Category Archives: Belgium

Bruges: the Gruuthuse Museum and the Church of Our Lady

October 21, 2023Belgium, TravelBelgian waffle, Bruges, Brugge, Church of Our Lady, Gruuthuse Museum, Michelangelo Madonna and Childkarenfranza

Oct 17 – This is our last full day in Bruges. Every morning we see something new.

We visited the Gruuthuse Museum, which shows what an upper class home from the 15th century looked like, and houses a diverse collection of this and that.

Some of the illustrated manuscripts were quite gruesome

Belgian lace was incorporated into ladies bonnets

In one room, you could look through a window to see the inside of the church next door – it looked beautiful!

So, we went next door to visit the Church of Our Lady.

This church had Gregorian chants playing throughout, which made it sound like monks were working hard nearby, and made everything feel peaceful and holy.

The sanctuary looks much like it did in the 1500s

Here is the window we saw in the museum, that enabled the rich family to observe what was going on in the church

There were some things we hadn’t seen before.

Tombs with decorations on the inside – images of heaven to help the deceased get where they were going

A painting of the Last Supper where they served bread, wine and… chicken?

Now, you know I’ve saved the best for last. This church holds the Madonna of Bruges, the only statue by Michelangelo that left Italy during his lifetime. It depicts Jesus not as an infant, but a toddler standing on his own, and Mary looking down sadly.

The piece is not life size, and small enough to transport. It was taken by Napoleon to Paris, returned after his defeat, then taken by Hitler‘s men to Germany, where it was recovered and returned by the Monuments Men.

The Madonna of Bruges just above the altar, with larger statues on either side

Our trip to Bruges would not be complete without one final thing – a Belgian waffle dripping with chocolate. It was messy, but we enjoyed every bite!

Oct 18 – Got up early for the five hour bus ride back to Amsterdam via Ghent, Brussels and Rotterdam.

We got to see the sunrise through the bus window

We caught a glimpse of the Norte Dame Cathedral in Brussels when the bus stopped at a light.

One night at an airport hotel, then it was back to Schiphol Airport for the flight to JFK and then home.

Thanks for the memories, Holland and Belgium – we will miss you!

Bruges: The Belfort and the City Hall

October 20, 2023Belgium, TravelBelfort, Bell Tower, Bruges, Brugge, City Hall, Stadhuiskarenfranza

Oct 16 – We are back on the beautiful main square.

The must-do thing for every tourist in Bruges is to climb the 366 steps to the top of the Belfort, or carillon bell tower. In addition to the entrance ticket, you also have to reserve a time to climb, and the automated response is, “we hope you are fit!”

The displays inside are all about bells. The carillon has 47

The carillon has been a Bruges attraction for hundreds of years

In the Drum Room, we saw the rotating drums that determine the order in which each bell is rung.

The bells ring every quarter hour. The noise is incredible!

Then it was on to the Stathuis, or City Hall, built in the 1300s, and still in use today.

Beautiful painted wood interior with murals all around

This mural depicts the Holy Blood being delivered to the Church, during the Crusades. We visited that church the other day.

Another lovely day.

Bruges: the Marathon and the Groeninge Museum

October 18, 2023Belgium, TravelBruges, Brugge, Groeninge Museum, marathonkarenfranza

Oct 15 – Today is Sunday, the day of the Brugge Marathon. We saw all the white tents and signs with instructions for the runners being assembled yesterday. Our plan was to go to the go to the art museum this morning to avoid the crowds.

Little did we know, but the marathon runners came right down our street! We weren’t permitted to cross the road, and ended up taking a detour of back streets, trying to get closer to the museum.

Finally, the runner thinned so we could jog across the road

The Groeninge Museum has ten rooms, with the works grouped by time. The first, medieval room was full of Madonnas and funny looking babies that I feel compelled to share.

Another depiction of St. Luke painting Mary and Jesus – no haloes in this one

Here is St. Catherine getting her head chopped off. She looks serene, but the horse seems very upset

…but he was flayed alive right in his office

This is Mars defeating Ignorance as the Arts and Sciences look on

In the more contemporary rooms, these were my favorites

This family portrait almost looks photographic

The personification of Legend, who keeps stories alive

Inspired by 1001 Arabian Nights, this looks like quite the story!

This one is called Domestic Difficulties

Back out on the street, there was a Sunday flea market. We scored a very nice, slightly used, plate for our wall.

Swans looking for tidbits from the restaurant guests

Another glorious day!

In Bruges

October 16, 2023Belgium, TravelBasilica of the Holy Blood, Bruges, Brugge, Cathedral of Sint Salvatore, Tintinkarenfranza

Oct 14 – Back in 2008, Jim and I watched a movie called “In Bruges”. Since that time, I have wanted to visit this medieval city filled with history and gingerbread architecture. Now we are here!

As Bruges is in Flanders, where people speak Dutch, the name of this city is Brugge, pronounced sort of like BRUH-heh. The rest of the world uses the French Bruges, pronounced BREWJ, and so will I.

Our apartment is right on a canal, and we can watch the houseboats out our window as the bicyclists ride by.

Our canal, called Coupare, or the shortcut, was dug in the 1700s to relieve the traffic on some of the other canals

We have an apartment with combination locks instead of keys. There is a keypad to open the bedroom door, and another to open the bathroom door!

This statue of Marieke is right outside our door. The statue was erected as a tribute to the Jacques Brel song “Marietke” that mentions Bruges. She is a symbol of the city, and a party is held in her honor every year.

We walked down to the main square.

