Bruges, Belgium

Bruges is called : 'the Venice of the North'. This splendid medieval city is one of Belgium's crown jewels. In no other European city the feel and the look of medieval times are so present as here in this city close to the North Sea.

Today's Bruges has a population of about 45.000 people (the old center) or 120.000 people (center together with the suburbs). These numbers clearly show that Bruges is not a tiny miniature city. It ranks, even today, among the important cities of Belgium.

It is also the capital of the Belgian province of West-Flanders. A lot of people take day-trips from Brussels to Bruges, but there is too much to see here to fill only one day. The best way to visit Bruges is to spend at least one night in one of the many beautiful and cozy hotels. Later in the evening, when all the tourists have gone, Bruges finds back its charm and quiet of old times.

When one is lucky with the weather, a stroll through the tiny medieval streets can be an enchanting experience. Bruges is always beautiful, in the summertime as well as in the wintertime. Lucky visitors will never forget the city after they have seen it on a snowy December or January day.

Bruges is unique, in the sense that here the town authorities have done the utmost to preserve the medieval-looking image of the city. Of course, not every stone in Bruges has come to us straight from the Middle-Ages. The 19th century neo-gothic style is more present than one should think. Because of these 19th century renovations, some critics have put Bruges down as a 'fake' medieval city. Nevertheless, the combination of old, not so old and new fascinates everyone who first sets foot in Bruges. http://www.trabel.com/brugge.htm

It was an overcast day when we visited this beautiful town, but that didn't detract from our enjoyment of the canals, buildings, waffles and strawberries, chocolate, lace, and countless photo opportunities. Here are a few.

Lovely cobbled streets

Horse drawn carriages waiting to take tourists through the streets and down the alleyways, and drivers with an endless source of historical details and rich anecdotes.

Many old bridges span the canals.

'The Lake of Love' - deemed the most beautiful lake in Belgium (maybe Europe?) - with special significance for the family.

Taking a breather - both horse and tourist.

Surely everyone in Belgium most own a bicycle.

"Anyone for chocolate.....

....... or some beautiful Belgian lace?"

The Tulips of Keukenhof

Last November, when we made the literally spur-of-the-moment decision to take a trip to Europe, the one attraction that we knew we wanted to see was the Tulip Gardens in Keukenhof in the Netherlands. The rest of our itinerary would fall into place around this visit.

We visited these beautiful gardens with Russell, Shannon and baby Evelynne, and found that we were as impressed by the magnificent trees and the gardens overall as much as by the tulips themselves. Here are just a few of the hundreds of photos taken that day.

These are fields of commercially grown tulips and would normally be a spectacle of colour. We were a little late in the season though and all the flowers had been harvested.

Some 'flowers' are more beautiful than others, I'm sure you'll agree.

SAINT-BENOIT du Sault.....

.... has been called 'the most beautiful village in France'.

I'm sure there are many beautiful villages in France, but this one is certainly worth a visit. Situated in the south of the Centre region, near the borders with Limousin and Poitou-Charentes, the village owes its origins to the benedictine monks who established themselves in the area around the 10th century, having chosen the site on a raised rocky outcrop because of its defensive advantage.

The village of today, with its pretty, narrow streets of medieval houses, dates from the 15th-16th century. The centre of the town is set around the Church, priory and fort, and was protected by a stone wall around its perimeter.

Richard and our fantastic host, Frankie, admire the roses.

More Belgium - ANTWERP

The city of Antwerp is the second largest in Belgium and surely a shopping mecca for all of Europe, hence the countless clothing, perfume, jewellery, shoe and handbag stores in the city centre.

Lovely shops selling quality merchandise - although not to me; I had to keep in mind those weight limits on luggage...lol. However, we were more than compensated by the many beautiful buildings.

Meir Street

Antwerp Railway Station - exterior...

.... and interior

More beautiful buildings

An up-market shopping mall - goldleaf and all.

Antwerp Cathedral

Peter Paul Rubens - Antwerp's most famous son.

Two more cathedral photos.....however this beautiful building deserves a posting of its own.

An organ grinder....I think the monkey took the photo...lol.

....continuing Beautiful Belgium

I'm glad you liked the photos in the last posting, Shannon, as seen and appreciated through our eyes and camera lenses.

Here are some more random shots of your beautiful village and lovely people.

(Click on photos to enlarge them if you wish.)

"Three little ducks went out one day....."

Restaurant boat at anchor.

Russell taking his ladies for a stroll.

