Tuesday morning we could sleep in again, but we all made sure to be ready for a guided city walk at 10 AM. During the two and a half hours walk, our guide told us many historical stories, showed us the architectural beauty of this medieval town, which is by the way going through a huge restoration effort. Next year in 2002, Brugge is the European capital of Culture.

Around 11 AM we stopped outside the Cathedral for a Brugse Witte, with ‘truffels’, chocolate delicacies, that Claudine had bought for us. The tour ended at the Beguinage and the Love lake.

The schedule for the afternoon was open so we could all discover the city for ourselves. Jay and Joyce took a few of us on the train to Roeselare for a visit to the Rodenbach brewery. The rest of us enjoyed Brugge, wandered around and had a very good time. In the afternoon, some rain fell, but it would be the only rain we would have during the whole trip. These 10 days of beautiful weather in Belgium in October was really a rarity. They had 23 days of rain in September. We told everybody that we brought the good weather from California, but that we would take it with us when we left. And it actually happened: the day we packed our bags it started raining again.

In the evening nobody dared to miss the appointment at the Den Dyver restaurant, one of Belgium’s most important beer restaurants: top gastronomy with beer. When will top restaurants in the USA open their eyes and learn how to cook with beer? This dinner will not be forgotten by any of us for the rest of our lives.

Menu Den Dyver Welcome beer Shining Pyramid of Eel in Green, and smoked Dab in fresh sour cream. Gueuze Hansens Sorbet Surprise Filet of Deer, broiled with a fine nutty crust, together with light caramelized fall greens, aromatized in lemon-thyme. Gulden Draak Ale Fall-ish Pear with a heart full of hot chocolade in puff-pastry. Coffee or tea

During the dinner we met Jef Versele, the future generation of the Van Steenberge brewery. This young man was to be married the coming Saturday, but that didn’t stop him to take us on a pub-crawl for the rest of the night. De Garre was the first stop, and we stayed quit a while there, because the exceptional beers kept coming our way. The next morning, we learned that a good group of us had closed the Garre, and two more bars, and finally the French fries stand in front of the Belfry at 3 AM!

Day IV