"In Bruges"

Our first full day in Bruges started off with a lazy morning in our hotel room. I [Derek] had a coughing fit overnight after taking too many cough drops on the train and having the audacity to try to speak. So I woke up some 13 odd times overnight and felt poorly in the morning. There's nothing better than the anticipation of a day with your beautiful wife in an other-wordly beautiful city, and the promise of Chez Albert waffles, to get you in the mood to go exploring, though! Soon we were off.

Hitting the streets, we soon realized perhaps the only true downside of Bruges... there were tourists everywhere! The Lanyard Herds (as Kendra hilariously dubbed lanyard-wearing tourist tour groups) were migrating in mass to Bruges and we immediately learned that early mornings for tourist sights were a necessity. At many instances it was hard to even walk along the sidewalk, such were the throngs of elderly sight-seers. Fortunately, we were barely noticing as the stunning towers of the Church of Our Lady, the Cathedral, and the Belfry stole our attention.

First things first, we headed to the beautiful street connecting the main market, or Markt, with the Burg square. Along this road is Chez Albert, which is really the Louvre of waffle making, only you get to eat the art! Kendra demonstrated her class by tastefully ordering an original plain waffle, while I surprised no one in ordering the chocolate. My waffle was presented doused in liquid Belgian chocolate, and complete with a Belgian flag. I was quickly considering changing nationalities and defecting to Belgium after my first bite. The Belgian waffle is a different beast altogether. It should be served hot (take note, Amsterdam bakeries). We ate our waffles and we wept, wept for joy that something so delicious exists in the world, and for sadness, that our family could not share in this deliciousness.

Wandering back over to the Markt, we went into the courtyard of the Belfry, or Bell tower for the Cathedral, so that we could check it out. We like to joke that Bruges is free to enter, but everything costs 10 Euro in the city, and the Belfry was no exception. The Belfry in Bruges is the second tallest in Europe and presents a commanding view of the city. Kendra boldly made the trek up the 366 steps to the top. She was able to take video of the winding, narrow staircase, record images of the massive music drum that orchestrates the +30 bells up top, and take in a beautiful view. If you go, remember to get there early as locals told us not to wait in line (it takes forever) but to merely circle back another day. I waited in the courtyard and it was easy to pass the time studying the exquisite tower. Three nice Spanish ladies were losing a battle to take a group selfie, and I spoke with them in Spanish and got a nice group shot, told them the tower's name in Spanish, and was called "a youth," so that was a personal win. I taught them the Kendra/Craig technique of taking a portrait photo in the dark in front of a brightly lit monument by focusing on the monument in the background then using the flash (a Kendra pro tip; traveling with a photography enthusiast has its perks!), but they merely asked me to switch the camera back to automatic flash. Tragic.

Wandering around the city, you'll be enthralled by the architecture only to be briefly accosted by the random smell of sewage. The open drains beneath the roads (alongside the lanyard herds) are the only sensory offenses of this gorgeous city.

 Undeterred by the sewage smell, and with Kendra having worked off her waffle climbing the Belfry, we wandered for a lunch of beer and fries. We found a "ontbijt lunch tearoom" cafe by the statue of famous Flemish primitive painter Jan Van Eyck and received lovely service and a tasty meal. I got an omeletten met ham and kaas (ham and cheese omelette) with huisgemaakte frietjes (homemade fries) while Kendra enjoyed some fancy gehaktbalen (Flemish style meatballs) with a salad. We decided to try our hand at being beer snobs and assessed our palate for fine Belgian beer. I ordered my little brother's favorite beer, Hoegaarden, and in an homage to his reputation as a connoisseur, described it as a beer, "for the discerning Belgian beer enthusiast; a smooth, easy drinking beer that's heavy on flavor." Kendra ordered the town favorite Brugse Zot, which she poetically described as tasting, "like September covered in lemons," but it wasn't her favorite.

 For the rest of the very warm afternoon (it was something like 32C/90F heat!), we wandered around the city and saw the Church of Our Lady, St John's Hospital and Chapel, and walked around the outside of the Cathedral as well as the beautiful Burg building. We'd explore most of these monuments in more detail later.

 Wandering around for dinner, we found a packed pub with 400 beers! The Cambrinus Bierbrasserie, named after the false god of beers (hey, if you're going to be a false god of something that's not a bad pick). To the disdain of our waitresses, we requested to split a Beer Sampler and a three course menu. This was a phenomenal way to try multiple beers without getting smashed (like the British soccer fans visiting Bruges) and have an appropriate amount of food. While delicious and a lot of fun, it felt like we were blacklisted by the initially friendly and extremely busy waitresses. We enjoyed our exile, though, slowly sipping our multiple beers! The Beer sampler included a cactus beer (green and very sweet), a blonde (lemony), a brown (dark in color but not in taste), and a triple (pleasantly bitter, with a flavor that's difficult to describe.... ). The sampler was great, and our three course meal impressed as well, with a fried cheese appetizer, delicious Flemish stew main course, and a beer-infused creme brulee for desert.