That day, in Bruges... Memories from a leisure travel in Belgium

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Departure May 12, 2011, TGV Paris Gare du Nord-Brussels Midi / r $ 50 pp; IC train to Brugge-Brussels Midi / r 5.20 euro pp
Rita and I were on vacation in Paris and decided to go to Bruges, May 12 starting at 7, then with the bus 11 in the city center, we know that the places to visit are within a 15-20 minute walk.
We arrive at 10, there are still many people in the streets, they take the opportunity to stroll along the streets and squares features not yet crowded and take a trip by boat.
We pass between buildings of Renaissance architecture and Nordic, tall and narrow, with spire and facades stepped gables, like Amsterdam so to speak, through channels of stone bridges in the shape of the back of a donkey, it is often necessary to lower the boat head to pass, unexpected angles and suggestive of a city that has preserved many elements of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, and the late Gothic and Renaissance styles, especially seeing the boat seems as if time has stopped in Bruges, the beautiful sunny day (but loop a cold wind) it emphasizes the colors seem to be in a picture postcard, the channels run between the buildings that follow one another without spaces, with facades that are reflected in the water, we see images from bridges or boat the presence of numerous swans, the city's historical memory.
In Bruges schedule a tour boat is essential to have a precise idea of ??the city but also to see panoramic corners are not visible otherwise.
Of course, the walking tour, we visited the museums and monuments of Bruges.
The Markt and the Burg, are the historic center, streets are large, busy and lively, horse carriages, many bikes, red brick buildings, on all stands the Belfry, a tower 80 meters high, in the past military tower, now is practically a lookout (admission fee, 360 steps, no elevator), the Palace of significant Halles, Hôtel de Ville, the Old Civil Notaries, the Palace of the Province, to name a few, in particular the Hotel de Ville Gothic style of 1400, a very elegant building decorated with statues, the originals were destroyed by the French revolutionaries, some were painted by the great Van Eyck.
The Burg we visit the Basilica of Holy Blood, where they worshiped a few drops of the blood of Christ, Gothic façade, made up of two churches, one below (it was closed), the other in the late Gothic with a Baroque interior, day of worship was an old priest at the altar holding the relic sat with two hands and the faithful are lined up to shake the flask in turn and recite a prayer.
The Church of Notre Dame, with a bell tower more than 120 yards passing on the bridge on a donkey S. Boniface, who is a favorite place for tourists to be immortalized with photos.
Within the group of the church of the Virgin and Child by Michelangelo, the white marble sculpture depicting the Virgin Mary sitting with a youthful and serene holding the Child, the interior is mostly Baroque works along the walls of Flemish primitives, if you want you can visit the choir with the funerary monuments (fee).
Groeninge Museum are works by Flemish painters of the fifteenth century, including Memling, Van Eyck, Provost (no photo).
St. John Hospital (building of the twelfth century), one of the oldest hospitals, one side is lapped by the channels, are exposed in a large hall antique surgical instruments and works of Flemish painters, in the Memling museum dedicated to work with only 6 , Set of the great St. Ursula, shaped like a small chapel, with walls painted in miniature, is worth the visit alone (no photo).
We left the museum last walk in this city to review the Minnewater jewel, a small lake and the Beguinage (thirteenth century) that we had seen from the boat. then exhausted to the station to return to Paris after having traveled on foot for nearly seven hours, except for a snack in the Burg square, we prefer not to remember.
Ferny Forner.