Brugges Christmas Market

Sunday morning, my roommates and I were up and off on another trip! This time it we took a bus to Brugges, Belgium, that one of the schools had rented. It's funny how close Belgium is on the map, yet it's so difficult to get there without a car. The French and Belgian train lines don't really link up very well.

Anyway, Brugges is really charming. Flemish architecture. Horse-drawn carriages. Chocolate shops everywhere you look. Canals. Some people herald it the Venice of the North. But at least 8 other cities claim this title including Amiens and Valenciennes (what a joke!). There must not be an international copyright on it. They set up an ice skating rink in the town square, but I didn't get to go before the rain started. I'm fascinated with the idea of being able to ice skate outdoors.

We strolled around the city and the Christmas markets. By this time, you must be sensing a trend. Every town has a Marche du Noel. And they all want people to think theirs is the best. But really each one is almost identical and not spectacular thus far. Germany is supposed to be King of the Christmas Market, not France. So each market will have two parts, a food part and a gift part. The food stalls sell waffles, hot chocolate, Irish coffee, mulled wine, sausages, and street food. I sort of got burned at this point--figuring Belgium was famous for chocolate and waffles so they would be spectacular, I ordered them... and the results were disappointing. Should have stuck with a restaurant. The rest of the little houses sell ornaments, scarves, gloves, socks, soccer jerseys, cheese, African arts and crafts. You know, all the things that make a person think of Christmas in France.

It's been frustrating trying to find French Christmas artifacts to bring home. For some reason, everything says "Merry Christmas" on it. And all the Christmas carols are in English, too. Although some have been translated, including Jingle Bells and White Christmas.

I spent most of the day with Egle, the assistant from Italy, and she is teaching me Italian. She misses it a lot... we're lucky to have so many English speakers around, but no one else can speak Italian. Actually, in Northern Belgium near the Netherlands, it's more polite to speak English than French to the Dutch. And because it's so close to Germany, most things are in four languages. Also, I just learned that Holland and the Netherlands aren't synonymous. Holland was a historical part of the Netherlands, and now it's rude to refer to country as Holland.

We went in one chocolate shop called The Chocolate Line. They had a revolving nativity made out of chocolate. Also, the best chocolate I've ever eaten. Why didn't I buy more? The shop had a glass wall so you could watch the Meester Chocolatier concocting them in the back. That doesn't seem like a bad career path at all.