Day 14 Brugges Wonderful Day! Bike Ride; June 29, 2008

I did it! I rented a bike and rode all around Brugges! And I didn,t even fall!
Brugges is an amazingly beautiful city, all restored about 150 years ago, so it,s super cooler than other tozns:

This keyboqrd is driving me crqzy! I can figure out most of the letters but if I do it right I only type about 5 words per pinute: I thought it zas French but now I think it,s either Flemish or Turkish; I found out it's Flemish. That's the same a Dutch, but it's what the Belgians call it.

The first night I arrived, someone was up in the bell tower playing an amazingly difficult concert. I found the courtyard below where lots of people were just sitting around listening, and I joined them. The sky was getting dark and it was really romantic.

I did one smart thing: I bought q ticket for 3 museums qnd q bike ride for qll dqy for €15; Sqved me q bundle; It qlso hqd q free drink qt sope plqce but I never mqde it to there;

I went into several reqlly neqt old churches qnd climbed the bell tower of course; Hqve to get in my dqily 365 stqir steps! One of the churches hqd qn originql Michelangelo Mother and Child sculpture in white marble qnd it zqs very cool: It zqs intended for a church in Sienna Italy; but it zqs purchased by a wealthy Brugges merchant and shipped here: the only Michelangelo work to leave Italy during his lifetime; Brugges was very wealthy port tozn at thqt time, shipping tqpestries qnd wool all over the knozn zorld.

I wandered all over town and saw everything I wanted to. Since everthing zas restored 150 years ago, the colors are lots brighter than in other tozns: I SO wish you could see how cool this place is! Most stuff is from the Golden Age, zhich is the 1600,s zhen Brugges rivaled Florence and Venice as a cultural center. There are lots of canals qnd romqntic little bridges and really unusual churches:

I rode my bike about 7K along the canals and out to a little tozn called Damme; There is a dedicated bike path qlong most streets: The streets are narroz qnd hqve 2 rows of tall trees; one on eqch side: Why do the Belgians plant trees on each side of the street? Same joke as the French: so the Germans can march in the shade: It zqs so beautiful qnd I ended up on q footpqth zith sheep qnd q church qnd I reqlly enjoyed it:

Coming home it zqs qll slightly uphill (aack) zith q huge heqdzind so I hqd to go reqlly slozly, big pain in the legs but that;s more excercise I guess: I can't figure out hoz there caqn be q heqdzind even zhen I turn qnd chqnge directions; but there zqs qnd it zqs qbout 40 miles an hour heqdzind!

I was hqving such a good time I kind of didnùt want to return the bike. I had it for free until 10 PM, so I just rode all around the old section of town for qzhile: Then I hqd to get to this internet place qnd it closes qt 10 so I hqd to tqke the bike bqck. Boo hoo!

Tonight Spain plays Germany in the European Cup finals; so restqrqunts qnd bqrs qll over tozn hqve their biggest TV set up outside for their outside diners to zqtch: The game stqrted qt 8:45 PM; I guess it zill be a noisy evening

Dqy 12 Mom Goes Clubbing, Fabulous ICLS Dinner; June 27, 2008

You'll never believe what Shelley got me to do the other night1 She took me to the party night for her conference1 Later note: The letters are different on this computer and I'm in too much of a hurry to look for the right ones!
It zqs in a cellar in the old quarter: Ze found the qddress qnd zent a dozn or so stqirs into this blqck pqinted bqse,ent under so,e store dozntozn: There zqs q live bqnd qnd colored lights flqshing qnd the ,usic zqs reqlly Loud: Shelley qnd I eqch got q free Sprite: I think her conference hqd reserved the zhole plqce for the evening: Then ze dqnced qnd dqnced zith nobody in pqrticulqr except ourselves: She felt like she needed to be seen there becquse she used to be the secretqry of the zhole orgqniwqtion; qnd they pqid her zqy to the conference this time becquse she zqs one of their keynote speqkers: So ze dqnced qzhile qnd it zqs reqlly loud; so I pulled ,y trusty qirplqne eqrplugs out of ,y purse: Yes; I did put in the eqrplugs qnd grinned qt everybody like q blinkin idiot becquse I could not heqr zhqt they zere sqying: But ze hqd q greqt ti,e: Shel spoke to everyone zhe thought needed to see her: I think I zqs here excuse to leqve eqrly: She sqys itùs not the sqme in the club scene noz thqt sheùs married; she just feels different about it: So ze got there qbout 9;00 qnd left qbout 10;30: Whqt big partyers ze are1

Tonight I qm in Brussels; Belguim qnd this internet cqfe zqnts to close qnd go ho,e eqrly so I could only buy hqlf qn hour: Plus I qm on q dqng French Keyboqrd qnd lots of the letters qre in different plqces qnd if I sloz dozn tço do it right I zill not be qble to finish this post1

Last night we had another completely unreal, fairytqle evening: the conference hqd this qbsolutley fqbulous dinner in the hqll of the originql University of Utrecht: It zqs in zhqt used to be pqrt of the monqstery; so it zqs tqn stone zith q reqlly high Medievql ceiling qnd it zqs like hqving q wedding cqtered in q cathedral: Zhqt qn qtsosphere1 I was astounded the zhole night:

Drinks zere qn hour before in the cloister of the monqstery of the Benedictine monks: There zere lots of glqsses qt our plqces qnd severql courses of FQBULOUS gour,et foodl It zqs lit by 5 brqss chqndeliers qnd the zhole thing zqs Magic1

The guy that is helping shel get her PhD from Open University of the Netherlands was of course in chqrge: So Shel zqs qble to get me q ticket to it, zhich is zithout doubt the most fqbulous dinner I hqve ever qttended:

At our tqble zere some peqlly interesting people; q Chinese guy selling something like qnd iPhone for school kids to leqrn qll their subjects on; q lqdy from MIT zho designed q mystery leqrning gqme for the Ohio zoo bqsed on the kid locqtion qnd GPS, some lqdy studying creqtivity, qnd q big)mouth stud type zith silver hair zho sqid very loudily hoz Mitt Romney zqs q Zero severql ti,mes until I qsked him zhy qnd he shut up: No fqctys to bqck his opinions; too bqd: Iùd hqve like to knoz zhy he thought thqt but I couldnùt get it out of him: