Brugges

I was very much looking forward to our trip today.  We visited Brugges, which is a small town with several canals running through it.  Despite the cold and rainy weather, our trip to Brugges was nothing short of amazing.  The city is composed of buildings built in a gothic style and the most modern building is one that was built in the Art Deco style.  This means that many of the buildings are historical pieces that have been renovated and made functional.  Our guide Krista mentioned that many of the houses are considered historical landmarks and that it is quite common to have archeologists looking through their yards.  This is because many of the houses are built on top of various ruins.

Krista gave us a tour of her hometown and showed us many of the important sights.  She also explained the historical context of the town.  I was most interested about the various communities that had developed on the outskirts of Brugges.  This included a convent of older nuns that originated from a group of free women who were not affiliated with a specific religion.  These women formed a group and built a complex during the time of the crusades because their husbands were off fighting in the war.  They were charitable women and helped out the needy.  This complex still exists but it was taken over by a group of nuns.

While in Brugges we were also able to visit a small chocolate shop.  This was probably my favorite part of the entire tour because we were able to watch the chocolatiers make some of their favorite sweets.  It is amazing how much work goes into a single chocolate truffle.  The chocolatiers import their chocolate, but they melt and blend the dark and light chocolates to make the perfect combination of chocolate for their sweets.  They then pour this chocolate into molds and fill the truffles with all sorts of nougats and creams.  This tour was great and I am glad we were able to see how these treats were made.  I would love to try and make some truffles in the future!

Brugges was a beautiful city, unfortunately we were only able to stay for the day.  It definitely deserves to be explored more and I plan on returning some day!  Hopefully when the weather is a little bit nicer J