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| 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
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| 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
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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.
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| A heavy load of flax bundles. |
