Days 61 and 62

(Rhia’s comments are italicized)

• Train to Brussels
• Train to Bruges, Brugge, or Brugges

After all the travel excitement of the last couple of weeks, it was nice to have a completely normal trip to Bruges.

Well, everything was normal until we hopped on the bus that our hostess told us to grab to get to the place. The public buses changed their routes two weeks ago. So the five minute, no transfer trip, took an hour, with two changes, and twice returning to the train station. But, as always, we got to our destination. While visiting the hospital for 15 minutes (we had to get off the bus but we don’t know why), I kept reminding myself we were lucky to be there because of the crazy bus route and not because one of us was hurt 😂

So the first question is how does this city spell its name? Even walking around, you will find the name spelled three different ways. No matter how you spell it, it is still pronounced the same. As for this entry, we will be using the French spelling, Bruges.

Bruges is called the Venice of the North because of its canal systems. Historically, Bruges is first mentioned in 840 AD. Its “Golden Age” was from the 12th to the 15th centuries. After that, the river silted up and led to the city’s decline. But many of the medieval buildings remain.

We have written before about being “Cathedral-ed” out, but we found our way back into a couple here in Bruges…and they were fantastic!

Since we have known each other, we have wanted to go to The Body exhibits that seem to travel around the world. Well, we found one right here in Bruges and HAD to go! Despite having been a corpsman in the Navy, I was surprised at how much I learned about how the body functions. The descriptions of actual dissected organs connect gaps in my understanding of my body. I may be inclined to take better care of it after that exhibit. I only took one photo because, somehow, it seemed disrespectful (even though I know that the people chose to donate their bodies for this purpose). I’ll never forget the blackened smokers lungs nor the heart pressed small by blood around it. It was very well presented.

I am glad that we chose Bruges as our last hoorah on the continent before moving on to visit friends and family in the UK. Surprisingly, the crowds are quite small compared to the other places we’ve visited. We hardly have to use the magic eraser for our photo journal (while that’s true, I think Dan’s forgotten that I spend a lot of time in my chosen spot waiting for that nanosecond when there are no – or very few – people in my frame!)

One thing that has surprised me here is that though I normally skip on the sweets, I’ve found a love for the waffles here. We have one more day here before the journey back to the UK so one more waffle to go ☹️

I, too, am pleased to be ending in such a beautiful place; my one regret is that the sun is sporadic and the sky isn’t blue…but there’s still tomorrow 🤞