Here's a little tip for future travellers.... Check if there is going to be a public bank holiday in the countries that you are travelling to.
We found out purely by chance that exactly 40 days after Easter is Ascension Day (I mean, don't get me wrong, like, we already knew that and everything, but we just forgot and that.) During a conversation about our planned activities for the next day, it was casually slipped in that because of the bank holiday the trains would be running on a different schedule and some things might be closed.... well, that had not been factored into our plans at all.
The destination for today was Bruges (Brugge, if you live there). This is a very picturesque villagey city... and home to the Mother and Child Statue by Michaelangelo to which Jenny wanted to view in the flesh.
full of cobblestone streets...
Touristy chocolate shops...
selling Cuberdon - A traditional sweet treat from Ghent.
And mountains of chocolate!
There are touristy tourist souvenir shops...
Touristy lace shops....
and cafes selling traditional Belgian fare....
And there are old, old, old buildings and churches everywhere... That is the Church of Our Lady in the background, home to the Mother and Child statue.
It is not surprising that they took 100's of years to build.... Look at the size of the little bricks!
As we walked around we heard the melodic church bells ringing. The tune was really familiar to me and I said to Jenny, "I think that's 'It's a long way to Tipperary'! To which she replied, "I don't think so, they're church bells!" Until we both joined in with the chorus....
"Goodbye Piccadilly, farewell Leicester Square. It's a long long way to Tipperary, for my heart lies there."
It was indeed the tune in question....
perhaps it translates to something religious in Flemish?
Nearly every second person had a dog... it almost felt like we were the odd ones out being dogless!
(this photo actually looks like this man was being chased by an angry mob, but rest assured, he was safe.)
The best way to get around the windy, narrow little streets is by bike. Parking is way easier and the riders never think that they're part of the Tour de France, they are very courteous and even when trying to navigate through 1000's of people, they manage to do it without running into anyone or falling off!
Or if you don't fancy peddling, you can jump onboard a horse drawn carriage to show you the sights. The horses are obviously used to all the people as they manoeuvre carefully around corners and through crowds.
This lovely old man looked like a local, just getting about his business... I wonder what he thinks about all the tourists?
Now just getting back to the bank holiday for Ascension Day and what actually happens on this day. Apparently, there is a procession... and it was being held in Bruges!
We only found out this fairly important snippet of information by chance because a lady at our hotel reception was telling the lady behind the counter that they were going to go to Bruges, but because of the procession, they'd decided not to, you know, because of all the people.
We immediately asked the man serving us what the procession was all about. His reply made us giggle a little even though his grasp of the English language was way more advanced than our grasp on Dutch!
"It is the rethinking of the dead people."
Once we'd arrived and worked out way into the centre of Bruges, this is what we found. Street after street lined with chairs for hire for €3...
And if you were happy to pay an extra €2, you could get a dining chair!
But even though they were all set up, there was nothing yet to see.
These streets obviously mapped the route of the procession which then past by this double grandstand in the main square... tickets for the grandstand were €15
And completed it's journey here in front of this gorgeous building/church? where they had made an alter in front of a large fenced off mosh pit area.
We managed to get to Bruges, look around and work our way through the throng of people and get out of there all before the 100,000 strong crowd descended and the procession began.
This lady wasn't going to miss a thing though. She'd hired her chair and she was going to stay there until it ended!
Same with this man.
Jenny and I toasted ourselves over lunch on our map reading skills and our ability to avoid the large crowd...
If you look closely at this map of southern Bruges, you can see the black dotted line of the route we took - I've added this because I know how important it is to visualise. :-)
Then as we headed back to the train, Jenny said, "Oh Bastard! We forgot to look at the Mother and Child Statue!"
The map we had didn't label the Church of Our Lady and whilst walking around and navigating the people, we completely forgot to look for her! We only worked it that we had been right near the church once we were on the train on the way back to Ghent.
