Benelux April 2013 -- Bruges Canal Cruise

Most people start their time in a town with some kind of orientation to it.  In places with canals or rivers, it's often by water.  On this trip, Trout and I did that on the last day in Bruges.

Bruges is the French and English name for this place.  The Dutch name is Brugge.  It is located in the Flemish part of Belgium and Dutch is the main language.  Although French is the other official language of Belgium, it seemed like English was a very close third.

The center of town is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It got its city charter in 1128, but the name was known from the 9th century.  I got a T-shirt that says University of Brugge, est. 850.

There are boat excursion operators all over town, but I read that this one was good and we happened to be right by it when they were getting ready to leave so we decided to go.  We lucked out with a great guide.  Bootexcursies means boat excursions, by the way.

The ride took just about the right amount of time, and we did need to duck under some bridges.

This is the only wooden building still on the canal.  That's partly due to the fire danger and partly due to rot.

Houses and buildings are built right on the water, just like in Venice or other similar places.

Swans are popular in Europe and this was their nesting time.

They dive down for food just like ducks and look just as silly when they do it.

There were lots of them around this area making lots of noise.

Being nesting time, the males were posing and showing off.

We were able to get quite close to these large delightful birds that we rarely see in the U.S.

As well as these ducks that we can see almost anywhere.

If you click on this, you should be able to see the ducks flying more clearly.

Time to duck, literally.

The buildings in Bruges are beautiful.

There was a golden retriever sleeping on a pad in this window, but I didn't get a good picture.

Some folks had little gardens instead of only water out their back door.

There were lots of people on the bridges.

One of the lovely churches.

A great park along the canal.

Things were finally starting to bud out.

This tropical umbrella bar seemed a little out of place in the not so great weather, but people just bundle up and sit out there with their beer.

There was something enchanting and fun to see all along the way.

This is the famous tower of In Bruges fame.  I climbed it in the late 1970's.  Not this time.

Note the date on this building.

Those of you who saw the post on the Kroller-Muller in Arnhem may remember this bronze sculpture.

All these houses along the canal are on prime real estate.

I love this red one.

These two pictures are of buildings that are used to illustrate the typical styles of roof shapes to us tourists.  It's not Disneyland.  They were gradually built over time that way.  If you click on them, you may be able to see some dates.

I like the stepped ones best, and of course the red is great.  It looks like it's had some updates.

Time to turn around.

Can't go that way either.

So many lovely buildings ...

 

... that I almost missed this.  What was a Texas flag doing flying along a canal in Bruges?  You can run but you cannot hide.

Speaking of flags, this is a Politie one I think.  Guess what that means.

Modern buildings have replaced a few houses that were too far gone to save.  I like these just as much as the old ones.

An old and a modern homage to early architects.

There are hotels right on the water.

Oops!  I lied.  This hotel is part wood, too.

We saw these ceramic poppies all over the place.  They are called Klaprozen and people buy them to support world peace.

Most people just spend a day or two in Bruges.  But Trout and I have adopted the slow traveler style and we spent a week.  There were still things we could have seen and done in the area, but maybe next time.