on Brugge

I am staying at a very nice little hotel in the old part of Brugge. My tiny room is on the top 3rd floor, up a very narrow and steep winding stairwell with what I observed to be a very rickety railing. One quick stumble and you and your backpack would crash right through it to land on the faded and worn carpet below. The room has one little wood framed bed, one little desk and one little chair. On the other side there is a small sweet wardrobe. There is also a little window with a little view. You know that Van Gogh painting? That's my room, but smaller.
The hostel has a resident dog; a Sharpie named Sophia that is, get this, having her period so she walks around with a special diaper on. Interesting. I would have rather had a resident cat, but you can't have everything. I do have free Internet and a kitchen to use. Tonight's dinner incidentally is spinach tortellini with bolognese sauce, bread and boursin. Which is highly anticipated after the ride I have had.

I rented a bicycle and rode all over Brugge. I had to stop and buy a shoulder bag to carry my camera, maps, notebook and pen. My feet don't hurt now but my ass does after all the cobblestones I encountered. I rode all the way to nearby Damme. It's about 1/2 hour. It was just about the nicest thing ever. Riding along a canal on a tree lined narrow rode in the Belgium countryside trying to remember the words for "in Flanders's field's, the poppies grow row on row...". The view was something else. I passed 3 windmills. I seriously thought I would see a Flemish nun milking a cow in wooden shoes. It was incredibly picturesque.

And then I happened upon Little Bow Peep instead, except she wasn't wearing a flouncy dress, but she did have the curved walking stick and a bunch of bleating sheep. They were all along the road munching the clover. Of course, I got off the bike and took lots of pictures of the little lambs with their pink ears. All these sheep just walked around me and you could reach out and pet the wee ones. You know, they aren't as soft as they look. But one of them left behind a woolen fleece tangled on a bit of a branch and I thought about collecting it to stuff between my toes for comfort, but do my feet need to smell THAT bad?

Damme was damn boring. If they filmed a movie there, I couldn't find anyplace worthy of a location scout. It was full of quaint houses, and perfect lawns. No canals really, just some swamp water. I stopped in a off the beaten track (and you didn't have to go far) place for something to eat. Everything seemed to have meat in it so I settled for a glass of coke and asked for a big bottle of water. I get a 1 litre GLASS bottle of water. How am I supposed to transport that?? I drank the whole thing and the coke. The bill was 8 Euro. I left Damme and 1/2 hr later headed for the first bathroom I could find.

Now, I'm settling in for a relaxing evening and an early night. Tomorrow are the street markets and some regular sightseeing. Did you know the blood of Christ is here in Brugge? No, me neither, but I think I may try and see it.