Arrival In Bruges

Monday, May 11, 2009. Before any details of our day are laid out, I want to mention that on another May 11th, twenty-five years ago, in 1984, in New York City, in a suite, in the Algonquin Hotel, there was a cocktail party where two young strangers, Wes and Marlow,  met for the first time. Today is our 25th anniversary.  And Brugge, we are pleased to discover, is a memorable place to spend it. Our train departed last night from Copenhagen. It was an overnighter. The fold down cots were comfortable, but no amount of comfort could smooth the lurching of the train. It made a lot of stops, all through the night, and each one was like an alarm clock going off. At 7 a.m. we sleepily changed trains in Cologne. Wes and Roland ran fast to see a grand old large historic church adjacent to the train station and made it back in time to hop on board.   At 9:00 a.m. we changed trains in Brussels. It rained through most of the journey, but when, at 10:30 a.m., we arrived in Brugge it was "sunshine and blue skies" with a crisp and refreshing chill in the air. Historic Brugge, which has been designated by UNESCO a World Heritage Site, is somewhat egg-shaped, defined by an oval  canal that circles the old town, which is, in size, maybe one-mile wide by one-and-a-half-miles long. When the taxi from the train station entered the old town it was like magic wand had been waved and "poof" the dreary urban-scape transformed abruptly into an enchanted fairy tale village. We are in the 2nd-floor corner suite of the (3-story, 8-room), Duc de Bourgogne Hotel, a picturesque old structure poking out of the water where two canals come together. Our room, a comfortable size, has a large bed, a sofa, coffee table, two chairs and six large windows through which we can see beautiful elements of Brugge.  Roland's room is directly above us. And Sam's is two doors down the hall. We had a late lunch at a family owned restaurant, Den Dyver, in a centuries old room with a lightly updated modern touch. Impressive gleaming-crystal-long-stemmed glasses on the table made the most beautiful ringing tones when touched together. The glasses were used for beers which were artisanal and from the region and poured by the owner  with pride and over-the-top oral descriptions (ha! I should talk, why use 1 word when 10 will do). The food was interesting (shrimp crusted salmon, a local cheese assortment, rhubarb dessert) and tasty. Dinner on anniversary night was in an okay establishment, a place that had once served good food to Audrey Hepburn (1957), but has since then slipped into tourist mode...no thumbs up, no thumbs down. So we saved the start of anniversary celebration until tomorrow night. Till then.......