Brugge under construction

Part two of my Belgian weekend trip included a stop at the medieval city of Brugge.

After spending big part of the day at the beach, I thought I'd do a little sightseeing in the afternoon, but I didn't come far. Brugge on a summer weekend is nice when it welcoms you - it offers you a lovely spot at the green riverside or a chance to sit on the wings of a dragon :)

It offers you some kind of peace at the Béguinage, even though it's a quite busy place compared to its Antwerp analogue. 

As soon as you turn to the city center however, you'll be faced with madness. Masses of people everywhere, with everbody pushing and trying to get somewhere.

Given that the hot weather wasn't ideal for exploring the city, I restricted myself to the Grote markt with the famous Belfry, and a walk by the riverside.

All combined with a little windowshopping: first (and by far most) of all, chocolate. Chocolate as far as one can see - even though it's almost too expensive to look at :)

Also, Belgian lace

And of course, Belgian beer

The sight of empty little streets however was almost non-existent.

I then tried to find some interesting indoor activity. It seemed that Brugge was under construction though - at least everything I wanted to have a look at was closed or semi-closed for the public.

Bummer of the day: the Church of Our Lady is undergoing some major overhaul. All you can see is the huge outside, and this is as close as I could get to Michelangelo's Madonna :( 

St. Salvator's Cathedral being rebuild, too. A part of the church is accessable though, and there's some funny artwork outside that totally fascinated the kids - windows in different shapes and sizes, put together in some fantasy buildings that can be opened and explored.

With all the crowds and some chocolate that I had to protect from the heat, I decided to leave for Antwerp much earlier than I originally planned. I can't say Brugge was a waste of time, but I certainly picked the wrong day to visit it. 
Wrong day for a rail travel, too, as it seemed that everyone who had spent their day at the beach, plus all the Brugge tourists, filled the tranins in the evening and made it hard to move, or breathe.

Anyway, I could finally to get a good shot of poppies. Never really managed to make red flowers look red in a photo before.

Last but not least, a tiny advice: if you ever get maried, by all means avoid passing a torture museum. I might be there and I'll certainly picture the irony. And you can bet I'll enjoy it beyond imagination :)

~ to be continued ~