Caught the 8:30am train from Brussels to Brugge. Pleasant one hour journey across flat farmland. Our scheduled time at the Groeningemuseum was 10:30 but we got there early and they let us through. Smallish museum with a collection of medieval Flemish masters, neoclassicists and modern art. It was nice to focus on styles we don’t normally pay attention to. The colors in the medieval stuff were amazing. Today was a big town walking day, about 17K steps in all and Brugge is perfect for this; very few of the buildings date from the 20th century or later. We had lunch in the Markt, sitting outside. Flemish beef stew and chicken with tarragon. We decided not to climb the 366 steps up the bell tower (using the excuse that Tim did this already in 1975). After an afternoon coffee and some purchasing of Belgian needlework we took a trip along the canals in an electric boat. Brugge is historically a wealthy merchant city and it shows; beautiful stepped facades and hidden gems of small squares. The canal boat driver was fluent so we saw a number of unique features of the canals and the city that we may not have noticed otherwise – and it was a great chance to rest our feet.
