Our time in Bruges has come to a close. We leave deeply impressed with the scape of this beautiful city, tired of the crowds of Brugenyland, hung over on amazing beer, full of frites and waffles. Some Bruge thoughts:
1) Food is expensive. Unless you are having a super cheap snack food, your out 15-20 euro for lunch and 20-30 for dinner for a three course meal. Jess and I were impressed with the mayo on frites...it is somehow better here. The waffles were always great as well. We had Flemish stew (beef stew in a dark beer sauce) and rabbit Flemish style (in a beer sauce with prunes); both were quite good and came with frties per usual. I can't say we got a chance to try much food here due to the cost, but there are over 400 places to eat here and I would like to have a go at them all.
2) Beer is cheap. Given my nature to pay too much for Belgian beer in the states I was amazed to find that some of the best Belgian beer is 2 euro in the bottle, 4 euro at the pub. We also toured the only brewery in Bruge, The Half Moon which makes a great beer called Bruge Zot and Hendricks. Beer is freaking serious here...never considered ordering wine (except for hot spiced wine in the market :).
3) I have never seen so many beautiful buildings in my life; every corner you turn is amazing. However, other people think this too...hence, Brugneyland. every day a flood of tourist come into town and leave in the evening.
Jess chiming in here: HAPPY NEW YEAR! As Jon mentioned, we really did decide to dub Bruges Brugeneyland. It's so unbelievably beautiful - oozing with gorgeousness - it's overwhelming. The first city settlements were made in the 8th century, with the height of merchant trade, religion, and art culminating in the 15th century. Home to artist Jan Van Eyck, the only Michelangelo sculpture made onsite outside of Italy and the first book ever published in English, Brugge has serious history. Art is everywhere, not just in galleries, public art, and in the ridiculous amount of churches; but in every detail of the buildings, landscaping and canals.
The amount of tourists that pour in each day and leave at sundown, really does give the feeling that you're in a theme park, that it can't be real, but it is.
Our new year's eve was one of the most fun new year's eves I can remember. In Brugges, the highlight of the evening is to convene outside the concert hall (oddly one of a few modern buildings in the city) and partake in a 15,000+ person sing-a-long. Songs were sung in dutch, italian, french, spanish and english, and, while some of the song choices were pretty odd, it was a beautifully festive and family affair. People of every age, singing, dancing and celebrating. A scene of pure joy - even with the misty rain. Events like these would heal the world if they happened more often. Our favorite parts were "Sweet Caroline" sung in dutch, a massive amount of people dancing to gangnam style, and a dutch song that our Ghent couchsurfing hosts have informed us is a Belgian 'dwarf dance' - where everyone waves their arms over their heads, turns around, ducks/squats down and does another turn. Let me tell you, when 10,000+ people start doing a totally cute belgian dwarf dance, you can't help but be happy.
We're in Ghent for a couple of days and then off to Brussels. More soon!
What did you all do for New Year's Eve?