September 7 & 8, 2022 - Brugge
September 7 - The first night in Brugges was a bit restless. Jeri had looked at the thermostat and thought we did not have air conditioning, so we suffered through a fairly warm night. Blaine decided to check the thermostat in the morning and found out that, yes we did have air conditioning. We took our time getting ready in the morning and didn’t leave the apartment until around 10:30. Our first stop was Marcel’s Laundromat to wash and dry a couple loads of clothes. We had a bit of a problem trying to figure out how to operate the washers, but with persistence we succeeded. After we finished the laundry, we wandered around exploring the different areas in the city. Brugges is such a pretty city. Before heading back to the hotel we stopped at Pasta Presto for dinner. Blaine had the tortellini bolognese, which was delicious and very filling. Jeri had a vegetarian pizza.
September 8 - In our wanderings around the city we passed by Chez Albert many times. Chez Alberts has the best Belgian Waffles. We ordered 2. Jeri got hers with melted dark chocolate and Blaine got his with strawberries and melted dark chocolate. We sat down in Burg Square to eat our waffles. There was a wedding at the beautiful town hall in Burg Square, with a white horse drawn carriage sitting outside waiting for the bride and groom.
We found a canal boat tour, and surprisingly only 2 other people were in line. Thia was quite a surprise because all of the other boat tours had long lines. By the time the boat left we were almost full, but still not as crowded as most of the other boats.
After the boat tour we went back and got a table at the Bourgogne des Flander brewery, which is right on the canal. Blaine got a beer flight to sample their brews. We couldn’t stay too long, as we had a free walking tour scheduled for 2:00PM.
After the walking tour we stopped at the Halve Maan (Half Moon) brewery and had a beer with 2 other couples from the walking tour. One couple was from Austria, and the other from England. We had a nice conversation about the political situation in each country.
To top off our night we visited Le Trappe, Le Trappe is one of many Trappist breweries founded by an order of French Trappist monks in the late 19th century. The Trappists needed a source of income to support themselves and fulfil their charity duties. That is why they decided to brew beer. To this very day, ale is brewed according to the rules of the Trappist.
