Bruges

Hooray!  Sock Monkey & P are off on a little holiday.  Tomorrow we are going to Bruges. We're staying in a lovely 4* hotel which has a sauna, steam tub & jacuzzi and overlooks one of the canals.

The Christmas Market is on so we'll be wandering through that trying to find nice things to buy. Then we will visit the Markt area and attempt to climb the Belfort (bell tower which has 366 stairs!).  I quite fancy having a look in the Basilica of the Holy Blood the interior of which is described as 'bizarre'. We also plan to visit Engels Klooster which is an English convent. You ring the doorbell and a nun answers and lets you in!  I'm also looking forward to visiting the Groeninge museum which has a collection of paintings by Hieronymus Bosch, including 'The Last Judgement'. I do like Bosch and his weird paintings.

We are going on Eurostar and so have to go to Brussels first.  We have some spare time there so I want to visit the Musee de la Ville de Bruxelles.  Several time a year the Manneken-Pis (the statue of the little peeing boy) is dressed.  Yep they put clothes on him.  In fact they have a dedicated dresser who designs and makes his clothes.  It all started in the 18th century when the statue was stolen and left outside a brothel.  Louis XV apologised and offered the statue an outfit to make up for his embarrassment. So his first outfit was a gold brocade suit.  Henceforth the little statue was presented with costumes 4 times a year and so far he has accumulated 784 different outfits.  These include an Elvis Style jumpsuit and a Cosmonaut's space suit. Nowadays he gets a new outfit roughly every month. Anyone can propose a costume and each proposal goes before a committee. Once accepted the little statue is dressed at a formal ceremony where he turns his pee into wine.  How on earth could I miss this!

And of course I have to bring back some Belgian food.

I shall give you a full report on my return!