... :: Beautiful Brugge ::...

Christiana woke up ready to explore Brugge for her birthday!
With her buddy Vanessa

When you pop off the train the first thing you come upon is a mountain of bikes ... the preferred mode of transportation.

Some history of Brugge, Belgium ... it is the capital and largest city of the province of West Flanders in the Flemish Region of Belgium - north west of Brussels. It is sometimes referred to as the "Venice of the North" because of its canals. It is beautiful.
The Gothic architecture is stunning

My cousin Susan just happen to be in the neighborhood, well in Amsterdam, and she met us there for the day. It was wonderful having her along!

We took a canal boat tour and the guide pointed out architecture and historical sights.

It was stunning scenery

A little Flemish and a little Dutch We toured the Church of Our Lady and saw the original Modonna of Brugges by Michelangelo - the statue of Mary with baby Jesus. There are ten replicas throughout the city placed on the outside of the buildings to add to the architecture.

We lite a candle and said a prayer ...

And of course saw and tasted the famous Belgian chocolates ... delicious

We couldn't get enough of the sights ... or the frites :) It turned out to be a wonderful day for all of us

And after saying goodbye to Susan and heading back to Brussels... Vanessa blessed Christiana with a wonderful birthday dinner, cake and celebration.

Thank you so much Craig and Jean, Vanessa and the guys for blessings us with a wonderful start on our trip! We loved spending time with you and seeing your life in Europe. We miss you already.

~~ next up ... Cambridge and seeing Corinne! ~~