Just the place for a relaxing coffee.

View from the bathroom window onto the back gardens.

View from the dining room down to the loch.

Wartime artillery on the river bank.

A barge on the river.

Making adjustments before continuing the walk.

Which way is up?

At the far end of the canal.

The boats come and they go.....oh, what a life!

Relaxing in comfort.

It's getting a bit crowded in here.

Museum.

All tied up for the night.

Mothers' Day.

If I could just get my hands on those!

One of the many lovely areas to walk in the village.

Loch-keeper to the rescue.

Now that's big....complete with a band and a BBQ.

Freedom on the river.

Who will be asleep first?

Gathering the brood on the canal.

Adventures.

Wistful serenity on our last evening.

Beautiful Belgium

Over three weeks spent with Russ, Shannon and baby Evelynne in this beautiful little village in Belgium was sheer delight.

The village has a river on either side and a 600 year old canal running through the middle. Many boats are permanently moored on the canal and move through the loch out into the river. We had a wonderful view of the loch and all the action from the their third floor apartment.

Here are just a few of the views in and around the village - views we never tired of looking at and photographing.

The houses along the cobbled streets vary in size, style and colour, and are always interesting.

The canal is bordered by well-tended gardens and lawns.

View towards the bridge which opens to allow the boats through the loch to the river.

View from the kitchen window ... what a view!

The chestnut trees were in full bloom throughout our visit.

A familiar sight - schoolchildren cycling home for lunch.

Arriving home - or maybe about to depart.

Down the canal.

Bridge reflections.

Turn the corner to find a village full of surprises.

The bridge opens to allow another boat into the loch.

Boats moored whilst waiting for the loch gates to open.

Houses of every shape and colour.....

.... and boats, both large and small.

Six Months Already!

Where does the time go? Our beautiful grandaughter, Evelynne, is six months old today.

We recently spent 3 and a half weeks with her and Russ & Shannon in Belgium. What a wonderful time it was, getting to know them all as a family and seeing the beautiful part of the country in which they live so happily.

Happy half Birthday, darling Evelynne.

(Photos all taken between 28/4 and 22/5)

Brrrrrrrrrrrr!!!

We really needed a sense of humour to appreciate Canberra weather's cruel joke on Friday! Having arrived back in Sydney at 6.00am to sunshine but a chilly wind, we boarded the bus to bring us back to Canberra. Very smooth ride, but somehow having just travelled about 24,000km to get home, that last couple of hundred seemed the hardest - especially when we spied the temperature outside the ABC ..... 3º at midday!!! Almost enough to make us turn around and catch the first plane back to Europe.

Jet lag hasn't been an issue ..... just the cold! Thank heavens for ducted heating, although even that was working overtime to heat a house that had been closed up for a week. We've been pretty lazy since arriving home, apart from finding the car battery flat, and after charging it all night, discovering that it had actually 'died', necessitating a new battery before we could go and do any shopping, going to one hockey match, and downloading about one third of approx. 9000 photos. A good many of them will be culled since we seemed to spend our time both taking photos of the same things.

So, I'd best go and turn the heater up a notch ..... and see if I can brighten up these pages with a few photos.

It's almost over.....

.... and time to leave the beautiful scenery of Europe in the summer and return to Australia in the winter. However, we've had six fantastic weeks which we'll relive over and over for many years.

After leaving Belgium we spent 6 days in a tiny village in the Berry Province of France with a new friend, Frankie. What fun we had visiting so many quaint little villages, travelling country lanes and learning French customs, especially in relation to food. Thanks Frankie, it was wonderful...and I hope your little village is appreciating the vast improvements to its musical culture!!!.....lol.

A somewhat roundabout plane trip from France and two bus rides eventually brought us to Bristol, England, to stay with my cousins, and fall in love with England all over again. A week in a little village in NW Wales brought us some more highlights....stunning scenery, adventurous train rides, and a delightful day spent with Marion (Reflections through the Seasons) were other memorable treasures of our trip.

Since returning to Bristol we've caught up with other cousins and my niece from Australia, and enjoyed the first rain since arriving in Europe on 28 April.

Now we have only two more days before we begin the journey home on Wednesday afternoon, hopefully arriving by Friday afternoon, ready for a good sleep no doubt.

What an amazing time we've had, meeting new people, including our beautiful grandaughter, Evelynne, and catching up with friends and family in three countries. We've seen new places, experienced new cultures, and made new friends......and along the way we've taken several thousand photos!!!

