Gayle4cewinds

Once a week Daniel gets a full day off from practice so we venture off to a surrounding city! To date our 'day-trips' include Amsterdam, NL and Antwerp, Belgium (the most), Rotterdam NL, Cologne Germany, Breda NL, and most recently Brugge, Belgium. The pictures above are of Brugge, pronounced Broohay, and it was the most enchanting medieval city located in the Northeastern Flemish region. We were so excited to see the beautiful medieval architecture as the city dates its charter to 1128! It is hard to believe that in less than two hours time we can walk a city square that once was home to exiled English Kings Richard III, Edward IV, and Charles II.

The pictures on the left of the page has a tall church tower under preservation. That church is Church of our Lady standing 401 feet high, the second tallest brick tower in the world! The Church is home to the famous sculpture 'Madonna and her child' created by Michelangelo in 1504.

The center photo of a tower is the 'Belfry' of Brugge located in the town center as a one-time watch tower, treasury hall, and now a backdrop for city theatre and festivals. The tower was built in 1240 initially to spot danger approaching the city. It has been been rebuilt three times due to fire and a lightening strike which took down a prominent sculpture of St. Michael.

The other center photo is a Flemish festival we stumbled upon with live music! As I add pictures the formatting seems to get tricky, my apologies. Overall the city with canal ways and rich grey brick buildings along the streets is known for being the Venice of the North and also home to the College of Europe. Photos on another posting.