Sparkling Ghent

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Just back from a lovely weekend in Ghent, Belgium. We headed out on the Eurostar sipping bubbles as we arrived in France. It has been such a dreadful day in London, it was great to see the sun! Only has we departed Brussels did the sun start to go down around 10.30pm. It was the longest day of the year so evenings have been long, however it has been hard to tell given all the rain. And rain was predicted most of the weekend in Belgium as well, not ideal. After convincing Adam it was too far to walk from the train station to our hotel we jumped in a cab and were soon racing towards the canal lined old city. After settling in we headed across the canal to one of the oldest pubs, the beer list was extensive to say the least, and enjoy a drink on the Leie River.
Ghent is one of these towns that is even more prettier at night, all the lights from the old buildings glitter in a mirror reflection. The funniest sight was a group of guys singing and laughing rowing themselves along the canal, pub to pub, one of the guys was wearing a duck rubber flotation ring ... Hilarious! The following morning was windy but not raining. We headed out to wander around, first stop was the castle. It was interesting as it was smack bang in the middle of the city, it offered great views across the city and housed a rather gruesome display of torture instruments. We wanted the pretty streets and ducked into the church before having a coffee in the old harbour. The old harbour was really pretty chocolate box buildings on either side. Next we took a little canal boat ride, learnt a bit of history plus took in the sights from the boat. That afternoon we did some more roaming around, the high light was a graffiti alley where anyone could do some spray painting. That evening even I got into some beers, but all flavoured and not really tasting like beer. The following morning it was raining and gloomy as we had expected. We headed to the design museum which didn't entertain us for too long so after a coffee we decided to make a break for the modern art museum near the train station. On arrival we decided not to go in and head for Brussels. We managed to get to the centre and spend a little time enjoying the main square, which is pretty impressive, visit the pissing boy fountain and grab a waffle. Sadly our journey home from Brussels wasn't so smooth. Because of more uk boarder controls at both ends we were delayed around an hour ... Highly annoying end to what was a great weekend.
PHOTOS

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