{"id":18029,"date":"2016-10-18T18:50:29","date_gmt":"2016-10-18T16:50:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/flyingcigar.de\/?p=18029"},"modified":"2016-10-18T18:50:29","modified_gmt":"2016-10-18T16:50:29","slug":"christians-50th-birthday-weekend-part-one-bruges","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/flyingcigar.de\/startseite\/christians-50th-birthday-weekend-part-one-bruges\/","title":{"rendered":"Christian’s 50th Birthday Weekend – Part One – Bruges"},"content":{"rendered":"

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I had just unpacked from my Spain trip when I packed again for a Belgium\/Netherlands trip …<\/p>\n

Christian’s 50th birthday dinner was to be celebrated and he had kindly invited me to attend alongside a group of his closest friends – a very kind gesture that I appreciated coming from such a warm-hearted person.<\/p>\n

It was again a long but nice drive, 4 hrs for 460 km to just inside the Dutch border next to Belgium, a very fertile, green, soft & flat farm area north of Bruges.<\/p>\n

I arrived at the farmhouse chalets that had been reserved<\/a> for a group of friends and was completely alone. Didn’t see a single person for hours, but\u00a0 the chalets were open and I made myself at home in a wonderful 4 bedroom house.<\/p>\n

Christian had kindly left a bottle of tasty rum on the table so I had a cigar and a glass of rum and a nice long nap on the sofa.<\/p>\n

Then it all suddenly became hectic with Cliff coming to greet me, then getting instructions from Christian to meet at his office.<\/p>\n

So we drove to Christian’s office and met my French housemates, Anne-Laure, Fred and Alex. Love at first sight, great people.<\/p>\n

After a short tour of his office and walk-in we drove to his house and enjoyed a perfect dinner of mussel soup and lamb chops cooked by Christian and “sous-chef” Jorg with some fantastic 1966 wines by Christian and a 1980’s Monte 4 courtesy of Cliff and finsihed with a vintage Calvados.<\/p>\n

What a great way to start the weekend !<\/p>\n

The next day started early and foggy – Christian picked us up for a nice breakfast at Juliette’s in Bruges, a lovely city which I will visit with more time on my hands as I thoroughly enjoyed my few hours there and the ambience of the city.<\/p>\n

We walked around with the sun burning away the fog and I had the chance to get to know Christoph and Peter Bonne of Missault cigars<\/a>. Extremely friendly and warm people and I share the taste for the Stones and the movie “In Bruges” with Peter …<\/p>\n

Next stop was, you guessed it, again a cigar store, once again an extremely well appointed place, La Casa Del Tabaco with great service by Erik<\/a>, the manager, and we sat down to smoke a perfect BBF to coffee and rum.<\/p>\n

From there it was back to the chalet to change for the reception at Christian’s house and the dinner to be held at the Michelin-star rated “The Jane” in Antwerp, an hour away.<\/p>\n

Stay tuned …<\/p>\n

Nino <\/strong><\/p>\n

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