Travel - Bruges (Brugge)

Picture Perfect

It seems there is one in every family. At Christmas one relative would firmly believe that presents should be educational, historical It might well be a coloring book on the outside, but inside were pages to be cut out and assembled into a medieval town with bell tower. It might possibly even be Bruges/Brugge – a medieval town complete with a moat around the walled city.

For a city warning the traveler of 400 years of slow degeneration, it is in remarkably good shape. It is currently its own Epcot caricature, with lace shops, chocolates, carbonade, moules et frites, and Belgian beers. Since les Belges figure anything can be fermented, beer should really be called alcoholic beverage, as it might have only one or two of the “original” ingredients in the millennia old recipe. The Belgians were probably the most vocal about having the German Reinheitsgebot law of purity of 1516 declared unlawful in the EU.

Well, I did all this – the chocolate museum, the brewery tour with complimentary doppel, the canal boat – but I did not fish. According to the tourist office (notorious for young ladies who would not know a rod from a scrod) I was told that fishing is done northeast of the town beyond the moat. One is supposed to see people fishing (see arrow in NE corner of map).

I feel utterly helpless: in a city and I have no idea if one needs a license (probably), what lures to use, what fish I might be expected to catch. Bummer. At least it was educational, historical … drinking my way through five to seven classes of beer. Hmmm. Researching the beers would have been a good backup plan …