The Parents Go To Bruges

On the 29th July, the Parents set off on an adventure. It was a special adventure. A Silver Wedding Anniversary Adventure. The Mother was very excited as it isn't often that a passport is used and she leaves the country- the last time was probably Spain in 2007- so this was quite a major trip, especially as they were leaving 'the kids' behind to fend for themselves.

 They went to Bruges (on the Euro Star!!) on a kind of package holiday, which provided tours that you could choose to go on to learn the history of the place. Their hotel was right in the centre of town amid the clip clopping of the horses and carts, the lace shops and the chocolate sellers.

 The Mother was channelling her inner blogger and taking lots of pictures of points of interest, trying to zoom in on things she thought I would like so I thought I would share them on here with you. I have been to Belgium (history school trip many moons ago in Year 9 when we went to Ypres to learn about the trenches), but never to Bruges, and it looks really pretty.

From what I've seen, there is a lot of detailing in the buildings, lots of Maria statues intricately carved into the corners of buildings, modern art dotted around in parks, patterned brick work and beautiful arched ceilings and doorways.

This building is the gateway to a convent (quite a grandiose one if that's just the gate!). Apparently our very own Winston Churchill came to this place to paint in the gardens.

It even has a kind of fairy tale castle type building, with lots of pointy roofed towers that Rapunzel would be proud to call home.

 I think The Mother was very taken with the architecture in Bruges. The style of buildings is very elongated with ornamental roofs that point up at the front- not quite a facade but almost. And in the below right-hand side photo, that lovely building's upper storeys are completely clad in wood, like something else out of a fairytale.

They did take a day trip to Ypres to meander through the trenches, and visited Tyne Cot Cemetry and memorial which is just a sea of white headstones. Beautifully kept and gardened. Incredible and heartbreaking to think of all those men who rest there.

They only went for a few days, but have already been planning their next weekend away (I think the travel bug might have bitten)...Paris... Rome... Barcelona...Hungary...