Bruges

I returned home and plunged into the typical post-vacation frenzy: mow the embarrassingly tall lawn, do the laundry, buy some food, pick up the cat. But if I don't capture the final days of my trip, I'll forget too much.

This is the famous globe-trotting family I visited. My brother and his family decided to quit their jobs and travel for a year. They happened to be in Europe this fall, so we arranged to meet in Bruges, Belgium. You can read all about their adventures here.

I have never been to Belgium. I was delighted that they had chosen a city in the Flemish-speaking part of the country, because my knowledge of German at least helps me read a bit, whereas I am completely lost with French.

We only had two days together, so we focused on the essentials: fries, beer, chocolate, and waffles. No one was up for eating mussels. I made the mistake of calling them French fries at one point, but I was gently (yet firmly) corrected by the Belgians that the term was not appreciated. Simply "fries" was enough.

This picture captures the most peaceful half hour I had on my entire vacation. Bruges is a small, picturesque medieval town. It is extremely popular with the tourists, and we watched them stream out of the train station each day, traveling from the nearby Brussels. The streets were jam packed. On Sunday morning, before all the day trippers arrived, I wandered around looking for a bakery. The only people out were a few bicyclists and the Jehovah's witnesses. It was silent and beautiful and I could finally imagine what it might have been like to live there hundreds of years ago.

My sister-in-law is not a big drinker, but she was willing to help out with my beer tasting. I liked everything we had, while she stuck to the lambic fruit beers. She was pleased to learn that they are also available in the US, so I think it likely that we'll indulge again in the future.

Me, happy in a beer store, but sad to be leaving Europe and my family.