One reason for my absence of late is the presence of visitors, which in turn brought me to Bruges (for the nth time) this past week. While there, we stumbled upon a lovely antiques/crafts shop called Au Bonheur des Dames. The shop is run by Sophie, a very sweet Bruges native who also teaches various crafting workshops, including one in which one learns how to make a hilarious teddy bear pencil holder/étui. I also could not resist buying a between-the-wars KPM tea set at the fantastic (and reduced-on-the-spot) price of 65€, along with some antique fabric for reupholstering. Let me know if you would like to join me for a crafting class . . .
From this trip, I learned that train tickets to Bruges are significantly costlier during the week (25€ vs. 14€ round trip). I also bought my tickets online and thought I was being exceedingly clever when I picked the option of "storing" the tickets on my electronic ID card. Unfortunately, the Flemish conductor was not as impressed when she could not locate the tickets on my card with her bulky cardreader. (She let us off the hook once I showed her the receipt, which luckily I had printed out.) Later, on the return visit, another conductor gave me some more grief for not having validated my electronic tickets on the way there. Unfortunately, no amount of explaining - in Dutch! - could remedy the situation. In the future, I will simply print out a paper ticket.
