Day 6 - Bruges - Thanksgiving

Today was Thanksgiving! It was fun to be traveling for the holidays, but it was sad not to be with the rest of our family for our Traditional celebration. We've never missed one.

Bruges is one of my favorite cities. (Note, I've only been there off-season). Because of the beer, I think it is now one of Mom's favorite places. We had a full day of exploration. Our day began walking through the main plaza and learning about the history of the city. We continued to follow a day tour as laid out in our Rick Steve's Book. Yes...we were Rikniks, so we learned alot of stuff about alot of things.

We paid a visit to the Basilica of the Holy Blood. The church houses a venerated relic of the Holy Blood allegedly collected by Joseph of Arimathea and brought from the Holy Land by Thierry of Alsace, Count of Flanders.Pilgrams come to the church to touch the holy relic. We stayed long enough for a blessing, but Mom was not keen to climb the alter to place her hands on the crystal vial. I touched it back in 2003 and decided that touching the blood of Christ counted towards two Sunday masses.

We continued to walk the town, exploring the canals, sampling chocolate and eating frites. We discovered Gallar chocolate in Brussels and it continued to be our favorite in Bruges. I did find the little shop that I visited in 2003 and was happy to see the family's business was still going strong. Their chocolate was good, but we still preferred the Gallar. Many of the tourist chocolate shops had chocolate shaped tools. I can't figure out why they make these.

I did pay a visit to the Church of Our Lady to see Michelangelo's Pieta. It is the only sculpture of Michelangelo to exist outside of Italy. The sculpture was commissioned for a church in Sienna, but a family in Bruges swooped in and paid a large sum of money for it. The church itself is under a massive restoration process. Half the church is closed off, but everywhere you looked, the walls were deteriorating. Seeing the Pieta again was like seeing an old friend. The Madonna is not behind glass, it just rests on the alter waiting to say hello to any visitor who seeks her out.

Since Mom was now a beer lover, we felt a visit to the De Halve Maan Brewery was in order. The brewery dates back to 1564! We climbed ladders and ducked under pipes while learning about the beer making process (both old and new). Our guide was from Sitka, Alaska. She met her Belgian husband in Alaska and she has lived in Bruges for the last year. She said she missed the quiet of Alaska. When the tour was over, everyone was given a free pint of their ale. She recommended that I try their Quadruple Beer since I like dark beer. It was 11.7% alcohol and was wonderful!

Next was a very touristy activity, but none of us had ever done it...a canal tour by boat. Yes, our guide spoke English in a very comical voice that was very scripted. Once we got over the giggles, seeing the canals by boat was nice. However, when our guide pointed out  the "smallest Renaissance window," we had to hide our giggles again.

 By the time our canal ride was over, it was dusk and all the Christmas lights were once again twinkling above the streets. We discovered the Wall of Beer where all beer was rated either "Yummy," "Yummier," or "Yummiest." Each beer was adjacent to it's signature glass. Matt and Mom decided to have a Cherry Kriek Beer tasting and bought 5 different varieties. They ranged from normal Kriek all the way through "EXTREME" Kriek.

It was now time for dinner...our Thanksgiving dinner. The evening's holiday market was in full swing in the main square. There were stands for drinks, beer, food and crafts. One stall was grilling bratwurst. Our Thanksgiving dinner consisted of beer, amaretto coffee, bratwurst and pomme frites standing at a little table next to the ice skating rink. Not a bad way to celebrate Thanksgiving!

After dinner, we called friends back home. We chatted with the Fabry's and Matt enjoyed walking around on FaceTime, showing Piper and Scarlet all the Christmas lights. By now it was getting really cold, so with our tummies full of Belgium treats, we headed back to our room. It was a good Thanksgiving Day.