Brugge: say it “BREW-ka”

We are in Bruges, Belgium. In their own spelling, Brugge, (meaning bridges)  is pronounced pretty close to “Brew-ka.” It’s about as scenic a European city as you can find, all cobblestone roads and gabled architecture. Everything to eat is delicious, so it’s a challenge to avoid stopping into every single brasserie, bistro, cafe, bar and restaurant we pass.

For lunch I had Croque Monsiuer, usually translated from French as “Mr. Crispy.” Basically it’s French for a grilled cheese sandwich with ham. His spouse Mrs. Crispy has an egg added. Both are delicious, but Mr. C costs 10 E, and Mrs. C 12.50 E. Who pays 2.50E for an egg?

Yes. Mr. Crispy was delicious, and came with a small salad.

Belgium is more famous for four other edibles: the fries served with mayonnaise (delicious), the waffles with whipped cream on top (doubly delicious), the fine chocolates (to die for), and the Belgian beers (OMG).

Last trip — yes, we’ve dined here before & should have known better than to tempt fate — we met an American couple after they’d done a chocolate tasting in Belgium. A mom and adult daughter, they were contemplating moving. But doubted they would find work in the chocolate industry, because it would have been impossible to visualize selling slices of paradise. Something like that, anyway. On their tour they visited five Belgian chocolatiers, in increasing order of taste & expense. Their first stop was Godiva. So that represented the bottom rung apparently. From there the ladder ascended straight to heaven.

We have not done the chocolate tour, preferring instead to tour Belgium through a liquid route. That liquid is golden and has a foamy head.