We had heard the locals in Gent call Bruges an “outdoor museum,” because it is a well preserved medieval town. I had been there once before on my last trip to Europe, but Aliza hadn't been yet, so we decided to go there for our one day off this week – we were 3 shows into 9 shows in 10 days...

It was just a hop, skip and a jump from Gent to Bruges. It was raining, misting, when we arrived so we decided to take a cab to the hotel. The cabby said great choice when we told him our hotel, and said that although he couldn't comment on the quality of the rooms as it was a budget hotel, it was the best location in town and he was always a little jealous when he dropped people off there. This are great words to hear when you just booked online and had no idea what to really expect! The cabby gave us a great summary of the sights to see and pointed out all the good spots to go on the way. We raced down the narrow cobblestones streets, squeezing by chubby tourists, and arrived in the heart of the maze to our hotel, next to the Market Square. The name of the hotel translated into “coffee bean” and our room was about the size of.. a coffee bean.. Could barely make it around the bed. But it was clean enough and it was our home for 20 hours.

We strolled out the doors of the hotel and into the heart of this ancient town. We were starving too, but were soon very disappointed to find that all the restaurants were out of our budget. 24 euros each for lunch is not cool. We ended up finding a great little sandwich place though, cheap, and Aliza got her belgian waffle covered in chocolate and strawberries and whipped cream (I might have had a couple bites, too).

We then went to the Church of Our Lady, around the corner. This place is beautiful. Built out of little bricks, it climbs majestically into the sky and achieves a sort ineffability with the contrast of its little parts making such a magnificent whole. Inside resides a sculpture by Michelangelo, the Madonna and Child. We felt quite lucky to be seeing a second marble by this incredible man. We marveled for a while at the smooth lines and aliveness of the white stone, and Mary's face which says so much.

Back to the hotel to take a little nap, we had dinner at the hotel restaurant and ordered the beer which won the award for the world's best beer in 2008.

We then went out for an evening stroll along the canals and went into quieter residential parts of the town, got some neat pics of the lights on the water and the moon behind towers; scenes that were just in our imaginations were now playing out in reality.

I wanted to get my guitar, so went back to get it, and I sang some songs in the market square under the moon and by my lovely 'Liza...

We were staying up late to call Aliza's parents, back home in Maine. We did a skype call, and although we could see them they couldn't see us. They gave us great cheers full of love from them and all the family. We talked for almost an hour, telling some stories that they new parts of from reading our blog (as they are reading this now)...

They are very supportive of our music and this tour, and it was great to talk to them and know how excited they are for us.

We are excited too! ;)