Today we decided to go out of Brugge and see some of the surrounding towns. First stop was Zeebrugge, literally the sea of Brugge, 
since at one time Brugge had direct access to the ocean. Today Zeebrugge is a beach resort and a small commercial harbor. Even though to us it was quite cold and windy, I guess if you are Flemish and it isn’t raining, it’s a day for the beach. It wasn’t very crowded, but there were plenty of people out. We didn’t bother to stop or get out since for us it was too cold, and just continued on to Antwerp. While on the way there, Maxine started to study the guide book and found several museums and historic buildings that sounded very interesting. It was only by reading further that she discovered most to the really good ones were closed on Mondays. Oh well.
She did locate a small church 
that was reported to have been designed by Reubens and to contain several of his paintings. 
It took a while to find it but once we were in the area, we stumbled on a perfect parking place. A short walk got us to a lovely square with the trees just starting to bud and what must have been the neighborhood parish church. Yes, it was open and inside there were lovely paintings and particularly a especially nice carved choir (or perhaps a confessional). After asking the building guide to point out the Ruebens paintings, we found that they didn’t really have any, just several in that style.
From Antwerp, the next stop was Gent (or Ghent). We didn’t do enough serious study in advance and expected Gent to be about the size of Brugge. In reality it is about 20 times larger and is a major business center with high rise offices and major hotel chains (Brugge seems to have only small private
hotels like where we stayed). The center 
of the city has been pedestrianized with trams and large walking plazas. There are three main churches in a row with shops and cafes all around. It was lunch time and in going through the guide book Maxine came across a place called “Max” which featured waffles. Since waffles had been on her agenda since we got to Belgium, this was a must. Fortunately, they are located right by the churches and would have been easy to reach if they weren’t on the opposite side of a major construction area. We managed to negotiate the poorly marked detour (on foot, car had been parking in another very fortunate spot, the parking fairy was clearly on our side today). We arrived and went to place our order at about three minutes past two, to be told that the kitchen was closed and that no more savory was available, only pancakes and waffles. That wasn’t an issue for either Sue or Maxine, but I passed on dessert without lunch first.
After lunch, Maxine decided to sit in the sun in the square while Sue and I went to the castle. It is a genuine 8th 
century castle that was the home to the Dukes of Flanders while Flanders was French territory. I’m sure the castle has been significantly restored, but the self guided tour is excellent. In the early 1900s, when the main prison in town was
closed, the ancient artifacts were given to the castle to be used a a basis for a museum. Today, there is a nice display of old weapons and from the prison, tools of torture (if a torture exhibit can be called “nice”).
Since Flanders was French, the guillotine made it was there not long after its implementation in Paris. In fact, about 
30 years after the French Revolution, the Flemish had their fight for independence from France and the guillotine was used in Gent. The timbers are reconstructed from original plans but the blade is the one actually used in that period. In the castle crown room Sue got to experience the power of the Duke (Duchess?) by spending time in the throne.
As an aside, the chocolate in Belgium clearly lives up to it’s reputation! It doesn’t seem to matter which shop, and there are hundreds, they are all good.
From Gent, a short ride back to Brugge for another nice dinner. The restaurant suggestions from Laurence, our hotel owner have all been excellent and this time we went back to a restaurant just a few yards from the hotel that was the favorite of the women. My favorite was different, but I was out voted two to one.
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