The 27th was the day of our arrival and 30th the day of our departing.
On the 28th was an easy day because of the travelling the previous day. So we went into Sluis.
The town Sluis received city rights in 1290.
In 1340 the Battle of Sluys was fought nearby at sea.
During the Eighty Years' War in 1587 the town was captured by Spanish troops under the Duke of Parma and was retaken in 1604 by a Dutch and English force under Maurice of Nassau.
Sint Anna ter Muiden and Sluis on the Ferraris map (around 1775)
On the “Kaai” there is a statue of Johan Hendrik van Dale (Sluis, 15 February 1828 – died, 19 May 1872) were a Dutch teacher, archivist in Sluis en dictionary maker.
Van Dale gained on its sixteenth is first education competence, teacher of the fourth rank, and celebrates year later the second rank. On 23 May 1854 he was appointed as a head teacher to the public school in its birthplace. As from 1857 he was there also unpaid town archivist. Also he did study into the history of its birth region. In between he wrote learning books concerning language purity , speech art and analysing of a sentence, historical Article and brochures concerning the old shipping company cherry chamber the Oranjebloem.
In 1866, he got the first lexicographical task, the version of Linguistic hand notebook, or alphabetical list of all Dutch words, which because of orthography or linguistically use is liable to any objection. In 1867, he got the request for the first adjustment of the New dictionary of the Dutch language from 1864 of Isaac Marcus Calisch and Nathan Salomon Calisch to reconsider, the original dictionary in the orthography Siegenbeek had been written, whereas spelling meanwhile it had been accepted. He accepted and managed does odd jobs in four years time. Because he himself had been frequently disgruntled concerning vague, too that he in existing dictionaries had found general or unclear information, he highly require to the exact description of the terms: the teacher of Dale had invariably the students best interest for eyes, which a clear, exactly and complete answer had find on its question: `What means that?. He writes himself, in the preface at the edition of 1872: Writing a dictionary is an ungrateful and sad work. There are much one has taken or improved, there is still much more that one forget that has, which the attention has escaped and also incorrigible have remained.
The activities found oneself at the last stage - the first deliveries had already appeared - then he in 1872, died to variola. The work was completed by its student Jan man property. Two years after Van Dale’s death appeared the first complete copy, and therefore the Second very, of New dictionary of the Dutch language. There arose however critical at the work of Van Dale because it did not come up to the lexicographical standards then applying.
Van Dale had however meanwhile become; as from the fourth very its surname in the title of the dictionary appeared, and at the seventh busy was each word in the dictionary again reconsider. With the work of Van Dale the contents had nothing do more since then, but name remained in title have been maintained.
( I got this article from www.wikipedia.com. Some sentences might be not correct.)
The square in the town with the beautiful arranged flowers.
The Belfry of Sluis is a hall whose construction possible in 1386 has begun. It is the only bell that is located within the limits of the present-day Netherlands. Building belfries is a Belgian and northern French tradition. The Sluis belfry is, moreover, less than a kilometre from the Belgian border.
On the “grote markt” (market square) are two houses with typical Dutch gables.
The Fire station of Sluis on the “grote markt”.
Mill “de Brak”
The mill takes its name from the French hunting dog 'Braque. Of hunting is known to stabbing their nose into the wind when hunting, just as the mill his wings against the wind targets for optimum performance. Above the door on the north side is a very beautiful stone façade-mounted. Heavy round stone smock, mill (built in 1739). First stone mill in the area, built as a fortified mill on the southeast border of Fort Sluis.
View from the mill into Sluis.
Say cheese !!!!!!!!
This is on the cattle market
Cruciform in strong centralizing plan in late neocortical forms. Sober interior, entirely in masonry and covered by an arched roof; star vault over the celebration. By shelling at the end of the Second World War the church suffered heavy damage. The spire was lost and was replaced in the reconstruction after the war by a pavilion roof.
Pancake shop. Freshly made.
Who likes an ice cream from Australia.
The geese of Sluis.
There is a bus stop close to the hotel. We will take the bus tomorrow when we are going to Bruges.
29th of September.
Today we are going to Bruges. Bus number 42 will take us there. Because of moderations on the Station Square we goes as far as ‘T Zand, a bus station not too far to walk to the centre of Bruges.
’t Zand is a square and a neighbourhood in the centre of Bruges. The square is the largest in the city and is tunnelled through the city ring R30. Under the square is a large parking lot that can accommodate 2,500 cars. At the centre of the square is a fountain with four groups of statues, created by Stefaan Depuydt and Livia Canestraro in 1985 - ’86. The sculptures draw scenes from the past of Bruges: the group with the ladies, the four Flemish cities of Bruges, Antwerp, Kortrijk for boobies. The second group, the sailor and the fish indicates the historical band Bruges through the centuries by sea had. A third group symbolizes the Flemish polder landscape. The cyclists finally, are accompanied by the Flemish folk heroes Nele and Till Eulenspiegel.
