From the 27th of March till the 21st of July, you can visit a remarquable exhibition about Charles The Bold (Karel De Stoute). The duke who wanted to be a king, was an ambitious man who lived at a crossroads in European history. In his dreams, he saw a new Burgundian empire which stretched from Bruges to Dijon. He raced from one war to the next, but soon became the victim of his own ambition, dying on the battlefield of Nancy at an early age. During his short life, Charles became one of the richest princes in Europe, the personification of the pomp and pageantry of the Burgundian court and a renowned patron and exponent of the most refined culture of his day. The exhibition focuses the spotlight on this important figure in European history. The Bruges Groeninge Museum will once gain show the pomp and pageantry of medieval Burgundy in all its glory, as seen through the eyes of the Flemish Primitives and as reflected in a collection of magnificent Burgundian artefacts, loaned from major museums all over the world. These artefacts include paintings, suits of armour, tapestries, manuscripts and masterpieces of the goldsmith’s (and silversmith’s) art. The Church of Our Lady (containing the monumental tombs of Charles the Bold and his daughter, Mary of Burgundy) acts as a second exhibition location.

For more info, you can visit http://www.kareldestoute.info/en/homepage.html

Copyright picture: kareldestoute.info

Another great day for the movie ‘In Bruges’. It received 3 nominations for the ‘Golden Globes’…

‘In Bruges’ is nominated in these categories:

• Best Picture - Comedy/Musical

• Best Actor - Colin Farell

• Best Actor - Brendan Gleeson

On January 11th 2009, we ‘ll know more…

UPDATE (JAN 12th): Congratulations to Colin Farell! He won a golden globe for ‘Best Actor’

Excellent news for ‘In Bruges’. The film is nominated in 7 categories of the 11th Britisch Independent Film Awards:

- BEST BRITISH INDEPENDENT FILM
- THE DOUGLAS HICKOX AWARD [BEST DEBUT DIRECTOR] for Martin McDonagh
- BEST SCREENPLAY for Martin McDonagh
- BEST ACTOR for Colin Farrell
- BEST ACTOR for Brendan Gleeson
- BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR for Ralph fiennes
- BEST TECHNICAL ACHIEVEMENT for Editing – Jon Gregory

BIFA takes place 30th of November

Website BIFA

According to the members of Tripadvsisor.com, Bruges is worth place 20 in the ‘Top100 destinations Worldwide’. In the ‘Top25 Europe’, Bruges even scores better with a 7th place!
You can find the top100 here:  Tripadvisor Awards

Thanks to these 2 beautiful websites, you can visit Bruges virtually… I would recommend you to visit the city of Bruges in real life, but these sites are a nice alternative for those people who are not able to do it.

http://www.virtualbruges.be/

http://brugge.360cities.net/

For the second year in a row, the Bruges beer ‘Brugse Zot‘ wins the gold medal on the ‘World Beer Cup‘ in the category ‘Belgian- and French-Style Ale’. The prestigious World Beer Cup awards were presented Saturday, April 19 at the close of the annual Craft Brewers Conference in San Diego (California) to a crowd of 1500 excited brewers and their colleagues.

10 reasons why you really should visit Bruges at least once in your life:

1. It is the most well preserved medieval city in Belgium
2. If you like good food, then Bruges is the place to be. There are a lot of excellent restaurants and it even got one with 3 Michelin-stars (De Karmeliet)
3. If you like good food, then you probably like a good drink too. We can recommend you the local beer ‘Brugse Zot’. It already won a lot of prices. You can visit the brewery (De Halve maan) and taste the beer afterwards in the bar.
4. If you like a good drink, then you certainly need to visit the oldest bar in town (café Vlissinghe). It exists since the 16th century. Really a must-see!
5. If you like (older) art, you can visit the ‘Groeningemuseum‘. It has a worldfamous collection of the Flemish Primitives, with masterpieces by Jan Van Eyck, Hugo van der Goes, Hans Memling and Gerard David. Here you can find some examples of the collection.
6. For a beautiful panoramic view of the city of Bruges, you need to climb the 366 steps of the Belfry. It has an impressive clock mechanism and a carillon with 47 bells. The Belfry has an important role in the movie ‘In Bruges’.
7. You can make a beautiful walk around the city and visit one of the 4 remaining medieval gates (Ezelpoort, Smedepoort, Gentpoort and Kruispoort)
8. Bruges has a lot of chocolate shops. Take a walk on ‘The Chocolate Walk’ – A chocolate trail that takes in all the finest chocolate shops of Bruges.
9. Probably the most romantic place in Bruges is the ‘lake of love‘ (’Minnewater’ in Dutch). It’s the former harbor of Bruges and now a peaceful and very romantic place.
10. ‘The church of our lady‘ is the tallest structure in the city. It’s also the second tallest brickwork builing in the whole world (122,3m). The altarpiece of the large chapel in the southern aisle enshrines the most celebrated art treasure of the church—a white marble sculpture of the Madonna and Child created by Michelangelo around 1504.

Known as ‘The Venice of the North’, Bruges is one of the most preserved mediavel cities all over the world. Here are some pictures that show you the beauty of it:

A slideshow of Bruges can be found here.

Copyrights pictures: www.weathercam.be