During our mini trip to Bruges this week I took hundreds of photos as I'm still finding out what my new camera is capable of. I left the setting on 'Intelligent Auto' throughout and just carried on 'snapping' in daylight, twilight and evening light. What is really strange (to me) is that the camera doesn't use flash - well I guess it does in some circumstances, but not in any of the photos I took in poor light
Bruges is sometimes called 'Little Venice of the North' as the City has lots of canals and picturesque waterways. So this first batch of photos is all 'water' themed
We stayed on a converted Barge which was novel. This is the view from a dining room window where we had breakfast
We were woken by quacking ducks each morning - they know breakfast serving times and gather outside awaiting titbits thrown from bedroom windows ... cute aren't they?
Obviously, these aren't ducks!
The barge isn't easy to photograph from the outside unfortunately, this is the best I could do from 'landside'. I guess I should have found a place to cross the river and photograph it from the opposite bank
Such a shame I don't paint land/waterscapes :-)
I have far too many photos so will aim to split them into groups. Today is 'water' theme, the next batches can be 'transport', 'buildings', shops etc .....
Oh my gosh! You have to paint every one of those! They are all gorgeous! Some day I might beg you for permission to draw one of the canal scenes, with the tall stone castles along the side. (hint hint)
ReplyDeleteThanks Katherine
ReplyDeleteIts a very picturesque City. I will be posting more photos over the next few days but probably no more canal scenes for fear of boring everybody.
If anything takes your fancy let me know and I'll email you a full size picture. I don't have a problem with you working from these
very pretty looking place :D all i know of bruges i know from the movie in bruge :p
ReplyDeleteYou're one up on me Jennifer, I'd never heard of that film ... just had to Google it LOL
ReplyDeleteDelightful pictures Sue. I take it the barge is permanently moored in one spot.
ReplyDeleteLove being able to see the ducks whilst breakfasting. Did you have all your meals on board?
Thanks Jo
ReplyDeleteYes the Barge used to travel the Bruges-Ghent canal but is now a moored character hotel 'recently renovated and equipped with modern amenities'
I asked about the engine room etc and was told the barge was powered by horses .. so no engine, just horse power in its working days.
There are 20+ bedrooms which are compact but well equipped and we were lucky to get one of the better rooms ('Captains Cabin' for some reason) which had a double and a single bed so slightly more room than some of the others. We were on the upper level just above the lounge and dining room.
We only had breakfast on board but that was very extensive (buffet plus some hot foods, mushrooms, scrambled eggs and bacon).
Some of the info available online is out of date. The restaurant only opens at weekends now so we got caught out the first night. Returned from town (in the rain) looking forward to a decent meal to find Restaurant not open. But the manager took pity on us and we sat at the bar chatting to a couple of fellow travellers and were given a huge bowl of cheese to 'tide us over'. Chunks of delicious cheese with a jar of celery salt to sprinkle over it, a style they favour in Belgium we found.
Couldn't fault the friendliness and great service on board.
Its quite lovely isn't it. Sounds a delightful place to spend a few days. I lived on a Thames Barge for a number of years, but we travelled on her.
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