Friday - Gent to Bruge

Leaving my moldy mosquito hovel behind in Gent.

The front of Myriame Dolders in Gent.

Waiting for the train to Bruge sporting the Tiny Circus T-shirt.

A tourist boat on the canals of Bruge.

Houses on the Canal.

Inside one of Bruges many cathedrals.

Another canal scene.

One of the many small cafe filled squares in Bruge.

Almost every cafe or restaurant looks great. Here's on that has a terrace on the canal.

The famous bell tower made popular in the movie In Bruges.

Some serious touring bikers.

The infamous Rogier - a "professional" Belgian beer taster.

Friday began with my escape from the B&B in Gent. Myriame accosted me one more time about the American health care system and our fear of socialism. She said, "I cannot go to America because they will shoot me because I have a big mouth," and laughed. So I give her credit for that - plus she did my laundry for free so she can't be too bad.

I made my way to the train station. Passed a bike with a baby seat attached to the handlebars - which can't be too safe, I think. At the train station there were no less than 1000 bikes chained up outside. Must be commuters catching the train to work. The train ride is always satisfying - so easy and once on board you can just relax.

Arrived in Bruge, hopped on a bus which dropped me into another amazing central square. Found the B & B of Catherine Nyssen. The exact opposite of the place in Gent - spacious and clean with a nice bright large window, on the second floor. After getting situated I headed out to explore. Bruge is the opposite of Gent - nice, clean, and fully restored - though some of the buildings are replicas I guess - it didn't really bother me.

Drew for a little while in the central square and watched a guy perform a kind of comedic magic act for a small gathering crowd.

After dinner I headed to t'Burgs Beertje which is one of the most famous bars in Belgium. Sat next to a couple of Americans who were travelling as well, and chatted for a while. A semi intoxicated Belgian man named Rogier decided to sit with us and educate us about beer. Apparently he is a police officer. He began to describe with great repetition the process of drinking and tasting a beer. He bought a round for the table and made us mimic him in his drinking technique and discussed the importance of glass cleanliness at great length. One of the other guys had a very good gueuze beer and Rogier informed us that Americans cannot like Gueuze, it is impossible, and proceeded to drink the majority of that guys beer. That a really good one he said over and over. He kept saying "I like your beer," to the guy and grabbed the glass to drink another gulp. Finally we managed to make up a story about picking up someones wife from the train station and got away.

Stopped at one more place before heading to bed and met another group of 4 Americans from New York. When they sat down they said "Hey, you don't sound Dutch, but not exactly American either." I informed them that the Iowa accent is the most American accent of all. They were ok to talk to for a while but definitely let me know that they were New Yorkers. When I was leaving one of the ladies said, "Have fun in Iowa," with a snarky voice.