Valentine's Day

Will the sun heat us out of the freeze?We had never been to Brugge , and what better time to correct the omission than Valentine's day ... Actually , a cold winter day may be the best time to beat the streets of this beautiful town , as I heard it is overcrowded with visitors in the high season . Braving the cold wind , we walked along its narrow streets, wide squares and windy canals, enjoying changing lights as the sun and clouds alternated, with rare locals and a few foreigners around .Jan Van Eyckplein (square), that is something...This is what we saw after turning round a corner : A canal finishing dead end at the back of a statue. The city is sometimes called the Venice of the north . Wrong . This is the Strasbourg of the north . I see some similarities with my favorite french city . Same circular canal around the city center . Looking at the locals here on their bicycles, winding along the canals on the cobblestones streets, and remembering this experience when I cycled across the scenic urban landscape of Strasbourg , on little bridges on the Ill river, through rue des juifs and past the cathedral to the Petite France and its canals .*****

Winter colours . Reflections . The green tones on the left may be at St Salvatorskoorst , but I'm not sure .
The golden knight on the right is one of the striking statues outside of Heilige Bloedbasiliek ( Holy Blood basilica ) , on Burg .

At some point we looked for a restaurant and opted for a flamish traditional restaurant . A pleasure and a respite from the frost bite . For drink , beer , for a change . Bottle of white beer for me , draft for B. Forgot about what we ate , but it was fine .

prayer candles in the dark

We hide from the cold in the relative shelter of Onze-Lieve-Vrouwekerk, read Notre Dame church . They have set up a sort of museum in the right wing , with access for a fee . Beautiful paintings in the church . Then , back to the cold . You think because Belgium is close to the sea , cold can't be too harsh . It can . And of course we forgot to bring the japanese pocket heaters ( kairo ) that would have been so useful now ... Just getting the hands out to take pictures make the suffering worse . B. was faring better . Gloves and warmer clothes . Anyway , the place is so nice . If you consider visiting for the first time , consider doing it in the middle of winter . It is worth it . Just dress properly .

Which horse looks to which ?Horse drawn cabs come and go, and the noise of the horseshoes and wheels on the cobblestones add to the picture of old streets and monuments . Many streets are just void of automobiles . Speaking of being beautifully preserved , there is an exception : A big piece of modern art ( by an artist whose name sounds japanese ) near Burg , that looks like a real size carwash unit ...Canal , street and bridge

If you look for things to buy, there are the many belgium chocolate shops selling all kind of delicacies . Speaking of shops, shopping , window shopping, I think that even though there are so many visitors coming here year after year, the commercial and shopping pressure have been kept within reasonable bounds . You do find the usual souvenirs , but not as shameless here as it can be in other tourist places . Have you noticed how in many tourist traps , tourists walk along the streets looking window after window at all the junk and fancy clothing displayed , glued like children on a television screen... This place is still a normal little town with people going to work and studying .