The day after the postponement of the walking tour of Bruges proved to be much more suitable for carrying on with the itinerary. To start off with we took in some of the Beguinages that are dotted around the city. The second two photographs show the Beguinage of Bruges which is a well preserved example of this type of residence.
Flanders is famous for the number of its surviving enclosed residences for Beguines, unmarried or widowed women who adopted a life of religious devotion but without taking the full vows of a nun.
Beguines were initially solitary women who worked helping the poor and preaching. Progressively, and in the face of a growing suspicion on the part of the male religious authorities, they grouped together to live in a walled residential community known as a Beguinage (French) or Begijnhof (Dutch), The first Beguinage in Belgium appeared in Mechelen in 1207.
The word sauvegarde appears above the doorway to the Beguinage of Bruges. This attests to the royal protection that was granted by the Duke of Burgundy assuring the Beguinage’s independent status.
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*Information from Insight Guides – Bruges Smart Guide.
Tags: Begiunage, Bruges, Brugge, The Beguinage of Bruges, Weekend away
After all the rushing round running up to Christmas I had planned a nice quiet day for yesterday.
It didn’t go quite according to plan and turned into ‘one of those days’. It started off badly with me managing to accidentally put down a glass of water on the edge of my glasses. This resulted in the glass tilting and eventually falling over before I could catch it. The water was running in the general direction of some books that were nearby and my glasses had been thrown onto the floor. I can’t see anything without my glasses so I was fumbling around trying to move the books out of the way before locating my glasses.
Luckily there was only a small amount of damage but all that activity made me realise I still haven’t quite shaken of my lurgy because I was feeling quite worn out.
I took a well deserved rest for the remainder of the morning. Then after lunch I ventured out for what was supposed to be a couple of hours at the most. It turned into some great expedition which I had no control over! Finally returning after 6pm!!!
So much for a quiet day…
I shall leave you with another of my photo experiments of the tree in the Churchyard.
Tags: Christmas, Life, Tree
A couple of weeks ago I was taken on a special detour to see how beautiful the tree in front of the Parish Church looked adorned with it’s Christmas lights. I was visiting family on boxing day which meant that on the way home I had the ideal opportunity to photograph the tree. It looked particularly beautiful tonight with the snow on the ground.
I had a bit of a challenge on my hands to try and capture a half decent photograph without my tripod especially because I am unfamiliar with my new camera. I haven’t had time to take the camera through it’s paces yet. The pictures are by no means perfect, but I was quite pleased with the results under the circumstances.
Tags: Christmas, Lights, Night, Parish Church
Can miles truly separate you from friends? If you want to be with someone you love, aren’t you already there?
Richard Bach
Tags: Bee, Cherie's Place Thought, Corel Painter Essentials, English Heritage, Flower, Friendship, Wenlock Priory
I still have the lurgy and my appetite is all over the place, but I lost 1.5lb this week. I am not sure if that is good or bad…
Tags: Life, ProPoints, Weight Loss, Weight Watchers
