Belgium

On Christmas Eve, after an 11 hour bus journey, I arrived in Paris and met Jon. On Christmas morning, we hopped on another bus to Bruges, Belgium. As I boarded the bus, the radio was playing (in English), 'I'll be home for Christmas.' Great, rub it in.
We found our hostel, which was connected to a bar, so we dove right into tasting the amazing belgian beers. Since there were very few restaurants open, our Christmas dinner turned out to be kebabs (similar to a gyro).
After beer, our next priority was the Belfry of Bruges, which, if you saw the movie, you'll recognize. It is a medieval belltower in the historical center, originally built in 1240. It was destroyed by fire and partially rebuilt in 1280, 1483, and 1493, which explains Longfellow's poem:
In the market-place of Bruges stands the belfry old and brown;
Thrice consumed and thrice rebuilded, still it watches o'er the town.
We climbed the 366 narrow, steep stairs to the top.


Here are the gears to the clock that sits at the top,

and the mechanism by which the bells are played, 47 in total, weighing 27.5 tons.

Looking out from the top of the Belfry,


And looking down toward the market center,

This is the left side of the Basilica of the Holy Blood. The upper chapel off to the right is home to the relic of the Holy Blood, a crystal phial supposedly containing a few drops of Christ's blood. It was brought to Bruges around 1200, after the second crusade. The phial is stored in a silver, jeweled tabernacle. It was on display the day we visited, and yes, I had to go touch it.

A little less holy but equally pleasing was our tour of the Staffe Hendrik Brewery, the only brewery left in central Bruges. The tour was pretty cool and we were rewarded afterward with beer. All three beers from this brewery made it into my top ten beers I had in Belgium.

From the top of the brewery. The smell of hops was in the air!

While in Bruges we also visited the Church of Our Lady, built in the 13th century, which contains Michelangelo's original Madonna and Child, and the Groeninge Museum, which contains a collection of 15th century Flemish art. We drank lots of beer and ate a few belgian waffles covered in belgian chocolate.

After a few days of exploring the sites of Bruges, we grabbed a train to Brussels.
We saw Grand Place, the square which is the cultural heart of Brussels,
It was here that I rubbed the statue of Evard 't Serclaes, who was famous for his recovery of Brussels from the Flemish. Supposedly the statue grants wishes and brings good luck.
We also saw the famous Manneken Pis (dutch for little man urinating). Built in 1618, it is somewhat of a landmark for Brussels. I didn't understand it before I saw it. Now that I've seen it, I still don't get it. But, the crowds of people that gather to see it are impressive.

After a day and night in Brussels, we were on a bus back to Paris, and sadly parting with the Belgian beers.