On Thursday, December 18th, 2014 McDonald's opened a new restaurant in the heart of Bruges. The new restaurant is located at a particular location, an old craft house Steenstraat dating from 1527. This craft house had over the years various destinations. So it was next to housing is also used as a tavern, were later include a butcher, store, hardware store and knives grinding housed in. Previously here was the guildhall of the shoemakers. The facade adorns a crowned boot.
This building is a beautiful legend connected.
It is almost 500 years ago, in 1520, that in the Steenstraat halfway between Bruges' Markt and Simon Stevin Plein, a simple cobbler lived named Master Bossaert. In other busy street, the Geldmuntstraat, where then were nowhere near yet not as many stores as now, was the Princes, of Charles V Palace. It happened on the 25th October of that year, on the feast day of Saint Crispin so that Emperor Charles V decided to agree to come down unexpectedly for a weekend to Bruges. Or there when in Bruges though many tourists wandering around, I do not know, but apparently the emperor knew that Bruges hospitable and friendly people. When he Prinsenhof jumped off his horse he saw the heel of his boot was demolished. Because his squires were busy in the back with the ontzadelen of the horses and unloading the suitcases and get hold of the emperor himself but decided to find a cobbler. He had yet sit up a long horseback ride and a short walk would be stiff muscles virtue.
He walked through the Geldmuntstraat and the Quick Silver Street to the Steenstraat and asked a rascal, "Hey, little guy pants! Where does the nearest cobbler? "The boy that the Emperor had not recognized, the house of Master Bossaert pointed to. Then the Emperor walked into the shop and said, "Hey, schoenmakertje, would you agree sito presto restore the heel of my boot!"
Was it because the cobbler, the emperor never seen - there were no pictures at that time - whether it was because the emperor looked destitute after the long drive, he recognized Charles V either.
"I think not, sir," he replied, "Today is St. Crispin, the patron saint of cobblers. Today do not work here. " "Brave man, I need those boots. I will wait and pay you double. " "Not a hair on my head thinking about it, sir. Today I do not work, even if the emperor had personally come in here. "Retorted master Bossaert. And frankly, he was a bit drunk after the meal he had eaten with the guild members. "Today I do not battle anymore. But if you want ... I've got a jar of Rhenish wine. We can drink together on the health of the emperor." The emperor thought it would be funny to play along and said, "Let us drink to the long nose of the emperor best man! He may make us pay less tax, however, do not you think? " The emperor drank a goblet, drank two, three drank and laughed and joked with the cobbler, who recognized him but not over the long chin of Charles V. "As emperor Karel for his plate is not he see what to eat there by his long nose and chin," joked the cobbler, the guy has to be so fat ... "And they roared together with laughter ...
The next morning, master Bossaert had slept his wine, and was already back to work diligently, suddenly there was a knock on the door.
Two halberdiers walked with much clinking and within months him to come at once. They brought the startled shoemaker to the Princes and immediately led him to the great throne room where the emperor sat with his boot in his hand. Master Bossaert hit all the colours of the rainbow.
The cobbler nodded wordlessly. A servant brought alder and waxed thread, hammer and reads and Bossaert sat silently at work. In his mind the ground all the punishment he would have to endure. But the emperor was in a good mood. "I want to thank you for the warm welcome yesterday. Drink now with me are a glass and remember, while you are working, that I can do you a favour. "Said the emperor. The cobbler thought very deeply. "Your Majesty," he said finally, "I would like to see the cobblers now may resign for the shoemakers in the Holy Blood Procession." "Is that all you want? I can give you gold and jewels ... ". "Well, I'm the only cobbler in Bruges has ever in the palace of Your Majesty for His Majesty might work ... I would like to get the title of imperial cobbler."
"So be it!" The Emperor replied. "And in addition you can now hang a crowned boot up your door."
But the much richer shoemakers withdrew from the wishes and the laws of the emperor nothing. They bought Bossaerts cottage "under his hole" way and they left in 1521 to put a memorial stone in the new facade with a crowned boot.
At the end of the Steenstraat we get to the Markt. The city centre of Bruges.
To the sides and back of the tower stands the former market hall, a rectangular building only 44 m broad but 84 m deep, with an inner courtyard. The belfry, accordingly, is also known as the Halletoren (tower of the halls).
Most of the houses are having all sorts of gables.
We are on our way to visit Chocolate Museum, but we want to know whether we are on the right route. So Gea made inquiries at a little chocolate shop. At first they didn’t know there is a Chocolate Museum in Bruges, but after showing the leaflet they could tell us the way to the Wijnzakstraat.Choco-Story, the Chocolate Museum in Bruges, Belgium, is located in the sixteenth-century "Huis de Crone" building on Sint-Jansplein (at the intersection of Wijnzakstraat and Sint-Jansstraat) in central Bruges. This building was originally the home of a wine tavern. It later housed a bakery and, most recently, a furniture making shop.
Choco-Story was opened by Eddie Van Belle and his son, Cedric. The two are also the owners of Belcolade, a family-owned chocolate business which "produces delicacies that chefs and connoisseurs hail as some of the world's finest.
