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| One of the perennial favourites |
Such a busy week in retrospect! The usual activities and a concert,
with A Big Plus; three grandsons with joined-at-the-hip girl friends,
and my son in his birthday week; from Thursday to Monday, various
combinations of family here with the main battalion from Friday to
Sunday. What seems to be establishing itself as a tradition, they
were all here ostensibly to celebrate Dad’s birthday but in
reality, the visit is also because they love Brugge and the Christmas
market and most especially, the beer! I pondered what great fun the
weekend had been as I wearily washed, dried and ironed what seemed
almost countless sheets, pillowcases and towels, though of course,
the latter were most definitely NOT ironed.
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| Tom's Diner |
We had the chance to eat at Tom’s Diner, a tapas plus bar nearby,
which was great; terrific atmosphere in a large and incredibly busy
space in a back street. Food, excellent. Then on Saturday, we ate at
Cezar on the corner of Carmeersstraat and Jerusalemstraat where I had
eaten before on a much quieter day than the Saturday evening of the
first weekend of the Christmas Market when everywhere seemed to be
booked up. I hadn’t known how delightful the upstairs space is chez
Cezar, and almost private, given the busy, busy nature of the evening
with the totally full restaurant downstairs. Needless to say, the
traditional Flemish beef stew in beer, chosen by six of us, was
wonderful comfort food!
Sunday morning proved difficult to kick-start as the young people had
been carousing half the night and were almost truculent at
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| Misty Brugge |
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| Blackbird en fete |
being
disturbed around 9.15 a.m! But I was treating them to Blackbird for
breakfast and that was the only booking for eight that could be
managed. So, amid gentle persuasion and iron determination, eight of
us managed to make the deadline but the torpor and disgruntlement
vanished as the wonderful breakfast proceeded and the experience,
relished!! Before the group, minus son et moi, went shopping, we all
walked back to my apartment for the youngsters’ disturbed sleep to
be resumed for an hour or two, while he and I treated ourselves to a
gentle, misty canal-side wander. Different ages, different pleasures.
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| Cezar |
And now, off to California to spend Christmas with the other two thirds of the family.
We had the chance to eat at Tom’s Diner, a tapas plus bar nearby,
which was great; terrific
atmosphere in a large and incredibly busy
space in a back street. Food, excellent. Then on Saturday, we ate at
Cezar on the corner of Carmeersstraat and Jerusalemstraat where I had
eaten before on a much quieter day than the Saturday evening of the
first weekend of the Christmas Market when everywhere seemed to be
booked up. I hadn’t known how delightful the upstairs space is chez
Cezar, and almost private, given the busy, busy nature of the evening
with the totally full restaurant downstairs. Needless to say, the
traditional Flemish beef stew in beer, chosen by six of us, was
wonderful comfort food!
Sunday morning proved difficult to kick-start as the young people had
been carousing half the night and were almost truculent at being
disturbed around 9.15 a.m! But I was treating them to Blackbird for
breakfast and that was the only booking for eight that could be
managed. So, amid gentle persuasion and iron determination, eight of
us managed to make the deadline but the torpor and disgruntlement
vanished as the wonderful breakfast proceeded and the experience,
relished!! Before the group, minus son et moi, went shopping, we all
walked back to my apartment for the youngsters’ disturbed sleep to
be resumed for an hour or two, while he and I treated ourselves to a
gentle canal-side wander. Different ages, different pleasures.
