Sunday 9/20 - Off to Bruges

Denis and Kathleen picked us up about 9:00 and in two hours we arrived in Bruges.  We dropped off our luggage at the B&B and headed into town.  We had a "special" tour guide Peter who is the boyfriend of Fran's friend Jana who we met two years ago in France.  He grew up in the area and was able to direct us to some good sights.  And we had a great lunch - finally got some mussels.

The city was extremely busy and there were probably more people than usual because cars were not allowed in the city (they do this once a year on the same day in multiple cities).  There were bands playing in several of the squares and just a lot of other activities.  Bruges is a beautiful city and hard to capture in just a few pictures.

Here is the complete Belgium Gang (minus Ruben who is training for a marathon) along with the US Gang.  The top picture is Peter, Denis and me.  And the next picture is Jana, Helen, Fran, Charlotte and Kathleen.

And here are a few pictures from around town (the first one is Michaelangelo's Madonna and Child - if you saw Monument's Men you should remember this sculpture).

We had to say our goodbyes to the Belgium Gang around 5pm - we had a great time together and we will miss them.  We headed back into town in the evening and were able to enjoy the city with all of the lights.

Tomorrow we will visit a few of the things we missed.