Today was spent in the beautiful city of Brugge, Belgium. Our first activity was to visit a local firm called BEP-Europe. BEP is part of the Burke Porter Group of companies which ar based in Grand Rapids, MI. Bert Vermeersch and his colleagues gave us an in-depth introduction to the Burke Porter Group and the work they do in Brugge. We then had the opportunity to walk around their shop floor and see the machines they are building. Most of the machines are intended to perform testing of new cars as they are driven off the assembly line. After seeing the impressive machines, they offered us some refreshments before we returned to Brugge’s old city center.
After finding lunch on our own, we met up with two city tour guides that led us around the city, explaining what we saw and describing the history of the city. The weather was rainy in the morning, but the afternoon was partly cloudy and very comfortable. After the tour, all were off in small groups to find some supper and to continue exploring the city.
