My views do not necessarily reflect the views of my employer.
January 2025
When I got the chance to go on a tour to Brugge, I jumped at it. This way I could learn about what I was looking at and probably forget most of it!
There are swans all over Brugge. The swans in England are all property of the King (though most Brits I know still say that they are property of the Queen), but these swans are free!
I found a horse fountain for Wendy:
Brugge is famous for its lace. There used to be several of these large lace pieces, but this one is the only one that had survived the natural elements. As we approached it I wondered why there was a giant trampoline on its side, but it turned out to be a map of Brugge made of lace.
I love the buildings and the canals!
And this little passage way between the buildings:
When we arrived at the main square, I was thrilled to see that the Christmas Market had not disappeared – it had been replaced by a regular market (complete with waffles).
A real horse for Wendy:
Some guests had told me that they’d splurged on a horse-drawn carriage ride and it was awesome.
We had some free time (but not enough for a buggy ride).
In the YouTube video I’d watched about my cruise (which I mentioned in my last Rotterdam post), the guy had visited a bakery in Brugge that I had to find – it was right off the main square! It was called Aux Merveilleux.
Here is what it looks like inside:
I ordered a brioche (their specialty). There were too many options. I chose the one with raisins and sugar. Then, on a whim I ordered the special Aux Merveilleux drink. I had no idea what that was. The guy behind the counter asked if I wanted it as a hot chocolate or an Americano. Since I was trying to detox from caffeine, and I was in Belgium, I went with the hot chocolate. I placed my order and went upstairs to wait.
My order arrived. This was the drink:
There was meringue on top AND a surprise meringue in the middle. The chocolate chips slowly slid down as they melted into the hot chocolate.
I was in heaven. I’m so glad I made it to this place because the next couple of times I went to Brugge it was closed. Their other desserts looked amazing too, but I had more things I wanted to do!
I had just enough time to go to the Frietmuseum around the corner (Yes. A museum dedicated to fries) which I had also learned about from the The YouTube video. I breezed through it.
Apparently, fries were invented in Belgium. During WWII, some American soldiers came across some Belgian soldiers (who were speaking french) who shared their frites with them. The Americans went home and called them French Fries. But they’re not French.
And at the end there was a fry shop. I ordered the fries with five mystery sauces.
That evening , back on the ship they served my favorite food that MSC offers – Aubergine Parmigiana. How is it different from Eggplant Parmesan? The eggplant is sliced so thin that it resembles lasagna (but instead of noodles, it’s eggplant) with so much cheese! It reminded me of a dish I fell in love with at a restaurant in Washington Heights near Amanda’s apartment. Once I found this dish, I marked my calendar for Wednesdays so I could order three of these instead of ordering a main dish.
Flanders
The next week I did a tour of the outskirts of Brugge. We visited a small town that was cute – and very cold. I found a cozy little restaurant and ordered some soup.
This had been the local church at one point:
We drove by the walls of Brugge:
And then we went to visit a castle! Well it was actually a really rich family’s countryside estate. They lived in the city most of the time and escaped to this place when it got too hot.
Which faced this house:
We ended the tour at a chocolate shop loaded samples. I obviously tried all of them and then went back for seconds of my favorites. I bought some too (all of which have long since been devoured).