Today we checked out of our hotel in Brussels and took the train to Bruges. We walked around the main square area and Chiara and I eavesdropped on a tour guide who was telling a group about the City Hall building there. He said that the City Hall was built, then it was so admired that the City Hall building in Antwerp was modeled after this one. Then the City Hall in Brussels was built modeled after the one in Antwerp. He also said that there was a statue of the lady holding the scales of justice on the top because the building was also used as a courthouse.
We walked around near some of the canals and explored on our way to the Folklore museum. It was a bit of a walk off of the tourist area, but it was worth it. A row of old houses was converted into the museum. Each room was set up like a historical Belgian part of life. Some of the rooms were a classroom, hat maker, tailor, shoe maker, inn, living room, pharmacy, etc. It was interesting to see what Flemish like was like and how it was different and similar to what we are used to today. They even had a museum cat who lived there! She was the namesake for the Black Cat Inn where they served coffee and drinks.
Next we decided to go to one of the gates that used to be part of the city walls, but when we walked there, we found it was closed even though the website said it should be open. We took a selfie in front of it and decided to go to a brewery that offered tours. When we got there, we were told that they had a tour starting in a few minutes but it was 45 minutes and then included a free drink at the bar. Alberto was planning to meet his friend and we needed to check into our accommodations so we decided to try to come back for the last tour of the evening.
We had some challenges with our accommodations but eventually sorted it out. Unfortunately, we weren’t able to do it in time to make the brewery tour, so we missed out on that.
We met Chiara and Alberto for dinner. They suggested that we go to a Lebanese restaurant because they were over Belgian food. It was great and of course there were a lot of vegetarian options for Joel and me. After dinner, we tried to walk around in the winter markets that we had seen earlier but everything was closed even though it wasn’t even 10pm. The only market stands that were open were the bars so we stopped and had beers on the street under heat lamps. We walked back to the hostel where Alberto and Chiara were staying and had a drink at the bar there while we made plans for the next day and then split ways and went to sleep.
We walked around near some of the canals and explored on our way to the Folklore museum. It was a bit of a walk off of the tourist area, but it was worth it. A row of old houses was converted into the museum. Each room was set up like a historical Belgian part of life. Some of the rooms were a classroom, hat maker, tailor, shoe maker, inn, living room, pharmacy, etc. It was interesting to see what Flemish like was like and how it was different and similar to what we are used to today. They even had a museum cat who lived there! She was the namesake for the Black Cat Inn where they served coffee and drinks.
Next we decided to go to one of the gates that used to be part of the city walls, but when we walked there, we found it was closed even though the website said it should be open. We took a selfie in front of it and decided to go to a brewery that offered tours. When we got there, we were told that they had a tour starting in a few minutes but it was 45 minutes and then included a free drink at the bar. Alberto was planning to meet his friend and we needed to check into our accommodations so we decided to try to come back for the last tour of the evening.
We had some challenges with our accommodations but eventually sorted it out. Unfortunately, we weren’t able to do it in time to make the brewery tour, so we missed out on that.
We met Chiara and Alberto for dinner. They suggested that we go to a Lebanese restaurant because they were over Belgian food. It was great and of course there were a lot of vegetarian options for Joel and me. After dinner, we tried to walk around in the winter markets that we had seen earlier but everything was closed even though it wasn’t even 10pm. The only market stands that were open were the bars so we stopped and had beers on the street under heat lamps. We walked back to the hostel where Alberto and Chiara were staying and had a drink at the bar there while we made plans for the next day and then split ways and went to sleep.
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