Everyone we had told that we’d be visiting Brussels said we had to take a day trip to Bruges as well, and it’s only an hour train from Brussels so it was quite easy to do. Bruges is known as the Venice of the north and, similar to Venice, has canals running throughout the town. It’s a beautiful, picturesque little town and as you walk through the streets admiring the buildings, church belfries, the tons of little chocolate shops, and all of the horse-drawn carriages riding around, you feel like you’re in a fairy tale. Particularly at this time of year, when Christmas prep is in full force, there are beautiful lights and trees decorating the city. We even happened upon some kind of parade with a marching band and Santa. In most cities around Europe there are Christmas markets, which are kind of like a bunch of wooden stalls set up with various gifts, food, etc and also usually some little carnival rides. Though we obviously don’t celebrate Christmas, it’s nice to see all the lights, and Isaac loved the carnival ride at the one in Bruges. Here are some street scenes in Bruges

In the main square in the center of town is a gorgeous towering Belfry, and special for winter was an ice rink with skaters skating around.

We wandered around town and, after running into the parade, decided to take a boat ride in the canals. Jeff must truly love me, as he usually is not a big fan of boats 🙂 During the half hour boat ride, we saw lots of cool buildings and swans which Bruges is well known for as well. Our boat driver gave a tour in French, Dutch, and English, transitioning seamlessly between all 3. Rafi found it all very relaxing and took a little nap.

Here are a few more views of Bruges to give a feel for what it’s like

I loved the boat ride and visiting several chocolate shops to taste the delicious chocolates. We also popped into a pub to rest a but and tried some delicious Belgian beer. Rafi would have tried some too if we would have let him 🙂

But the highlight for Isaac was the carnival ride at the Christmas fair. He rode on it 8 times (there were different vehicles to ride in and he chose a different one each time). He would have ridden them all day long if we would have let him. It was really cute to see the huge smile on his face everytime the ride would start up again.

As darkness started to fall and the lights lit up around the town, we headed back toward the train station. We got a bit lost but it was cool because we ended up walking down a street with interesting art galleries and a book store selling reasonably priced postcards. There was a big Ferris wheel set up near the train station which we originally thought we would ride, but we were all tired so decided to skip it. Still, it looked really cool all lit up at night.

Back in Brussels, we started walking back to the apartment we were staying in, but stopped on the way at the Gallery Royales Saint-Hubert, which is a beautiful 19th century shopping arcade on which several other similarly styled ones throughout Europe are modeled. It was beautifully lit, and we decided to get a macaron to taste.

The next morning, we had a bit of time left before we had to head for the airport, so we decided to go see the EU parliament building. It took awhile to walk there, and on the way we also passed the Royal Palace of Belgium, which, though no longer the residence of the Belgian king and queen, is where they would conduct official head of state duties. The EU parliament building was an interesting mix of an older facade and newer more modern architecture. It was neat to see all the flags and languages of the member nations. It’s normally possible to visit a sort of museum exhibit and learn more about the EU, or even observe a parliament session, but we didn’t have time. We also played for a bit in a park behind the parliament so the boys could get out some energy before the flight back!

A few last random pictures from Brussels, including some cool pinwheels along the canal near where we stayed, a Perrier mural I liked, typical wrought iron balconies you see all around the city, and our delicious breakfast at Le Pain Quotidien (now with locations around the world but this was the original). We had a wonderful weekend and many amazing memories! I’m so thankful I could celebrate my birthday with my boys in a beautiful place.