From Waffles to Michelangelo

Waffle with strawberries, whipped cream, and warm chocolate sauce. Oh yes!

We started out with a good breakfast buffet, then we headed for the Groeningemuseum. It houses a comprehensive survey of six centuries of Flemish and Belgian painting, from Jan van Eyck to Marcel Broodthaers.

Highlights include a collection of Flemish Primitive art, works by a wide range of Renaissance and Baroque masters, as well as a selection of paintings from the 18th and 19th century neo-classical and realist periods, milestones of Belgian symbolism and modernism, masterpieces of Flemish expressionism and some post-war modern art.

After, we had a snooze back at the hotel, then went to Onze Lieve Vrouwekerk (Church of Our Lady) to see the Madonna of Brugge. It is the only Michelangelo sculpture to have left Italy during his lifetime. Bought for 4,000 florin by cloth merchants, the statue has been in Brugge ever since, with two notable exceptions. In 1794 it was shipped to Paris, then returned in 1815, after Napoleon's defeat at Waterloo. The second time it left Brugge was in 1944, when German soldiers smuggled it to Germany, wrapped in mattresses in a Red Cross truck. It was found and recovered the following year by the "real" Monuments Men.

Later, we went for a walk in Minnewater Park, to Gentpoort -- one of the four remaining medieval city gates. In the niche above the roadway is a sculpture of Saint Adrian, who was believed to protect the city during times of plague. Nobody has come down with the plague while we've been here, so it must be working.