Blogs from Gent, East Flanders, Belgium, Europe - page 5

Geo: 51.054, 3.72169 Ghent... I never would have come across this place if not for Diana's daddy (Diana, our nursing school buddy). Her dad worked there awhile back, and one night when we were studying at Diana's house, he told us all about Ghent and insisted we go. I mean insisted. There was no NOT going. lol. I have to say... if someone is that passionate about a city... I can't see any reason not to go. At first we weren't too sure about it. Our first sight of the place was pretty ghetto-y. We were walking down a canal past run down buildings lookin for our hostel... Then Skeletor walks by us. I mean... this guy's skin was pulled back over his face and I could probably name the different bones. Just say no to ... read more

On Saturday we headed east for Ghent to meet with C’s Belgian friends. It was great to pick up with them so readily, having last met up in London six years ago. We wandered into the city stopping regularly for coffee, snacks and beers, and witnessing a freak hail storm. Ghent was busy and beautiful (see pic 1 -1402). Together we visited St Baafskathedrall to see one of the oldest oil paintings in the world, The Adoration of the Mystic Lamb. It was amazing. On Sunday we started with a delicious breakie at our B&B and then went to the Fine Arts Museum. We were both really impressed with the Flemish Impressionist paintings. After lunch at the museum we said goodbye to A&A for now (we will catch up again in a few days) and headed ... read more

In Gent... read more

I didn't sleep much that night. It was loud, and my throat was really hurting all night and making me feel like I was dying of thirst. When I got up in the morning my cough was worse and I wasn't feeling so great. Sarah and I went down for breakfast. We'd payed 2.50 euro for it the night before, and I wasn't expecting much based on the rest of the hostel. But man were we surprised! On the table was a spread of fresh breads, meats, cheese, jams, butter, nutella and sprinkles! You see, the Dutch--and the Flemish Belgians--really like eating toast that's spread with nutella and covered in sprinkles for breakfast! After our awesome breakfast we shouldered our packs and headed out to go explore Antwerp before we left for Gent. We followed the ... read more

EcoHostel Andromeda Ghent, Belgium Monday, July 6 2009 Well, that was a weekend. So to update everyone (because some have partial info, others have none), here is what is going on. At the end of last week, one of my sisters called me to let me know that my dad was having some pretty bad health problems going on right now. It's not my business to share what it is with everyone, but needless to say I have been worried about it ever since hearing. Thursday and Friday I was kind of a mess, just out of it altogether. On Saturday morning, after doing 3 hours of weeding, Luc drove me to Antwerp Centrum (the center tourist area of Antwerp), where he dropped me off and said "have fun." I did a bit of window shopping, ... read more