Anyway..
Yesterday was the day that we ventured off to good ol Bruge. We actually went on a bus that was chartered through our base....so it was nice not having to do the three hour drive in MY car, lol
Despite our bus driver being 30ish minutes late, we still made really good time! He managed to get a parking a spot within a reasonable walking distance from the Ice Sculpture event. Keep in mind, the climate averaged 17*, so thank GOD we layered up with thermal gear before we left..even with that stuff on, we were quite on the chilly side.
This years theme was "Ice Age 3: Dawn of the Dinosaurs". I gotta say, I was VERY impressed with all the ice carvings! Here's some pic's:
Here's an overhead shot of the whole exibit that was in a borchure they gave us. You can kinda figure out which parts I was in when I was taking pictures, lol
This made me snicker considering this was in a brochure meant for kids:
I love how there's one random red head...then the last gal on the right is wearing a classy shell skirt, lol. Ahhh Europe, how I love thee..
This was the entry way into the exibit
I was totally inlove with this! Whoever was incharge of sculpting this did an amazing job! The bones came out of both sides of the ice blocks (the ice exibit was like a maze).
A conga line of three baby dino's
Sid the Sloth and three dino eggs
Eric was being a meanie pants and said this was an ice sculpture of my dachshund, Cole. I admit, Cole has gotten a lil on the chunky side, but come on!
t-rex
Peaches, the baby Mammoth
Between all of the other stampeding tourists, we managed to get a picture of all of us infront of Manny, Ellie and Peaches. See the guy on the right side of the pic? Yeah, he wasn't paying attention to his surroundings and kept walking infront of us every time we were about to have our pic taken. TOURISTS!
*RAWR*
Badass ice slide
She-Scrat
Ice bar
Now.... I knew before we left for the trip that it was gonn be chilly, but man....I was starting to lose feelings in my fingers ( I had cold weather gloves on, mind you ). There were parts of the day where I was ok with the cold, then there were parts where it was flat out freezing me to the core. By the time we got out of the ice exibit, the 17* weather outside felt WARM! lol
We were walking down one of the main streets in Bruge to find their Christmas market...then we stepped off a corner and saw this:
It's monsterous! I felt like I was practically breaking my neck to stare up at the bell tower!
Front part of the church
Comin' up on the market
The sky cleared up for just a few minutes.. was kinda random and weird, lol
After trollin' around downtown Bruge, we finally found a place that wasn't packed to the gills so we could get a bite to eat. I wish I could've taken pictures while we were inside, but I felt a lil out of place in there as it was, lol. The waitors were dressed in tuxes, VERY professional (as in terms of a 5 star restraunt) and very quick with taking care of any of your requests. Not only that, but the staff spoke atleast 3 different languages...English, French and Italian. The Matradee spoke ATLEAST 5 different languages. When you walked in, he greeted you and asked what your language preference is, then would seat you. When you were finished with your meal, he'd help you with your coat and talk to you in the language you told him you were comfortable with. From what I saw, he spoke English, Netherlander, Flemish, German, Italian, Spanish and French. Our particular waitor was such a sweetheart, I wanted to take him home, lol. He was French, but spoke pretty decent English...there were parts where he had a hard time translating, but he TRIED so hard! SUCH a nice guy!
Err.....our bill....
Once we were able to regain consciousness, we continued venturing around the centrum..
All in all, Bruge was VERY pretty to see. Although, VERY cold. Our whole reason for going to Bruge was to check out their Christmas market cause I heard how awesome it was, but, it was kind of a let down to me. In fact, I think Aachens Christmas market kicks a whole lotta ass compared to the other ones I've been to. I didn't even end up with my typical souvenier shot glass considering I couldnt find a store that had any. Most of the stores they had there were either over priced clothing stores, chocolatier places, or cafes. We chilled out in a cafe for about an hour considering we REALLY needed to defrost...tis' the Euro life, right? Overall, I was kinda disappointed with the shopping (for Christmas stuff) since the majority of the vendors that WERE there were either selling food, or hats / gloves.
SO, if we were to go back to Bruge, I'll most likely do it in the Spring..in the middle of the week when there isn't a hord of tourists. I can't tell you how many times I was bumped into the street due to people funneling down the sidewalk, which were already narrow as is. It was kind of a madhouse and it wasn't exactly plesant dealing with rude europeans shoving and jamming their way infront of me, behind me, and essentually giving me a physical when I wasnt entirely in the market for one.
Bruge is a lovely place, don't get me wrong, but I highly suggest that you don't go there during a weekend. Especially on a Christmas Market weekend.
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