WVU SPICE 2016, Meet Bruges

~written by Nick Bowman

May 27, 2016 (Morgantown, WV) -- Every year as part of SPICE, I try to organize at least one outing with the WVU crew (of course, all SPICErs are welcome to attend). For this year, we've decided to make an excursion to one of Europe's best-kept secrets: Bruges, Belgium. A few bits of information about the city:

Offering a toast in 2014, to the Grote Market in the center of Brugge. 

• The city is often called the "Venice of the North" for it's urban canals. As you get close to the city center, you'll notice waterways and other water elements, as well as gardens around them: more than 80 bridges in total. 
• At one time, Bruges was one of the wealthiest cities in Europe. How? It was a major trade center, given it's proximity to medieval shipping routes. Bruges had some of the earliest stock exchanges in Europe. Unfortunately, tidal changes washed away and silted up most of Bruges access to the sea, shifting the major trade center of Belgium to another city you've probably heard of: Antwerp. 
• The city boasts a number of handmade chocolates, beers, and regional cheeses. Be sure to walk everywhere, because you. will. eat. them. all. In particular, the Bruges beer scene is among the best in all of Europe, with taverns on every corner selling rare Belgian trappist ales and the infamous Belgian trippel. We'll make sure to plan a tour to the Bruges Beer Museum during our stay. 
• If you have any friends or family who are into knitting, Bruges produces some of the finest lace in the world. 

For the trip out, we'll plan to meet at the Erfurt Hauptbahnhof at 6:30 am. It's an early wake-up we know, but it's the only way to guarantee a simple journey to Belgium on comfortable trains. Our train journey is outlined below:  

Got the hang of these train schedules yet? We'll leave Erfurt at 07:16 on ICE 1644, arriving at Frankfurt Flughafen (Recognize that one? That's the airport) at 09:49. Then we'll have about an hour to kill until we take ICE 16 at 10:43 to Bruxelles (That's Brussels, to us) Main Station at 13:35 (1:35pm). Once in Brussels, we'll make a quick dash to grab IC 535 for Brugge, and we'll arrive just before 3:00pm (14:51). Not bad!

Students will be staying at theHostel de Passage, located just outside of the Grote Market, or downtown square of Bruges. Your faculty leaders will be staying inside the Grote Market, at the Huyze die Maene. To give a sense of the walking distances from the Bruges train station (Brugge, if we're using local spellings), its just over one mile (1.7 km) from the trains to the center or Bruges, about 20 minutes of walking time.

We'll plan to spend two nights in Bruges, Monday 27 June and Tuesday 28 June - both of those nights' hotels are already paid for. We'll have a group outing on the Monday evening and the Tuesday morning, but we'll give you Tuesday afternoon to explore the sights and sounds of this sleepy "bier und essen" hamlet, with an exciting former history as an exotic trade capital.

For students heading out on Wednesday 29 June, the recommended return trip to Erfurt is specified below - this train journey would depart Bruges at 1:08pm and, after stops in Brussels and Frankfurt, arrive safely in Erfurt by 8:40pm. Not too bad, for your first trip to Belgium!*

*First, but hopefully not your last. =)