The Bruges Blog

Kathy and I spent three days in Bruges Belgium in April.  We rented a nice apartment just a few blocks from the Markt. One of the top rated restaurants in Bruges, Ribs n Beer, was just across the street.  Here are some of my favorite pictures from Bruges.

This statue of Papageno, the bird catcher, stands outside of one of the best preserved theatres in Europe.

Rosary Quai shot about midnight after the crowds had long disappeared.

Two lovers on a bench waited patiently for the photographer to leave. There are lots of canals in Bruges. The city lights the bridges and key buildings at night.

Basilica of the Holy Blood.  The basilica is best known as the repository of a venerated phial said to contain a cloth with blood of Jesus Christ, brought to the city by Thierry of Alsace after the 12th century Second Crusade. Kathy and I were fortunate enough to visit at a time when the phial was on display.

A picture from inside the Basilica.

Years ago a mayor of the city removed all of the asphalt in this area so that the original cobblestone streets were once again exposed.  In the early morning you can see two man crews maintaining the cobblestone streets and sidewalks

Ezelpoort - One of the original city gates.  I tried to position myself to hide the construction cranes behind the tree on the right.  There was quite a bit of construction work taking place in the city.

This was once the canal where all goods arrived in the city.  The merchants built fine homes along this canal.

There are four windmills remaining in the city. They were built on dikes.

The St Sebastian's Archer's guild is an exclusive club. The Queen of England is a member.  The guild is over 600 years old.

Typical city street in the center of Bruges.

Cargo was transloaded onto barges and brought up this canal.  The customs house is at the end of the canal.

Minnewater lake

Kathy and I passed this patio daily on our walk to the city Markt. 

Bruges was founded in the 9th century by Vikings. Supposedly a bear was the first resident.  This is a statue of the Bruges Bear.

A few night time shots.

By shooting this picture at night you get good reflections but the main reason for a night shot was the red construction barricade tape across the bridge is not so visible.

This is the oldest continuously operated tavern in the city.

Do you like the B&W or color version better?

Kruispoort city gate - Napoleon and the German army entered Bruges through this gate. 

Sunrise picture of the Rosary Quai.

The Church of our Lady is the second tallest brickwork tower in the world. It is 122 meters tall. The bridge in the foreground is known at the smallest bridge in Bruges.

Early morning reflections.

Bruges must be a little safer than Amsterdam. Most of the bicycles weren't locked.

My beautiful wife.

The city Markt is lined with restaurants. There was a carnival in the city square during our visit.  This made getting a good picture of the square a challenge.

There are lions holding the Bruges coat of arms throughout the city. The lion is from the coat of arms for Flanders. If you look carefully you will see two young ladies in the green boat trying to hide from the photographer.

This is my last blog for this trip to the Netherlands and Belgium. I hope you enjoyed the pictures.

Amsterdam Day 3

Zaanse Schans Windmills

We have completed four days in the Amsterdam area but I am just getting out the blog for day 3.  We spent most of our third day at the Zaanse Schans' windmills. The Zaanse Schans was one of the first industrial areas in the Netherlands.

The area had 600 windmills at its peak.

With that many windmills there was a need for a large labor pool.  The working men built small wooden frame homes along the canals.

The merchants build finer homes out of bricks.  Many of their homes were two stories.  And while all of the workers had vegetable gardens the merchants had fancy french gardens like the one in front of this home. 

All types of craftsmen were required to support the windmills and their associated business. This pile of barrels is next to the coopery. A cooper is a maker of barrels.  This shop was passed down for many generations.  It was last worked in 1999.  They installed quite a few cameras to document the work of the last cooper.  They got more information than they anticipated.  They discovered he was a poacher and spent much more time poaching than barrel making.  He also had a small drinking problem.

The upper sections of the windmills are rotated to maximize the efficiency of the mill. If you look closely at the upper platform you will see a red wheel that they turn to move the blades.The windmill in this picture makes peanut oil.

At one time there were 250 windmills here that cut timber.  Timber rafts were floated here from the Rhine. The timber was left in the canal for up to two years. During this time all of the sap leached out of the timber.  The middle windmill in this picture is a working woodmill.

I used a flash to stop the movement of these gears inside of the windmill.  Kathy was worried that I was going to stand up before I moved away from the gear spinning over my head. You can see it in the upper right corner.  I was surprised that you could tour this area.

This picture gives you an idea of the speeds you can obtain and why Kathy was worried that I might stand up too soon.

We had a nice visit to this area.  In addition to seeing the windmills we also toured a clock museum and a history museum. 

After a late dinner Kathy was ready for bed so I headed out for some more night photography. The two people on the bridge didn't move much during this long exposure.

This is a pedestrian draw bridge. The top pieces cantilever and pull up the walkway.

The nightlife area in Amsterdam.  Most of the drunks pedal home.  Just around the corner from here the police setup a sobriety check point.

The bars do a good job of lighting up the night.

Look for combined days 4 and 5 blog tomorrow.  I only pushed the shutter button 30 times today. Time to call it a night and go to bed.

A day at Keukenhof Gardens

Day 2 in Amsterdam was spent at Keukenhof Gardens.  For those of you that haven't heard of the gardens it is like the Disneyland of tulips.  Last weekend 60,000 people visited the gardens. Keukenhof is only open for two months each year.

A river of flowers

Azaleas in were in bloom too.

Another visitor to the gardens

There must be hundreds of tulip varieties in the gardens. As some tulips finish blooming the beds are replaced with new plants so the gardens look great for the two months they are open.

This picture was taken near closing time. Earlier in the day there would have been hundreds of people in the photo.

The grounds are beautiful.  When Kathy and I arrive early in the morning the staff was hand mowing the grass.

Another closing time picture.  Kathy showed great patience because I setup here and waiting twenty minutes for everyone to leave before taking the shot. 

There is also a small Japanese Garden on site

Early morning picture.  The weatherman had promised blue skies in the afternoon. But he didn't deliver.

Kathy wanted to see what it was like to walk in shoes my size.

Another early morning picture before many of the tour buses arrived.

Wish my backyard looked like this.  Two hours after I took this picture there must have been five hundred people in this area.

A different view

One of the unique tulip varieties.

They opened a new indoor rose display today.  This new rainbow rose was quite strange looking. Hard to believe it is a real rose.

Every year they have a special display. This year they used flowers to layout the canal area of Amsterdam. Each blue area represents a canal. Each other color tulip represents a canal house. There is one tulip for every house. In the late 1600's one tulip bulb had the same value at one of the canal homes. 

Hope you enjoyed the Keukenhof photographs. Tomorrow we are off to see windmills in the Zaanse Schan area.