Day in Bruges
I have re-written parts of this post like 5 times cause pieces of it kept getting erased, so if it makes no sense - I no longer care.
A hundred students boarded the bus at 5:00am, a disgusting time to be awake, but I fell alseep shortly afterwards. I woke up just before the Eurotunnel, I don't know who came up with the idea but basically the bus drives into the train, fitting in like a Russian doll, and the train drives you to France. Inside, all you see is the metallic interior so it's hard to imaging you're completely under da sea except for the mounting pressure in your ears and a slight jostling. Not recommended for people with claustrophobia. Knowing that you're in an enclosed metal tube firing beneath the Atlantic Ocean might be a bit disconcerting. Waking up as we were driving through Belgium I almost felt at home; the land was flat and you could see all across the fields.
We were by no means the only troupe of tourists there. Bruges used to be a huge port city, similar to Venice, with canals and access to the sea. From the 12th to the 15th century it was insanely wealthy from making and shipping high quality silver and cloth - until the ocean decided to move. Silting cut off access to the sea and the population and prosperity declined rapidly until tourists started coming in the 19th century. When everyone left the buildings were left alone instead of always being updated like in London or Paris, so it remained a very beautiful and historical city.
I didn't know anyone on this trip to start with but I met two girls, Poppy and Valeria so we walked around town together. It was a very gray day, the trees were all bare and leaves littered the ground. The rustling noise as we walked through sounded like a whole retirement home worth of seniors opening their Werther's Original candy's behind you in the movie theatre. The entire city is Willy Wonka's Chocolate factory. Every street is lined with Chocolate confectionaries, lace stores and Beer Breweries. Priority number one was finding good Belgium waffles, which were immediately smothered in good Belgium chocolate - part of this balanced breakfast. We then walked around to hit all the main tourist spots, the channels, churches, and cathedrals. The streets were flooded with people and the constant cacophonous clip-clop of the horse-drawn carriages on the cobblestones.
In the historical centre of town is the Belfry, a giant bell tower that plays music throughout the day. We walked into the courtyard and I realized that it was where the White Queen, a BBC drama about the War of the Roses, was filmed. It was nice sitting in the square, eating waffles and listening to 'O Danny Boy' playing on the bells. At this point it started pouring and I got to use my snazzy new camera rain jacket, basically a long plastic bag with an elastic on an end, but it works.
We got some samples of Belgium beer, which I'm hesitant to like cause I know how expensive it is back home, but it was pretty good. The rain continued so we skittered from store to store, accumulating masses of chocolate as we went. There was a little living history experience too but we didn't have time to go in, so I just got comfy on the throne.
Near the end Valeria and I found a beautiful little courtyard and a poster for a free concert. The musician started by playing the concert harp, then the celtic harp and then a vast arrangement of singing bowls, gongs and stringed instruments from all over the world. It created this amazing zen soundscape that felt like the soundtrack to a dream. We found a nice little cafe and enjoyed a cheese plate before getting back on the bus.
On a somber note, everyone knows what's happened in Paris and there's not much I can say that other people haven't already said. This disaster is some people's everyday and "What can men do against such reckless hate" just plays over and over in my mind. As I mentioned last week, some friends and I are planning to go to Paris this coming weekend, I don't know if those plans are being scrapped. While I would image that Paris is going to be one of the safest places in this aftermath we're still not sure, is it wrong to have fun in a city that's just faced a horrible tragedy.