Day 8- Bouncing Back in Brugges

Day 8

I named this post "Bouncing Back in Brugges," because my strength was renewed this morning when I realized that we had Phil's i-phone that took pictures along with his cord to download them! I officially love i-phones even more than I did before! I know that my in laws are getting pictures too, but part of making this blog was writing down the memories with the pictures as soon as the day was done so that I would be able to remember all the fun things of the day. It's amazing how fast that you forget! Praise the Lord for this solution!

Some of you may have never even heard of Brugges until this post. I hadn't heard of it until we started planning our trip to be honest. Brugges is a city in Belgium that everybody should see before they die. It is one of the most charming towns that I have seen and is bubbling with people, history and energy that cannot be described unless actually seen. Many of the local people we met said, "YOU HAVE TO SEE BRUGGES," "BRUGGES IS THE BEST." Quite frankly, we had no idea what to think or believe because we just didn't know much about it. I think it's safe to say that today might have been almost everyone's favorite.

Let's start the pictures with a map so that you can get accustomed with where Brugges is actually at.

You can see that it is very close to the North Sea.

Anyways, let me get on with how we spent our day. When we arrived in the train station, we started walking towards the main city center.

On our way to the city center, we stumbled across this amazing market with jewelry, food, etc... They had these little rotisserie chickens that had been roasting all morning and it was so scrumptious. I licked my fingers, it was so good. That was my favorite thing that I have eaten yet.

This is a picture with a view of the market.
Phil and Pat with some of our street food finds.
After we browsed the market, we began to head down the shopping streets. It was very busy today, but it was Saturday, so I think that is why it looked extra crowded. There were minimal tourists. Most were locals.

After we browsed the streets and found some cool things, we began our Rick Steve's walking tour. (If you have no idea where to start in a city, this really is a great resource.) Our first stop that we made was the Bell Tour. We walked up over 300 steps to get to the top. It was worth it, because the view at the top was amazing! Also, we got to hear the bells ring. They were so loud!

Here are some of the buildings surrounding the bell tower.

Here she is!
View from the top!

After the bell tower, we headed to the Basilica of Holy Blood. In this Basilica, they supposedly have a vile of Christ's blood. We happen to be there at a time where it was available for us to view!
We sure learned our lesson!
This is where they store the blood.
This is the best I could do with the picture. I didn't want to be rude. This lady watches the blood and washes off the vile after you touch it.
We left the Basilica and started to view some of the scenery. Here are some shots.

Patrick waiting for us.

This little courtyard was tucked away amongst some houses. These buildings behind were the very first salvation army!
Here is the main "church" building.

We ended the night with a dinner at De Hobbit. 18 euro for unlimited spare ribs and salad!

After we ate, we walked back to the speed train and headed in for the night. Today was an extremely fun and relaxing day! Tomorrow is our last day and we are going to spend it in Brussels. :-)