Belgium Part 3

On Thursday, Marie, her parents, and I took the train to Bruges, which is about 20 minutes further northwest of Brussels than Ghent. Her parents took us to a very nice restaurant for lunch. Check out my dessert:

Homemade chocolate mousse. It was so rich and creamy and just perfect. I didn't get a picture of it, but after we had lunch, we went to a cathedral that has a real Michelangelo statue of Mary and the baby Jesus. I guess it is one of the few Michelangelos outside of Italy.

This is the square in Bruges. The really colorful houses on the far end are guild houses, and I thought they were so cute. This belfry is on the opposite side of the square. It dates from the 13th century. We could have gone up to the top, but we would have had to pay and it was cold, and none of us felt like climbing the 300-some steps, so we just took pictures.

This is a museum. We didn't go through the museums, just to the front desk to ask where the basilica was that we wanted to go to.

Of all the basilicas and cathedrals we went to, this was my favorite. It was called the Basilica of the Holy Blood. I loved how colorful it was.

The ceiling was wood paneled, which was different from all the other ones we visited.

Beautiful stained glass windows.

The painting at the front of the church behind the pulpit.

It reminds me of "The Nutcracker."

So I guess the name comes from what is believed to be some of the blood of Jesus which is kept there.

This is the "tabernacle" that holds the blood. After we got done here, we decided to try to catch the next train leaving for Brussels, which meant we had to walk very quickly to the train station. We actually ended up running half of the way. We got up to the platform right as the train was pulling in, so we all breathed a sigh of relief and got on. That night, Marie and I watched "Up" and talked for a couple hours in her room as she cleaned and organized (she was just getting back from 5 months in Germany for school). Friday morning, Marie had to run some errands, but I decided to stay at the apartment to get started packing. Then we went to her grandparents' house for lunch. They have a beautiful house full of wonderful old things and they are very sweet. Her grandpa doesn't speak any English, and her grandma not much, but she sure tries for all she's worth, bless her heart. Then we got on the tram across town to meet Amaury and go to the movie "Avatar" in 3D.

Marie and I sporting our 3D glasses.

Right by the movie theater is this big sculpture-thing that was built for the world's fair that was held in Brussels in the 50's. I think it's supposed to be a atom of iron. The balls have art exhibits in them, and the top one is a restaurant. It's very pretty all lit up at night. This is Marie with her boyfriend, Amaury.

Marie and I in front of the sculpture-thing.

The tram was empty when we got on because the theater is at the end of the route, so I decided to take a picture of it while there weren't any other people around to look at me funny.