{"id":48,"date":"2024-11-04T09:36:13","date_gmt":"2024-11-04T09:36:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/scottysblog.com\/birthday-bruges\/"},"modified":"2024-11-04T09:36:13","modified_gmt":"2024-11-04T09:36:13","slug":"birthday-bruges","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/scottysblog.com\/home\/birthday-bruges\/","title":{"rendered":"Birthday Bruges"},"content":{"rendered":"

Just back from a 4-night break to Bruges for this year\u2019s birthday. Amazing how another one has rolled round, always rather chuffed when it does for obvious reasons.<\/p>\n

Bruges was a good call, as was booking quite a bit of stuff beyond it as well. Very cute old town, quite Dutch in style of architecture so I had to keep reminding myself that I was in fact in Belgium, oddly, the country of my Mum\u2019s birth. Canals, boats, old squares, triangular buildings, quirky chimneys etc etc.<\/p>\n

\"ED8AB488-CADD-4911-83EC-3683B1606D0C_1_105_c\"<\/a> <\/p>\n

\"0EE33499-AAD2-48CA-B79F-C94B559A7A58_1_105_c\"<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"9E436800-B568-4207-9200-52F66225AB8E_1_105_c\"<\/a><\/p>\n

<\/a>\"2B0E02AB-EB15-43BB-B336-0D3C4AAC14E8_1_105_c\"<\/a><\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"C5457B64-A5F8-495B-87A7-D5B99B76A6FB_1_105_c\"<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

We did LOTS of wandering about, as you do. 13-16k steps a day as we took in old beer cellars (H very keen on those, even with their 6-11% strength chewy beers), plus the many old buildings, old churches, old canals and basically old stuff.<\/p>\n

\"8DF075A7-A350-41C8-8CBE-BCDFE2F1D886_1_105_c\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"5FF8FF6B-CC67-4E55-85DD-8E5F50C7BCE5_1_105_c\"<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Intrepid travellers that we are, we took the train to Ghent on Tues and are still laughing at the rather lovely way they play old theme tunes before the announcements. We were treated to the Muppets theme tune (hoping it wasn\u2019t meant just for us) and a bit of the Pink Panther on our trip. The Belgians didn\u2019t even notice.. On arrival, Ghent was \u2013 rainy and grey. With lots of pretty buildings again and a very nice goats cheese & Belgian frites lunch. But at least we bought a couple of Crimbo ornaments (not a traditional Ghent highlight perhaps?) and we tried.<\/p>\n

\"057710E2-AE46-4D03-8EFF-947D64A5BDAF_1_105_c\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"5C736725-EA96-4965-8AC9-6ED79954CF66_1_105_c\"<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

For my birthday we went Belgian chocolate making \u2013 and eating. A fine amount of the liquid brown yummy stuff was on offer, so we each came out with a box of mediants (the flat choc discs with fruit\/nuts stuck on them) and pralines filled with fruit\/nut, caramel sauce etc, finished with a sprinkling of salt. Mmm-mmm. Had a lightish lunch in a very cute Toast place (chicken bao on mine) and then snored my way through a 90 min Thai massage given by a woman with hands like a giant boa constrictor.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"EABC85DE-E976-456F-8A67-31E56FA67937_1_105_c\"<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Dinner out was\u2026. a bit \u2018Belgian\u2019. We found our three \u2018posher\u2019 dinners a tad underwhelming (mirroring the Dutch style of not fab cooking) and preferred the rib restaurant on our last night, where you could nosh meat to your heart\u2019s content and pay for the cheapo red wine on the table by the centimetre!<\/p>\n

