The 17 kilometer bike ride from Bruges to Sluice, Holland was accomplished today by nearly all, some without a fall, but at least no one fell into the canal--see last year's blog. Once we passed three windmills on the outer-ring of the city, it was a direct, wind-aided ride along the canal. Pictures do not capture the pastoral beauty. One can easily imagine the Flemish Masters beside the water painting the lush and green, the bittern below and stork nesting above (Michelle Crose has a good photo of the storks), and the serenity of the tall cottonwoods. Now imagine the joyous cackling of bike-riding kids lining both sides of the canal in a race to Holland. Don't they realize I don't give out A's for bike-riding class. Some figured it out and they fell back with me--the stragglers. That would be David S., Neil S., Barry K., Devon D., Gary I., Alec G., Stephane K., Becky M., Mona Y., Alexa N., and Chelsea T. At the 6 Kilometer mark we turned off at the quaint little village of Damme for the 10-1 fruit and candy market. What a treat--but I could only chew on one side of my mouth. Mini-strawberries were the hit but the exotic candy made for better picture taking.
See this web link for some pictures of the trip: http://gallery.mac.com/mjhoeger/100008.
I abandoned the group at this point and headed back to the Groeningemuseum to see the Flemish Primitives such as Pieter Pourbus, Hans Memling and Jan Van Eck, all of whom were upstaged by one triptych by the Dutch Hieronymous Bosch, whose Judgement Day vision of hell may keep me awake for centuries. Outside again, and with clouds breaking above, the rest of my walk through this dreamlike city was like all the other reports. Mickey Brown commented, "We saw this sign for stress-reduction classes, and we thought, 'How could anyone have stress in this place." Sorry that possibly the kindest, most romantic city came second on the trip.
Wryly, but truly,
LV
P.S. Garret and David fell off their bikes--that I know for sure. Who else did?
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