Bruges

I am going to write a book. [If you have been reading my blog for awhile, you're probably thinking, "Yeah, right. You've said that for a long time."] But, seriously, I found a topic and everything. It's going to be written under the working title Europe: Don't Travel With Children.

It's not that Jackson isn't a joy as a travel companion. In fact, he's pretty good about traveling. Europe, on the other hand, is starting to be a miserable travel companion. Maybe it's just Europe in the winter.

Anyways, I saw on Chris' work schedule awhile back that there was going to be a three-day weekend, so I jumped on making travel reservations for Bruges, Belgium. A romantic place for Valentine's Day, I was thinking.

Well, it didn't occur to me at the time that this holiday weekend was not in celebration of Presidents Day - it was actually NATO's holiday for Rosenmontag, or Carnival Monday. So, strike one for us, since we missed out on the Carnival stuff all weekend in the Netherlands and Germany. Belgians apparently don't do Carnival.

Here's something else they don't do - anything travel-friendly for people with strollers. Just as one example of the non-stroller-friendly madness: we searched for a long time through the streets of Bruges on Sunday for a cafe, restaurant, fast-food place, anything, where we could change and feed Jackson. We searched high and low and could find nowhere that the stroller could make it in the doorway or around tables. Nowhere.

So, we sat outside on a freezing cold bench to feed our poor baby. We sat contemplating the situation. Would it have been better to haul Jack around in the Baby Bjorn all weekend? No, ultimately that would have also been a disaster. No restaurants that we saw had high chairs, so even if we could take him inside easily, there would have been no place to put him once we got to a table.

All that aside, though, we really had a nice trip. Bruges was beautiful, even during the winter. The canals were iced over and the swans were walking around on the ice. There were a few other high points:

1. Our bed and breakfast. Gone are the days where you hear about a really great deal that just seems impossible to be true. I think a lot of that disappeared with the arrival of the euro. But, we actually found one. We stayed in a quaint little apartment a short distance from the city center that was (you'll never believe it) 55 EUROS PER NIGHT. Seriously. And we had an awesome breakfast included in that price. We couldn't believe it. AND, the owner welcomed us with a Belgian kriek (cherry) beer that was to die for.

2. Shopping. We found great stores, including one that had lots of ornaments for different holidays. I'm a sucker for this type of place. In fact, they had something completely genius - a Carnival tree. I had always thought to buy some beautiful masks in Venice, but never knew what I would do with them. And, this store had a gorgeous tree set up, covered in Carnival masks and other ornaments. It was spectacular.

3. Meridian restaurant. Every guidebook and Belgian told us not to eat in the Markt square. It was considered touristy and gauche, overpriced without great food. If you have a child, though, disregard such advice and eat all your meals at the Meridian restaurant in the Markt square. At a certain frustrated point, we peered in the window and saw a navigable table for us. As soon as we got the stroller in, we were greeted with such hospitality. They offered us spacious seating upstairs with use of an elevator; the food was incredible and beautifully presented; and the waiters loved to come up to Jackson and talk to him. We were so mad that we found this on our last day.

Ultimately, we had a nice weekend, and were happy to visit Bruges. We just want to go back in warmer weather, and this time we'll know what we're in for.