Chocolate Lovers:
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| Chocolate festival in Bruges |
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| Blind taste test at the Chocolate Festival. I didn't quite understand all the clowns in blackface. |
Waffle Lovers:
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| Enjoying the very best waffle ever! |
French Fry Lovers:
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| Belgian frites |
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| Outside the French Fry Museum |
Beer Lovers:
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| The Beer Temple |
History Lovers:
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| Outside the Gruthouse Museum |
Scenery Lovers:
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| Beautiful Bruges |
After an amazing weekend I can say that I am officially in love with Bruges.
I love chocolate, waffles, french fries, beer and all of those pictures!
ReplyDeletestopping by from sits!
Lovely! I like Bruges!
ReplyDeleteI (dutch woman living in Sydney for a while) read your blog regularly and I had to laugh about the clown with the black face. I will fill you in a bit. They are called 'Zwarte Piet' (=Black Peter) and part of a very Dutch/Flemish tradition a bit similar to Santa Claus. Every year in the middle of November 'Sinterklaas' arrives with his black peters from Spain to prepare for his birthday on the 5th/6th of december (he is like 300+). It's particular a nice tradition for children as these figures bring little gifts to all the houses during these weeks. Instead of a sock they will leave a shoe near the fire place at night. This culminates into a bag of gifts on the night of the 5th (in the NL) or the morning of the 6th (Belgium).
More on: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sinterklaas
wow looks so awesome!! adding it to my "must travel to" list :)
ReplyDeleteand great, now i want chocolate, french fries and to go to europe!
marieke- Thank you so much for sharing the information about Black Peter! We were completely baffled by them but now it makes sense. It's so fun to learn about traditions all around the world. Cheers!
ReplyDeleteChocolate festival sounds heavenly. And, that smile on your girl's face... love, love, love. Such an awesome picture!!
ReplyDeleteYou must have had a great time. It looks fabulous. And best of all for me was the pic of the 3 kids. Even Reid was grinning. Arms crossed, yes, but a grin at least. Can't wait to see them!
ReplyDeleteOh, your frites and canal pictures bring back memories! I spent a semester in college studying in Amsterdam - they are very similar cities.
ReplyDeleteThe "clowns" are Zwarte Piet, or Black Peter, which is Santa's helper/elf in the Netherlands and Belgium. I first saw them in The Netherlands around Christmas time (St Nick's day is Dec 6th so they start to appear a little early) I was told that they were Moorish slaves who help Santa, but this article gives a few other possible explanations: http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/benelux/091201/black-pete-saint-nicholas-holland
Oops! Sorry; I hadn't realized that someone had already explained the Black Petes :)
ReplyDeleteLooks like a great visit. Glad to see you guys continuing your fun!
ReplyDeleteYou may be missing Australia but seem to be living a wonderful life in the Northern Hemisphere. Thanks for finding me. Following you now.
ReplyDeleteSnap! I am also in love with Bruges! It's actually where my brother in law is from and can you believe he's desperate to move back but my sister is having none of it!! It's shocking really, I would jump at the chance to live there! You are certainly making the most of being so close to Europe! good for you!
ReplyDeleteLove all of your European destinations! I've wanted to see Bruges ever since I saw the movie "In Bruges" (terrific movie, BTW). Perhaps the black face clowns have something in common with Holland's black Santas as written about by David Sedaris in this hilarious story: http://www.esquire.com/features/ESQ1202-DEC_SEDARIS
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