In Bruges

On Sunday we decided to go to Bruges, even though we still haven’t seen the movie. It’s not yet available for rent or purchase from iTunes, Netflix, or Amazon, so we’re out of luck.  We decided to screw the movie and just go, although we weren’t sure what we were going to be doing. The city of Bruges is stunning; it’s a medieval city that some call Venice of the north, with architecture that is similar to that of Middelburg, the town we’re near. We had coffee at an outdoor table and watched the people, and I was surprised that the waiters were willing to speak French or English, too. I’d been told that the Dutch part of Belgium did not enjoy speaking French, but people seemed fine with it. We enjoyed a walk around the central square and finally stopped for dinner at a place noted in my guidebook. Sam has a bit of a cold, so he was wiped out and slept through the whole meal, and I have to say he didn’t miss too much.

The traditional Belgian beef stew that Jon ordered was nothing like the Carbonnade de boeuf flamande that my father used to make over and over again when I was a kid. This was more like beef in packaged gravy with a dash of dark ale thrown in for good measure. Not all was lost, however. I did discover a delicious blond ale called Brugse Zot, which apparently is the only beer actually brewed in Bruges. So this was my In Bruges – and it was better than any movie could be.