The city hall in Burg square, built in the 1300s

The Basilica of the Holy Blood, built in the 1100s

Inside, the altar area and ceilings are of richly painted wood

An intricately carved wooden altar piece

A bit of Christ’s Holy Blood resides in this tabernacle, originally collected by Joseph of Arimathea, and obtained during the Crusades by the Count of Flanders.

There are no pews – back in the day, worshipers stood throughout the Mass. I love these painted columns .

You could give quite the sermon from this fancy pulpit!

Back on the street, we spied chocolate shops everywhere.

This is the land of exquisitely made chocolates

The Cathedral of Sint Salvatore had medieval tapestries around the altar

This archbishop looks like he doesn’t mind being dead

Lots of horse-drawn carriages clip-clopping over the cobblestones

A hurdy gurdy adds to the music of the city

Hey look! It’s Jim with Tintin and his faithful dog, Snowy, ready for an adventure!

More excitement tomorrow!

Beautiful Antwerp

October 15, 2023Belgium, TravelAntwerp, Cathedral of Our Lady, Grote Markt, Het Steen, Lange Wapper, Nello and Patrache, River Scheldtkarenfranza

Oct 12 – Today we visited the Grote Markt, to look at more beautiful buildings. This is the main square.

This fountain depicts a hero who cut off the hand of an ogre

Inside the cathedral is a modern sculpture by Jan Fabre called “The Man Who Bears the Cross”. Unlike depictions of others weighed down by, or dragging a cross, this modern, bespectacled man is taking up and balancing the cross on one hand. How does he do it? Food for thought.

The sculpture in the middle of the street outside the cathedral depicts Nello and Patrache from A Dog of Flanders. An orphaned boy and abandoned dog befriend one another, until, homeless, they die together of hypothermia in the cathedral. This ain’t no Disney movie. Here they lie under a blanket of cobblestones.

Antwerp is a port city, built along the river Scheldt

There is a rebuilt fort here, Het Steen, used as a tourist information office

This is Lange Wapper, a giant who was born in a cabbage patch. He bullied the townsfolk, but could be thwarted if shown an image of the Virgin Mary.

How often have you seen a crucifix double as a light pole?

Oct 13 – Today we planned to stroll out our door right over to the train station and jump on the first train to Bruges. Easy peasy, except….

There was a bomb scare at 7am, the station was evacuated, and no trains were running! It was the top story on the news!

The helpful station attendant could not tell us when the next train would be leaving, or when there would be a seat available due to all the stranded passengers. I asked if there was a bus to Bruges, and she looked up the bus schedule on her phone. There was a bus leaving in 20 minutes!

She programmed my phone to show us the bus station and told us to hurry, as we were supposed to pre-purchase tickets online. We high tailed it down the street and saw the bus marked Brugge, with a queue of passengers loading their luggage beneath. I accosted the driver and asked if we could buy tickets for this bus. He said yes, but only for cash. Did Jim have cash? Yes he did! We got the last two seats! How much excitement can two old folks stand?

The Royal Antwerp Fine Arts Museum

October 14, 2023Belgium, TravelAntwerp, KMSKA - Koninklijk Museum voor Schone Kunsten Antwerpen, Royal Museum of Fine Arts Antwerpkarenfranza

Oct 11 – This morning we walked to the Royal Museum of Fine Arts Antwerp, also known as KMSKA – Koninklijk Museum voor Schone Kunsten Antwerpen. A mouthful.

The audio guide gave us the option of hearing about every single piece of art, which looked like it might take a few years, or following their selection of the 25 top artworks. We chose to find the top 25, sort of a treasure hunt, but we also meandered around to look at whatever called to us.

The rooms weren’t arranged by artist, but by theme. There was a room of Light, of Suffering, of Evil, of Impotence, etc. it was an interesting and different way to think about the art.

There’s a Salvador Dali here: Girl Skipping Rope. Why is it in the room of Evil?

Of course, my favorite was the room of Madonnas with their various odd-looking babies:

This is of St. Luke painting Mary and Jesus – note that the models have halos, but in Luke’s portrait they don’t

We went to lunch at a nearby café, and had a spicy tomato soup and some bitterballen – fried balls of marinated shredded beef served with mayonnaise that are a specialty in this area. They were delicious!

We returned to look at some modern works. Many of the paintings selected for the audio tour were ones that I never would have stopped long to consider, but I’m glad we did.

This depiction of the artist’s sister eating oysters was controversial in its day for combining a portrait with a still life

This is St George slaying the dragon, but all I can see is the look on the horse’s face

This artist painted many pictures of his wife – here she is ironing

Look at expressions on every single face

A lot to see in one day! Hope you enjoy our ramble.

Antwerp, Belgium

October 12, 2023Belgium, TravelAntwerp, architecture, Central train station, Diamond Districtkarenfranza

Oct 10 – We got on the bus this morning and rode for 23 stops to the town of Hasselt, Belgium. Once there, we hopped on a train that took us right to Antwerp.

I’ve always wanted to visit Belgium, home of the painter Peter Paul Rubens, ten different kinds of waffles, and hundreds of brands of beer. According to the Belgians, French fries were actually invented here, and their fries are better than anywhere in the world. And yes, they are served with mayonnaise, not ketchup.

They have three languages here, with 60% of folks in the north (Flanders) speaking a Flemish kind of Dutch, 40% in the south (Wallonia) speaking a Walloonish kind of French, and less than 1% in the west speaking German. We are in the north. This city is called Antwerpen here, and Anvers in the south.

We got off the train to find we were in the world’s most famous train station. It was pretty cool.