When we got mid-way up, you could see the giant brass drum that works like a giant music box to play the bells when a person isn't doing it.  We could also see the workings of the giant clock.

When we got to the top, we had to stick the cameras through some mesh wiring to try and get shots off; but as you can see, the view was incredible.  Unfortunately, you couldn't go around the entire tower because of the bells.

Looking up, we tried to get a good shot of the 47 bells that were in the loft, but you really couldn't get a good shot because of the structure of the belfry, the darkness, and the crowded conditions of where we were standing with lots of other people!  Here's one with a beam in the middle of it that gives you an idea of the size of these babies:

Carriage ride, 366 stairs, we were just getting warmed up.  We were off to see what we could see on foot.  We decided to check out what was on the rest of the square.  Basically, one side of the square is taken up by The Belfry:



Here is what the building at the base of The Belfry looks like.  It's huge. 


Two sides were taken up by restaurants.



Including this one where we had lunch!



This one (De Carre') is where we had dinner Friday evening!


 The fourth side by these:

The Provincial Palace (or home of the govenor)



The Post Office



To the left of the Provincial Palace



Right in the middle of the square is a statue of two Flemmish heroes in the struggle against the French in the 14th century.



Then we started meandering through the narrow streets of Brugge:

That night after a light dinner of French Onion Soup and a delectable chocolate mousse for dessert, we left the restaurant and took these shots of The Belfry and City Hall.

We had such a wonderful day that sometime in our meanderings we stopped and booked another night at the hotel.  Originally, we were going to spend Saturday in Antwerp and Gent, but Brugge had cast it's spell.