\"147C9A68-8E7B-48EB-9EE6-8877070E6D7E_1_105_c\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"1B00C641-3AE7-4DCC-A1A8-8391009C009B_1_105_c\"<\/a>
\"1B00C641-3AE7-4DCC-A1A8-8391009C009B_1_105_c\"<\/a> \"1B00C641-3AE7-4DCC-A1A8-8391009C009B_1_105_c\"<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"7F74A16A-6CDA-4083-9D37-8CEC526F2405_1_105_c\"<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"4721AB67-978F-40F3-B90F-9F376A04BBF5_1_105_c\"<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Thurs we spent on a full day – and obviously rather sobering – tour to Flanders Fields. Plugged a large hole in my knowledge bank about the Great War, as it turns out I know a fair bit about WW2 but cock all about the cause and developments of WW1.<\/p>\n

It was run by a very knowledgeable Belgian chap, covering the cemeteries of the main countries involved, an explanation of the all-important topography (who knew?), plus bunkers, unexploded shells that the farmers still turf up regularly, a very good museum (rare words from me) and many of the monuments that are so beautifully maintained by the War Commissions. Well done Belgium for keeping this all live today to commemorate our past.<\/p>\n

Most amazing was how small a distance the front line moved during those 4 years – I'd vaguely assumed that the war had swept across entire countries, but much of it was fought in Belgium over a few hundred metres of turf. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

