BRUGES
The hostel had a good breakfast and we then walked to the Gare De Nord to
catch the train to Brussels. The railways of Europe are impressive. They are comfortable
and fast. There was some confusion because we were due to travel on a
Thales train but this was substituted by a regular TGV with a different
seating plan. So people were sitting in other peoples' seats. We were
lucky as we got on the train early and sat where we were supposed to be
and managed to keep those seats. Others weren't as lucky so confusion
reigned.
Once
underway the train picked up speed and we were soon into Belgium and
into Brussels where we changed to the train to Bruges.
TGV ready to leave for Brussels
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The reason to visit Bruges was simple, to visit the Lace Museum. Bruges has been a centre for lace for many years and after checking into our hotel we were able to walk to the museum. The lace museum is overlooked by the Jerusalem Church. The centre is situated in some renovated almshouses, a place where old and poor lace workers used to live and that not even 50 years ago.
Our excellent hotel, the Duc de Bourgonge on the canal side
It was now afternoon and each day volunteer lace makers are on hand to demonstrate their skills. The day we were there there were about five of six ladies busy chatting away and making lace. The photos show some of the work in progress.
Plenty of bobbins in use
Must be over 100 bobbins in use
This lady was amazing. Sitting in a corner by herself she made the bobbins fly at an unbelievable speed. She would glance at her pattern, make about about fifteen moves, pause, look at the pattern for a second and off she went again. It was tiring to even watch her.
You-Tube at
Just click on the link.
We had until mid-afternoon the next day to see a little more of the City. Nearby was a market with fish for sale plus many other items.
The fish market
One of the touristy things to do is to take a trip on the canals. There were four different companies with small motor boats. The weather the next day was pretty poor but that didn't stop many taking the one hour boat ride.
One of the many boats passing by our hotel
The Church of our Lady
The weather wasn't nice at all, not sure these folk could see much!
The Burg Square
Not a good day for trade
The provincial town hall
The Hotel Duc de Bourgogne
The
hotel we stayed at for the one night was very nice indeed. Located in
the City centre on one of the canals. Reviews had said that it was
three star hotel that felt like a five star, and it was excellent. On
our arrival shortly after noon we were able to get into our spacious
room overlooking the canal immediately and we had a great lunch in the
restaurant. We liked it so much that we had lunch there on the second
day as well. Breakfast was really wonderful, lots of choice and
elegantly served. A good choice indeed.
Our
walk around the city was somewhat miserable because of the persistent
rain/drizzle but we made the best of it. We weren't,the only peope
enduring the weather as Bruges is very popular with tourists.
After
lunch we took the train back to Brussels and caught the Eurostar to
London St. Pancras. This train was very full, very speedy and
very comfortable. It had a large number of Borussia Dortmund football
supporters on board going to the Champions Cup final at Wembley the next
day. They were well behaved and strangely singing English football
songs as we arrived in London.
We
had a slow and wet cab ride to Waterloo where we caught the train out
to Isleworth where we were going to stay with Hilary Strudwick for two
nights. The railways in Britain have improved a lot over the last few
years and the suburban train was clean, bright and quiet. Quite a
change from 50 years ago.
Hilary
met us at the station and we were pleased to find Penny at home and one
of the other daughters, Emma, arrived from a theatre trip in London
with her family.
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