In Bruges

After Paris, we spent two days in Bruges, a city that we have wanted to visit for a long time. And, while it is a very pretty old city, it did not really live up to our expectations. In part, this was because the city is so driven by tourism that every other store is selling either chocolate, waffles, fries, beer or sourveniers. I mean, Belgian chocolate is very good, but we have no idea how so many chocolate shops can even survive in a small city.

One of the other problems we had in Bruges was that the weather was rather bad including signifcant rain and a cold wind. This photo is a pretty good representation of our time there.

That said, the main square of Bruges, dominated by the 270-foot. 13th century Belfry, is quite beautiful and impressive.

Part of the appeal of Bruges is just walking around the historic center and taking in the cobblestone streets and old buildings and bridges, all UNESCO World Heritage designated.

The one museum we visited in Bruges, the Groeningemuseum, has a fairly small, but impressive collection, of art from Bruges-based artists through the centuries.

We did get a few brief breaks in the bad weather, and one of those gave us a very nice view of Gentpoort (Ghent Gate), one of the gates from when Bruges was a walled city.

We will say that we ate very well in Bruges, as tourism tends to drive a high-quality and varied food scene. Typical Flemish cooking includes rich beef stew that warms the soul on a cold day.

Finally, for those who missed the reference, the title of this post refers to the 2008 film of the same name starring Colin Farrel. While not one of our favorite movies, it does have its charms, especially the scenery of the city.

More from Belgium soon.

Jeff and Shana

A Brief Stop in Paris

We started our current trip in Paris both because we love Paris and because it was an easy stop on the way to Belgium and the Netherlands, which are the primary destinations for this trip.

We arrived in Paris on a warm spring day, and after a lovely dinner that night at a French restaurant we had been trying to get to for years, we took a nice walk through the city. The Musee d'Orsay and the Seine looked gorgeous.

The next day, we went to two art exhibits. The first on the first Impressionist exhibition that took place in 1874 was at the Orsay. The exhibit included two parts: a collection of the art from that first exhibition, and a virtual reality experience that takes you inside the original exhibition and Paris of the 1870's. We felt the virtual reality experience was ok, but not really necessary and a bit cartoonish. Then, unfortunately, the exhibit itself was waaaay too crowded to actually enjoy the art. Overall we were disappointed. I did enjoy a quick trip through the museum's permanent Impressionist collection, which was busy, but not too crazy. While we were there, Shana got a great shot of Paris through the clock face, which appeared to have been recently cleaned (perhaps for the upcoming Olympics).

After the Orsay, it was such a nice day that we decided to walk over to the Picasso Museum. While we felt the newly organized Picasso collection exhibit was not the best that we have seen (and we have seen many), the relative quiet of the museum made it easy to enjoy the art, so we were glad we went.

Our second day we did two things we had never done before in Paris. First, we found Le Petite Ceinture (the little belt), a series of green areas along the outer edge of Paris that follow an old, now unused, train line. While we did enjoy walking one small section, we were disappointed by how broken up the sections were, which kept us from following the trail more, although we did take a long walk through non-touristy parts of the city we had never visited before.

Our next stop was the Grand Mosque of Paris. While not as spectacular as the mosques we visited in Malaysia, it was quite beautiful and had a fantastic garden.

We were interested to note that unlike the mosques we visited in Malaysia, the French mosque did not ask visitors to dress in full compliance with Muslin dress codes (particularly the requirement that women cover their heads). Perhaps it is the difference between a Muslim-majority country and one that is not.

Finally, as we rode the Metro to catch the train to Bruges, Belgium by way of Brussels, we had a very cute companion.

This Cavalier King Charles Spaniel was incredibly calm despite the fact that when he got on the car it was very crowded (lots of feet that could step on a little guy) -- he clearly is an expert at riding the Paris Metro.

More soon.

Jeff and Shana

A Weekend in Madrid with Friends

We spent the first weekend in April in Madrid. The impetus for the trip was to see Zoe, a dear friend’s daughter, who spent Spring Break with her high school choir touring and performing in Barcelona, Valencia, Toledo, and Madrid. Because we all had school trips like that, right? I remember going . . . oh, nowhere. Not even to Sacramento or Washington DC. We were happy to use the opportunity to see friends who live in Madrid and whom we hadn’t seen for a while.

We arrived on Thursday afternoon and met Nasia, a friend from Spanish school, and her husband Sariel at the Fundación Mapfre to see a Marc Chagall exhibition titled “A Cry of Freedom.” We’ve seen Chagall works in many places, yet this extensive display was uniquely curated to show the broad range of themes, styles and messages Chagall painted during his lengthy career. Most interesting were a group of paintings of crucifixion scenes that were intended as political statements regarding the plight of European Jews in the WWII era. We had never seen these paintings, being more familiar with Chagall’s more nostalgic, poetic, and supernatural works. Afterwards we enjoyed a walk through the city, dinner, and hanging out, drinking, and talking about world events in their apartment.

We met up with Zoe on Friday and showed her around the city and had a traditional Spanish lunch.

The highlight was seeing the Gunn High School Concert Choir’s performance. All their concert venues were churches, which made for a conventianal playlist. We enjoyed the gospel tunes most and were very impressed by the soloists and the acoustics.

Kudos to the teachers and chaperones for coordinating such a large group of teenagers.

We spent Saturday with Carlos, Ploy and Alex, who is now 16 months old. We also had the pleasure of meeting Ploy’s mom, who was visiting from Thailand. It was an enjoyable afternoon catching up and learning more about their lives in Madrid.

It was a perfect weekend trip – pleasant weather, easy train travel, and good company. You can’t ask for much more.

Hasta pronto,

Shana & Jeff