On Fri, we had a final pootle round 3-4 windmills on the edge of Bruges, plus a cheeky Belgian waffle (obvs compulsory) and were then back on the train. Cathy & the girls were staying so had a good natter with her watching Strictly and a good kip back in our bed, nice x<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Just back from a 4-night break to Bruges for this year\u2019s birthday. Amazing how another one has rolled round, always rather chuffed when it does for obvious reasons. Bruges was a good call, as was booking quite a bit of stuff beyond it as well. Very cute old town, quite Dutch in style of architecture […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-48","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nBirthday Bruges - Welcome to Scottys Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/scottysblog.com\/home\/birthday-bruges\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Birthday Bruges - Welcome to Scottys Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Just back from a 4-night break to Bruges for this year\u2019s birthday. Amazing how another one has rolled round, always rather chuffed when it does for obvious reasons. Bruges was a good call, as was booking quite a bit of stuff beyond it as well. Very cute old town, quite Dutch in style of architecture […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/scottysblog.com\/home\/birthday-bruges\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Welcome to Scottys Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2024-11-04T09:36:13+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/scottysblog.typepad.com\/.a\/6a0105359a4116970b02c8d3c28013200c-320wi\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Scotty Hawkes\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Scotty Hawkes\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/scottysblog.com\\\/home\\\/birthday-bruges\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/scottysblog.com\\\/home\\\/birthday-bruges\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Scotty Hawkes\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/scottysblog.com\\\/home\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/357bb657ac2d0982bd38d2258e558f5f\"},\"headline\":\"Birthday Bruges\",\"datePublished\":\"2024-11-04T09:36:13+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/scottysblog.com\\\/home\\\/birthday-bruges\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":605,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/scottysblog.com\\\/home\\\/birthday-bruges\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/scottysblog.typepad.com\\\/.a\\\/6a0105359a4116970b02c8d3c28013200c-320wi\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/scottysblog.com\\\/home\\\/birthday-bruges\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/scottysblog.com\\\/home\\\/birthday-bruges\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/scottysblog.com\\\/home\\\/birthday-bruges\\\/\",\"name\":\"Birthday Bruges - Welcome to Scottys Blog\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/scottysblog.com\\\/home\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/scottysblog.com\\\/home\\\/birthday-bruges\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/scottysblog.com\\\/home\\\/birthday-bruges\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/scottysblog.typepad.com\\\/.a\\\/6a0105359a4116970b02c8d3c28013200c-320wi\",\"datePublished\":\"2024-11-04T09:36:13+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/scottysblog.com\\\/home\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/357bb657ac2d0982bd38d2258e558f5f\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/scottysblog.com\\\/home\\\/birthday-bruges\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/scottysblog.com\\\/home\\\/birthday-bruges\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/scottysblog.com\\\/home\\\/birthday-bruges\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/scottysblog.typepad.com\\\/.a\\\/6a0105359a4116970b02c8d3c28013200c-320wi\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/scottysblog.typepad.com\\\/.a\\\/6a0105359a4116970b02c8d3c28013200c-320wi\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/scottysblog.com\\\/home\\\/birthday-bruges\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/scottysblog.com\\\/home\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Birthday Bruges\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/scottysblog.com\\\/home\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/scottysblog.com\\\/home\\\/\",\"name\":\"Welcome to Scottys Blog\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/scottysblog.com\\\/home\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/scottysblog.com\\\/home\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/357bb657ac2d0982bd38d2258e558f5f\",\"name\":\"Scotty Hawkes\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Scotty Hawkes\"},\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/scottysblog.com\\\/home\\\/author\\\/scotty-hawkes\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Birthday Bruges - Welcome to Scottys Blog","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/scottysblog.com\/home\/birthday-bruges\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Birthday Bruges - Welcome to Scottys Blog","og_description":"Just back from a 4-night break to Bruges for this year\u2019s birthday. Amazing how another one has rolled round, always rather chuffed when it does for obvious reasons. Bruges was a good call, as was booking quite a bit of stuff beyond it as well. Very cute old town, quite Dutch in style of architecture […]","og_url":"https:\/\/scottysblog.com\/home\/birthday-bruges\/","og_site_name":"Welcome to Scottys Blog","article_published_time":"2024-11-04T09:36:13+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"https:\/\/scottysblog.typepad.com\/.a\/6a0105359a4116970b02c8d3c28013200c-320wi","type":"","width":"","height":""}],"author":"Scotty Hawkes","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Scotty Hawkes","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/scottysblog.com\/home\/birthday-bruges\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/scottysblog.com\/home\/birthday-bruges\/"},"author":{"name":"Scotty Hawkes","@id":"https:\/\/scottysblog.com\/home\/#\/schema\/person\/357bb657ac2d0982bd38d2258e558f5f"},"headline":"Birthday Bruges","datePublished":"2024-11-04T09:36:13+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/scottysblog.com\/home\/birthday-bruges\/"},"wordCount":605,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/scottysblog.com\/home\/birthday-bruges\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/scottysblog.typepad.com\/.a\/6a0105359a4116970b02c8d3c28013200c-320wi","inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/scottysblog.com\/home\/birthday-bruges\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/scottysblog.com\/home\/birthday-bruges\/","url":"https:\/\/scottysblog.com\/home\/birthday-bruges\/","name":"Birthday Bruges - Welcome to Scottys Blog","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/scottysblog.com\/home\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/scottysblog.com\/home\/birthday-bruges\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/scottysblog.com\/home\/birthday-bruges\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/scottysblog.typepad.com\/.a\/6a0105359a4116970b02c8d3c28013200c-320wi","datePublished":"2024-11-04T09:36:13+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/scottysblog.com\/home\/#\/schema\/person\/357bb657ac2d0982bd38d2258e558f5f"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/scottysblog.com\/home\/birthday-bruges\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/scottysblog.com\/home\/birthday-bruges\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/scottysblog.com\/home\/birthday-bruges\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/scottysblog.typepad.com\/.a\/6a0105359a4116970b02c8d3c28013200c-320wi","contentUrl":"https:\/\/scottysblog.typepad.com\/.a\/6a0105359a4116970b02c8d3c28013200c-320wi"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/scottysblog.com\/home\/birthday-bruges\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/scottysblog.com\/home\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Birthday Bruges"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/scottysblog.com\/home\/#website","url":"https:\/\/scottysblog.com\/home\/","name":"Welcome to Scottys Blog","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/scottysblog.com\/home\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/scottysblog.com\/home\/#\/schema\/person\/357bb657ac2d0982bd38d2258e558f5f","name":"Scotty Hawkes","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Scotty Hawkes"},"url":"https:\/\/scottysblog.com\/home\/author\/scotty-hawkes\/"}]}},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/scottysblog.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/scottysblog.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/scottysblog.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scottysblog.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scottysblog.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=48"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/scottysblog.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/scottysblog.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=48"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scottysblog.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=48"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scottysblog.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=48"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}