History of the chocolate
Discover how the Spanish came across this drink which at first they found unpalatable, but later thirst-quenching.
Follow the success that the sweet chocolate drink found in the royal courts of Spain, France and later on throughout the whole of Europe.
Learn about the process of making chocolate and why Belgian chocolate is so delicious
600 BC: according to cocoa traces found in terra cotta pots, the Mayas of Colha (in the North of what today is Belize, Central America) drank chocolate with a lot of foam. Pre-Columbian era: Mayas and Aztecs mix the cocoa in hot water with various ingredients (water, cornstarch, peppers, honey…) in different proportions according to the desired drink.
1519: Hernan Cortés disembarks on the coast of what is now Mexico. The conquistadores discover the cocoa drink.
1527: Hernan Cortés returns to Spain and brings back the famous hot chocolate recipe adapted to the taste of the colonists of new Spain as well as the utensils to prepare it: a chocolatiere and a foamer.
1615: Anne of Austria, Infanta of Spain, marries Louis XIII and quickly shares her passion for hot chocolate at the court of France
17th and 18th centuries: the European nobility and the aristocracy adore hot chocolate.
1660: the marriage of Louis XIV to Marie Thérèse of Austria, increases the courtiers' passion for chocolate
1674: the London store Coffee Mill and Tobasco Roll offers for the first time "Spanish style chocolate rolls" which could be bitten.
1725: Louis XV marries Marie Leszcynska. She loves hot chocolate, as do the favourites, who use it for its aphrodisiac qualities
18th century: in England, chocolate is mixed with milk and not water
1825: invention of the degreasing of cocoa by Van Houten in Holland
1828: Van Houten files a patent for the first chocolate in powder form.
1830: development of the techniques of moulding. Established in Lausanne (Switzerland), Charles-Amédée Kohler mixes chocolate with hazelnuts for the first time
1847: the moulding of the first tablet in England gives birth to plain chocolate
1875: thanks to the invention of condensed milk by Henri Nestlé, Swiss Daniel Peter develops a recipe for milk chocolate
1879: Swiss Rodolphe Lindt develops couverture chocolate and the recipe for dark chocolate.
End 19th century: Menier sells millions of small dark chocolate sticks to be inserted into a piece of bread.
1904: Poulain launches its famous orange coloured chocolate powder box
1914: the launch in France of the chocolate flavoured banana flour Banania which will warm the French troops in the trenches
1961: launch in France, after the United States, of Nestlé's Nesquick, flavoured with cinnamon, which today is the world's best selling chocolate drink powder.
End of the 20th century: "old-style" hot chocolate is in fashion again: it is prepared with melted couverture chocolate. Evolution of the chocolate bar
The history of the chocolate bar starts much later that that of the chocolate drink.
1984: the French chocolate maker Raymond Bonnat of Voiron (Isere) creates the first collection of noir chocolates "Les Grands Crus de Cacao".
End of the 20th century: A trend towards back to basics, to original and authentic flavours, even a preoccupation with traceability, may explain the appearance of cocoa vintages, like cépages for wine.
The service for Queen Marie-Antoinette was delivered to Versailles on January 2nd, 1782 by the Manufacture Royal Sévres. The Queen was very partial to cornflowers. They were the same colour of her eyes and she liked to make bouquets of the in het country retreat, the “Petit Trianon”.
Madame de Pompadour
Jeanne-Antoinette Le Normant d’Etoilles, marquise of Pompadour (born in Paris on 29th December 1721 and died in Versailles on 15th April 1764) was one of Louis XV’s most famous mistresses. Madame de Pompadour was particularly fond of philosophers, intellectuals and writers and was supportive of their work. She gave work to numerous craftsmen and was involved in the redevelopment of the Sévres porcelain factory. Legend has it that the marquise of Pompadour was passionate about truffle and celery soup that she accompanied with cups of chocolate. This must have inflamed both the mind and passions!
The Chocolate Girl is one of the most prominent pastels of Swiss artist Jean-Étienne Liotard, showing a chocolate-serving maid. The girl carries a tray with a porcelain chocolate cup and a glass of water.
In the middle is Hernan Cortés who returns to Spain and brings back the famous hot chocolate recipe adapted to the taste of the colonists of new Spain as well as the utensils to prepare it: a chocolatiere and a foamer.
On the left there is a travel box to be used for drinking chocolate on the way.
To the right is a huge mortar to grind the cocoa bean.
A variety of moulds to be filled with chocolate.
A boat used by the Indians to transport the cacoabeans/fruits.
The fruit, called a cacao pod, is ovoid, 15–30 cm (5.9–11.8 in) long and 8–10 cm (3.1–3.9 in) wide, ripening yellow to orange, and weighs about 500 g (1.1 lb) when ripe. The pod contains 20 to 60 seeds, usually called "beans", embedded in a white pulp. The seeds are the main ingredient of chocolate, while the pulp is used in some countries to prepare refreshing juice, smoothies, jelly, and nata.
That conclude our visit to the Choco Story at the Chocolate Museum in Brugge.
With a beautiful sunset we have returned for final night at the hotel.
