Vacation: Bruges

For the final part of our trip, we departed England in a ferry and headed across the North Sea to Belgium. Ever since we saw the movie In Bruges, Mom and I have wanted to visit the "fairy tale city," and this was our chance.

We weren't disappointed.

We took a canal ride and the captain gave the tour in English (for Mom and me) and French (for everyone else on the boat). He switched back and forth with ease, making jokes in both languages. His ease with languages was amazing and also made me jealous. I wish I could do that.

In addition to the Belgians having a sickening ease with multiple languages, we even saw Madonna and Child, a Michelangelo sculpture, in the Church of Our Lady.

Breathtaking! Even better than the replica of the Pieta we saw in Sainte Anne de Beaupre, Quebec.

I climbed all 366 steps to top of the Belfort and got to hear the bells pealing. It was glorious.

I got to see a vial of Christ's blood in the Basilica of the Holy Blood.

And, of course, we ate lots and lots of delicious chocolate.

Even when we left, we were ready to go back. Bruges was amazing! Everyone should visit.

We took the train through the Chunnel back to London for our flight home.

Heading Out

It's vacation time again. This time our travels will take us to Scotland, Hadrian's Wall and Bruges, Belgium. We're going to take an overnight train from London to Edinburgh and a ferry across the North Sea from England to Belgium.

We're going to Scotland for no reason in particular, except to see castles, abbeys, cathedrals and dramatic scenery.

We're going to Bruges because we saw Martin McDonagh's movie In Bruges several years ago and found the locations beautiful (and the movie is wonderful, too). We've wanted to go there ever since. I fully intend to take advantage of this quote (couldn't embed the clip, sorry!).

Anyway, it promises to be a wonderful trip.