Oh what joy it will be to sort through the photos and relive so many wonderful moments all over again. I'm looking forward to sharing many of them with you in the coming weeks.

Still here.....there.....and everywhere!

.....at least, it feels like it. Since leaving home on 27 April, I've been hoping to let photos tell the story of our travels but so far I haven't gotten around to posting photos from other people's computers, so this is just a brief 'travelogue' of our trip so far, and the photos .... we've taken one or tw0!!!!!.....will have to come later.

We took the bus from Canberra to Sydney followed by two of the best flights I've ever taken. QANTAS really did themselves proud - not least by giving us seats in the Emergency Exit row....lol (lots of legroom)....all the way to Frankfurt (brief stopover in Singapore). The flights were very smooth, meals good (for airline meals!), the staff very efficient and friendly. Russell was waiting for us at Frankfurt, having left home at 2.45am in order to meet our 6.30 arrival.

Every truck in Europe must have been on the motorway to Belgium that rainy morning, but despite this the traffic flowed smoothly, and quickly, all the way. A few surprises for me were that I expected Belgium to be flat, which it is, but I just hadn't envisaged the quantity of trees - everywhere! And everything is a colour that I vaguely remember from years ago - green; in fact, VERY green.

The next surprise was to see the delightful little village where Russell lives (photo desperately needed here!!!). This was a real surprise because we had been travelling through some ordinary towns and commercial areas, which could have been almost anywhere in the world, when suddenly, around a bend is a completely different 'world'. It's a very small village of old houses/apartments of every shape, size and colour, with rivers on either side and a canal through the middle. In fact, from the third floor (oh, those steps!) windows here, we can look straight down onto the canal and the lochs.

It was wonderful to see Shannon again, and to meet for the first time our newest granddaughter, Evelynne (now 5 months old). She is just like a live doll, but much more fun. (even more photos needed HERE!)

This post could become an epic of 'War and Peace' magnitude, so I'll briefly tell you where we've been since arriving. We've walked and walked, watched several hockey matches in various locations, had a picnic in and walked through the Botanic Gardens (but not the entire 92 hectares!), taken the river ferry over to the markets (twice), visited the Commonwealth War Cemetary at Tyne Cot, Ypres, and next day spent a few hours in that most fairytale-like city of Brugge.

This week has been a 'biggie'. On Monday we drove (actually Russell drove - we prefer to stick to 'our' side of the road) to Kuekenhof in the Netherlands to see the tulips (just choosing a FEW photos will be a problem here!). The family then returned home for a few days respite from 'parent-overload', while we spent two nights in Amsterdam (I'm sure the thousands of cyclists there are glad we've left - that's two more obstacles out of their way...lol). Despite Amsterdam being full of museums, most of you won't be surprised to read that we took a four-hour tour out into the country where we saw farms, cows, canals, cheese, canals, clogs, canals, windmills, and more cows and canals, and even more water than I believed possible. In fact, I have ordered a canal to be located at the bottom of my garden - permanent water...what bliss!...ha,ha. A canal ride through Amsterdam gave us a glimpse of its amazingly varied architecture (and no bicycles to dodge...lol). Sad as we were to leave Amsterdam, Switzerland beckoned and we had two nights with more family in Basel (Shelle and her family and her in-laws). Despite the language barrier with Kurt and Berta, it's amazing how much can be communicated and they took us to see a garden centre, with more plants, more colour, more ideas, and more visual overload than I've could ever have imagined. It was brilliant - and if it was back in Australia I wouldn't need a garden; I would simply go and live there! The grandchildren took us on a long walk to one of their favourite spots in Basel, along the river. It was wonderful to see them again after 6 weeks and to see that they are enjoying their time (and school) so much.

So yesterday we flew back from Basel to Amsterdam then caught the 'fast train' back to Antwerp, to be met by Shannon and the increasingly alert and knowing, Evelynne.

Still to come are a brief trip into France to locate the grave of Richard's cousin, killed in the war, followed by a few days in 'the middle of France' with a friend (as yet unmet, but "Hi, Frankie"), and then it's off to England for nearly two weeks to stay with cousins, during which we'll have week in northwest Wales (and meet another blog friend - "Hi, Marion"), before returning home on 12 June.

Have we enjoyed ourselves? How could we not? We've briefly experienced the history, the beauty and the friendliness and hospitality of Europe and its people, and been assisted and welcomed on every occasion. Certainly a trip to remember, especially when we look at our several thousand photos ...........lol.