General:

Visiting Brugges (rhymes with "deluge")

I enjoyed my visit to Brugges today, despite the weather, which was completely miserable. Well, I shouldn't say completely miserable, it was intermittently miserable interspersed with periods requiring either gills or scuba gear to continue breathing. I was able to get a few photos, but not nearly as many as I'd like. I'll either violate copyright and scan in a few photos from the tour books I have or do a Google search later to get a pointer to some good photos of this beautiful town.

I was able to get some photos inside the large cathedral in the town. There is a Michelangelo statue of the Madonna and Child that although not well known is a remarkable work. Unfortunately, my head on photos were blurred from camera shake. I was avoiding the use of flash both to preserve the artwork in the church from damage (although others weren't showing the same consideration) along with trying to get good photos in the natural light rather than the artificial contrast of flash photography. Here is the photo that turned out well enough to post, from an angle. The odd ghost image near the statue is from the plexiglass protection of the work. About 15 years ago some nutcase came in and attacked the statue with a hammer, so now you cannot approach closer than about 15 feet and have to look through the plexiglass.

(click on any photo for a larger image)

Here is a fresco that for some unknown, unaccountable reason was covered up long ago and rediscovered only within the last 20 years:

I believe these are confessional boxes, but I'm not entirely sure:

I have many other photos from this church, including some of crypts that they have found beneath the church. I'll post those later when I'm not paying an exorbitant amount for internet access.

Tomorrow will likely be Brussels, and Sunday I may go to Ghent.