Pompelut and Flax

 

Pompelut Restaurant

Time has seemed a little short so a corresponding diminutive post. SO enjoying my post-fall conviviality; coffee with friend yesterday; long, long lunch with friends today AND at a restaurant new to me. Pompelut on Schaarstraat is stylish and interesting in the interior and with delicious food and wine. Inside high up there is a row of mushroom-shaped lights to underline the
meaning of the name which is old Flemish for mushroom. Both yesterday in the twilight and again this late afternoon, walking around the centre and admiring the sights and lights, I was especially struck with the huge volume of tourists this year, no doubt for the Christmas Market, but many, many more than in December last year. Earlier this year tourists numbers dropped precipitously after the Brussels airport atrocity and the terrorism in Paris. Today I heard the rumour that tourists are choosing Brugge now as another attack in Paris is expected. Whatever, it is good to

 Part of the Markt

see so many visitors here; I remark that wryly as, during  my first year here, I frequently silently cursed the crowds as they sauntered, dithered, stopped to gaze, not heeding pedestrians behind them trying to pass, waved ice creams recklessly around, threw cigarette butts carelessly around. This year smiles and warm looks are conferred on these contributors to Brugge's prosperity!

Yesterday, Dec 13^th, to the Texture Museum in Kortrijk, commonly referred to as the Flax Museum. I had no idea of the huge importance of flax in West Flanders till yesterday; astonishingly it was the principal economic activity in the area around Kortrijk centred on the River Leie from the Middle Ages until it collapsed in the late 1950s, and the full story was told in this splendid modern museum. Much of it was interactive [always a switch-off for me] and the whole endeavour is more a teaching classroom except for the third floor which contains beautiful examples of fine linen bonnets and shawls and christening gowns from the past three centuries. One member of the group of seven had visited around five years ago and had seen the original museum which

 All parts of the flax process involved back-breaking work. In
the fields well into the twentieth century, horses were vital at
different stages.

h she had preferred with its small tableaux of parts of the flax process, set in small rooms with original furniture and equipment. It had obviously been more of a folk museum than the very modern, spare information centre it now is. There were some marvellous photographs however and an excellent film. Unexpectedly, the adjoining restaurant was very good indeed, pretty full of appreciative locals who used it as a great place to eat rather than as an adjunct to the museum.

A heavy load of flax bundles.