I am sitting here in my twin bed (what?!?) in my Paris hotel room in the early evening of Day 8 writing about Day 4 in Bruges! I would write more if I only had the time and energy, but I am hitting the ground running every morning and crawling into bed at night from exhaustion. The only thing I forgot to plan for was energy at the end of the day so I could share all the details of my trip.
The one thing I’ve learned is that I will get a sore throat and become ill when I cram in too much or when working through a stressful situation. The only thing that prevents that from happening is to stop and rest. Day 4 in Bruges was that day. It was raining (another common theme of this trip) so I just thought I would wander the streets (which is easy to do because I get lost all the time) in the morning and see what the day unfolded. What unfolded in this charming city…so quaint and delicate…was that it was clear that it was a perfect little town. I knew that there were a series of four windmills running alongside a canal and near my B&B. Fantastic! Except that it was windy and raining when I wanted to photograph them, so the best I could muster was this photo. What I love is the solution for mowing lawns on slopes!
A remote-controlled lawnmower! (I just looked at this image….trust me when I tell you that it was raining!)
By chance, I miraculously made my way to Bruges Markt and wandered around. I saw what I thought was a local Belgian resident sitting on this stoop, and I knew I wanted to photograph her. I immediately loved my image, and I approached her to show her the picture. I didn’t think she could speak English, but it turned out that she was an American tourist who was only resting her feet for a bit! She loved my image so much that she told me she was going to have her husband take the same shot of her when he returned. So glad I could help! What?
Before I left for my trip, one of the first things I wanted to was to go on a canal ride. However, as soon as I saw the hordes of tourists lining up, for some reason, I just knew that I didn’t want that to be a part of my trip. Have I done touristy things on this trip? Absolutely. Perhaps my reasoning was that I preferred to walk along the canals so I could see the exquisite details of each town. But I also might have in the back of mind that I will save my canal ride for when I’m in Venice.
I made my way back to the B&B and took a long nap and only headed out to eat an early dinner. On the way home from dinner, the sun peeked out just for a moment.
I slept well that night, despite my having a nap. I packed up for my next adventure, heading to Brussels. I had no idea what an amazing day it would be.
9 Comments