Morning at the Emperor's 48 B&B in Antwerp. A very nice house, very comfortable and well done.
Saying goodbye to Bart, the gracious owner of the B&B.
Typical Belgian lunch in at the Brooderie in Gent. Minutes later it was nearly ruined when I doused it with a hand crushed salt that could have been a perfect stand in for Parmesan cheese.
The canals of Gent. At one time Gent was the second largest city in Europe, after Paris.
St. Baafskathedraal - home of Jan Van Eyk's 20 panel painting - The Adoration of the Mystic Lamb. The most impressive paintings I have seen in quite a while - definitely living up to the reputation - and quite memorable from art history class - featuring the famous controversial paintings of Adam and Eve. I couldn't take photos of it though - so you'll have to look it up.
A view of Gent from the Belfort - or belfry tower.
Decorative statue on the side of the Belfry.
Display at a pub that featured a troll theme throughout.
My room at Myriame Dolder's B & B. The room is just off the garden is just barely large enough to get my suitcase in. In fact that spot next to the bed is the only place it could go.
View of Gent at Night.On Wednesday I got up and said good bye to Antwerp and made the 45 minute trip to Gent. Everything is very close in Belgium. I made my way from the train station to Myriame Dolders B&B. Myriame was very nice and mapped out a tour for me that included locations for good french fries and waffles. A left the b & b to walk around and had a nice lunch at the Brooderie which was almost ruined by a salt fiasco (see above). In Flanders all of the menus are in Flemish only, whereas in Brussels they also had English menus. Otherwise you can get by fine with English everywhere. You only need a language guide at mealtime.
From there it started to rain lightly to I took a tour of the Belfort for a view of the city from 200 feet in the air. The tour guide mentioned that Gent is very authentic because when they build something new, they make it look totally new and not faux old. Some of the older buildings also changed styles from floor to floor, if they took 100's of years to build. Gent definitely appears to be old, cellar aged, and a little worn around the edges, especially on a rainy day. Lots of construction and restoration work going on.
Next I took a tour of St. Baaf's Cathedral which is home to the famous Van Eyk painting (see above). This cathedral is also a mix of old and new and in constant need of renovation ans surrounded by scaffolding and cranes. The older masonry super-structure is all fairly rough hewn stone and then it has been filled in on the inside with very polished granite stone work which creates a strange contrast.
In the evening I tried a couple of pubs - one featuring trolls that looked like it could have been a set on Lord of the Rings - some type of hobbit pub. The second pub was by the same owners and looked similar except no trolls this time. I had a nice conversation with an older Belgian man while sitting at the bar discussing everything from beer to politics to culture. He said he had never talked to an American before and was quite surprised to see we aren't all as we appear on the Dukes of Hazzard. After the pub, I sought out and found a good Turkish restaurant called Ankara; and had a nice dinner of mixed grilled meats - and got a little better service when I used Turkish rather than English. Then off to bed.
