Bruges

We decided to spend another day in Bruges.  It was rather late when we arrived yesterday and by the time I got to the Church of Our Lady, which houses a Michelangelo statue, it was closed.  I was disappointed not to see it, even though I saw it when we were here 3 years ago.

The weather forecast for today was cold and windy, max 15C and gusting 50km/hr.  OK, Ian said, let's stay.  

So I decided to go out early, before all the tourist hoards had descended, and it was well worth it.

There is an old disused lock at the end of the Coupure marina, leading to the canals that run through the town

Around every corner there there is another photo op

Yet another

The old Fish market

A fish restaurant at the fish market with an interesting statue

A sculpture above a doorway

The view from Rozenhoedkaai, with the belfry in the background

The entrance to the Gruutenhus Museum, unfortunately closed for renovation, next to Onze-Liewe-Vrouwekerk  

Spires and towers

Inside Onze-Liewe-Vrouwekerk (Church of Our Lady)

This painting on the ceiling was only recently found and restored in 2014, believed to date from 1290 (I think) 

Also recently restored, this murals in this chapel had been painted over with blue paint.  This reminds me of the murals on the church in Aire-sur-la-Lys

Not sure what this is, it looks ancient

The tomb of Charles the Bold

This is a piece of tapestry, with incredibly minute stitches

And this is what I came to see:  Michelangelo's Madonna, looking ever so sad, holding onto the hand of her child.

On my way back from my rambles I found a laundry just a block away from the marina so that's where I went this afternoon.  While there I got chatting to a man who is a Director (or something) of the College of Europe.  I looked it up when I got back.  It is a post-graduate university established in 1949 by a group of statesmen including Winston Churchill as "an institute where university graduates from many different European countries could study and live together in preparation for careers related to European cooperation and integration." The gentleman I met was very interesting, he goes to Portugal 3 times a year to choose students for the scholarship programme and this year they have chosen a 23 year old girl from the Azores, but he couldn't remember which island.