In Which the City is Inundated with Some Kind of Crazy

This morning, after breakfast, I had decided to go visit the sites that are rather farther away from the center of the city; namely the old medieval gates and the windmills. I wandered through town to get to the Ghent Gate, which is in the south of the city. Along the way I passed through the old fish-market (which was being used to sell fish today, actually!) and found a beautiful park right next to another pretty church. The Gate itself is only open upon request, so I didn't go in, but I took pictures and got to see the drawbridge just beyond it open to let a canal barge through, which was cool. Then I walked kind of generally in the direction of the windmills on the East edge of the city. Along the way I met an adorable, friendly calico cat, who let me pet him and was really affectionate. He followed me for a little bit after I went to leave, before running away from somebody walking their dog.

I quickly realised, unfortunately, that I wasn't where I should've been and was very close to being lost. I wasn't worried, since it wasn't like I was on any kind of schedule, so I just wandered around and consulted the map a few times until I found the way to the mills. There are two on that end of town, right by the Kruispoort (one of the other gates around Bruges). The first one I saw was the Koeleweimolen, and then just north of it was the Sint-Janshuismolen (a molen is a mill, apparently). The wind was (as one would expect) very strong up on the hills on which the windmills stood, but the view was very pretty. After seeing them and the Kruispoort, I headed back towards the center for lunch.

I ended up eating at this little restaurant on the other side of the canal near the Burg. I had more soup for my entrée, and then Flemish Beef Stew for my main dish. It was very good; they don't serve it in a bowl like you would expect with stew. Instead it's a plate, with chunks of beef and the thick stew broth/sauce poured all over it, with fries on the side. It's supposed to be a traditional dish, and I really enjoyed it. Then my dessert ended up being crème brulée, which was also very good. The waiter and I had a pleasant little conversation about traveling in Europe and various things, and he said if I wanted I could stay and talk longer and keep him company I could, but I figured I should go do things, and I'd get restless if I just sat there.

As I was getting up, the weirdest sort of musician-thing came into the little square; he was driving a little vehicle, which was basically a full brass band all operated by just him, and he was playing and singing. It was really cool, but really random! Then when I walked around the corner, there was another guy singing "Breakfast at Tiffany's", with a little cart that had puppets and stuff. Also, the entire day as I've been going around, the whole town seems to have been overrun with old people in big groups, and there are big signs and bright green flags that say "Okra" on them. I assume it's some kind of big tour company that does programs for the elderly, but they're literally everywhere, with their name tags around their neck.

I ended up going back to a little chocolate shop in the Burg for more chocolate for souvenirs and gifts, and then went back to my hotel and took a nap for a bit. I didn't wake up for a while, and then passed some time adding pictures and stuff to facebook, and didn't realise what time it was until it was already 10pm, and all the restaurants were closed. So I fell back on room service again, and ordered something called "Shrimp Croquettes". They ended up being little corn dog-shaped breaded things, with some kind of blended shrimp/sauce thing inside. There was a salad and bread (with butter this time) to go with it, which was okay, but the croquettes themselves were very meh. I also realised that I had been in Belgium and hadn't tried any beer, so I decided to try some of the "Jupiler" that they had in the minibar (which is apparently a very popular Belgian beer; thanks, Wikipedia!) ... which turned out to be kind of gross. I'm not a beer person, so I didn't really expect to like it anyway, but after a couple swallows I switched to Coke.

Around 11pm, I decided to head out and look at Bruges by night, since I hadn't gone and wandered at night before. I wasn't really worried about safety; the concierge woman had told me that Bruges is actually very safe at night, and you shouldn't have to take any more than normal common sense precautions. The reason it's safe, of course, is that there aren't any tourists, and all the people who work in the tourism industry are mostly in bed, so all you get are the odd small group or couple walking to somewhere. After the lively nightlife in Tours, I was a little surprised.

I walked down the street I'd been normally taking to get to the Markt, and took some pictures of the Cathedral of Our Lady and the Belfry. I did have a couple of guys in a firetruck stop and say something to me in Flemish; I think they were just making fun of me for being a tourist and taking pictures, so I ignored them and they went away. Then I went around, still taking my pictures and just enjoying the quiet of everything with almost no other people around. When I got back to my room, I decided to take advantage of the fact that the hotel bathroom had a tub, and I ran myself a hot bath and just relaxed with some music for a bit, before going to bed. All in all, a good ending to my Bruges experience. :)