Holidays in Belgium Pt. II - Brugge

One thing I completely didn't know before this trip:

The old city of Brugge is a tourist trap to the core, with some thousand Americans and Japanese stuck in the main Shopping Lane. But, this "hartelijk bedankt" goes out to Ed, who was leading us contrary to the touristical paths - but without missing out one of the beautiful landmarks and attractions. We walked by...

• Sint-Salvatorskathedraal (St. Saviour's Cathedral), Onze-Lieve-Vrouwekerk (Church Of Our Lady)
• got a glimpse of the Steenstraat without the troubles of being stuck in a big group
• passed by the Markt, jostled into one of the tiniest alleys I've ever seen - seems like Harry Potter could have been shot right here
• passed the Burg and the town hall
• and the Heilig-Bloedbasiliek (Basilica of the Holy Blood
• stepped into the 21st century again - em, into the new building of Toyo Ito
• crossed the Vismarkt
• passed by the Groeningemuseum
• and enjoyed the most beautiful silence on the old Begijnhof(Beguinage)

Our walk started and ended with a little disappointment: The new-new-new Concertgebouw, built for the purposes of the culture year 2002, seems a bit like a waste of money. While similar architechture like the 013 in Tilburg are vivid cultural centers - with a lot of concerts for the youth, but as well of course useable for higher cultural occasions like violin concerts or musicals after a decent clean up, this Concergebouw is an all-in-all closed shop. And the place in front needs a few more trees as well...

But the final was more than a crowning for the whole stay - we had dinner at the Brasserie Cafedraal. Already in the afternoon we had a short stop for a coffee. I was very impressed with their collection of fine and old Rothschildt wines, impressed with the light show in the bathroom. The bar is well-decorated as well, fresh ham is hanging from the ceiling.

But the food is even better - I had fresh, handmade french fries (or Belgian fries ;-) and delicios Tomate crevette. Yummi! I heard, the crime scene of a popular murder novel is placed in the restaurant, but I didn't figure out the name of it.