After leaving the Frietmuseum Mr Monkey scampered along the street to the Poorterloge (Burgher's Lodge) to look at the Bruges Bear, commissioned by the White Bear Society in 1417. A bear has been a symbol of Bruges ever since Baldwin Iron Arm, first count of Flanders, single-handedly killed one in the forest that became Bruges. When Mr Monkey saw the Bruges Bear in 2006 it had been dressed up, so he was pleased to see what it really looked like. Then Mr Monkey trotted back the way he'd come, admiring the statue of Papageno* outside the Muncipal Threatre.
* the birdcatcher from Mozart's opera The Magic Flute.
Return to Mr Monkey in Ostende
Copyright Rik Shepherd and Mr Monkey.