"Brugge rules, and that’s that. " a Brugge Travel Page by LolaSanFrancisco

Traveling alone has its pro’s and con’s. But sometimes the con’s can be deep. And in the case of my Belgium visit, I was bored, lonely and neglected. I left Brussels as soon as I woke up and ate the bad meal. I took the train out of Brussels and in about a half-hour ($14.00 round trip I walked off the platform I knew I had mad a huge mistake. I had chosen the wrong damn city to stay in; I should have stayed in Brugge.

This town is tiny, dinky itty-bitty, darling uber cute! You can walk from the main train station and walk right into the main Medieval Town Square. I'm sure any hotel you pick you can walk to.

Now, I know that I shouldn’t do this (I can do what ever I want FYI, your not the boss of me) BUT, I refer all my clients to Brugge instead of Brussels. And paint the Brussels as i saw it. Not worth a damn.

Having just left Amsterdam the day before I had canals on my mind and Brugge was what I imaged Amsterdam was 300 years ago. I was in love, happy and no longer lonely. Doing what I love to do on a vacation, I immediately got lost. I wound up in a kick ass restaurant having a bottle of wine over looking a sweet little cannel. After that I took a tourist boat around the rings of this perfectly intact medieval city, with a great little buzz on. As the boat was rounding a corner we saw a bird in the water, desperate to get out, dying. (The photo here is exactly the place it happened too) Needless to say I was about to dive in and save it (well I was drunk!), when another boat load of people came up and the “captain” fished it out with a long paddle and put it on the wall to regain it’s dignity and dry off. I still have that clear vision in my head. I had almost made a colossal drunken snafu, but thanks to “cannel dude” I escaped having to walk around the rest of the day wet, drunk, and crawling with goo loven bugs.

Buy a tapestry as your greatest vacation purchase
Tapestry is a big deal in Brugge. I guess from what they tell me, that this was the town for it. And that several hang in major museums all over the world. Yes, yes they have doilies too, but I’m not interested in that grandma ***. I spent a good few hours shopping for a few of these. I spent around $500 and two of them. And every night I lay in bad looking at this wonderful scene of two rich chicks pointing the way for a little dandy and his dog. And from what I see in the US they sell for about $1000 or higher!
Remember to save all your receipts (Value Added Tax: VAT) and when your in the airport dicking around tell your flight leave, go to the VAT station and get your refund for you tax.

Europe's Value Added Tax ranges from five percent to 22 percent per country, averaging 16 percent overall. A bit of a stealth tax, VAT is wrapped right into the purchase price. So if the VAT is 20 percent, the tax portion of an €100 item would be €16.70, not €20 as you might expect. Rates change, so check with merchants when you're there.

Know where to get your refund. If you buy merchandise in a European Union country, process your documents at your last stop in the EU, regardless of where you made your purchases.
Directions:
In the centre there are also a number of charming shopping galleries, such as Zilverpand,Alberthal,De Gouden Boom and the Theaterboetieks.
Website:
http://www.belgiantapestry.com/history.htm