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[Pictures of Ghent Trip]
I put off writing about my day in Ghent because it was so soggy and I was understandably a little grumpy.
Traveled to Ghent yesterday by train, took about an hour with one change inside of Brussels. Round trip about 16 euros. All the tourist-info webpages said basically "Hop on tram 1, it'll go to the city center, and everything's there". So I hopped on tram 1, although neither direction looked correct, and noticed after a bit that we seemed to be going the wrong way. I jumped off and tried to wait on the other side, but a local told me that due to the (stupid amounts of) construction, the tram was only moving one way down that street, and to go north I'd have to go south first. However, here the tram fights with cars in traffic, so is quite slow. :P So, I decided to walk the roughly 30-minute trek to the city center.
Ghent 1, Rosona 0.
Somehow managed to hop a tram heading back to the station, and from there followed the walking directions I downloaded onto the ipod. While walking, the spitting-rain started up (again) -- this has been a near-constant my trip, outside of a few days here and there. I think Saturday it was quite sunny and some of the time in amsterdam. Then this giant wind rolled in (which I'd also experienced in Amsterdam) and the rain picked up to quite serious. Eventually I gave up and sheltered in a storefront. Even if I'd had my umbrella, it wouldn't've helped at all.
Ghent 2, Rosona 0.
I made it to the central square, to find about 5 monstrous churches in the vicinity, and no idea which was the one I was looking for. I ducked into a fancy little cafe, got an espresso (which came with a tasty truffle) and directions to St. Baafs Cathedral. It was pretty epic, honestly. I saw a smaller replica of the famous 'mystic lamb' and decided not to pay to see the real one, and wandered around the crypt. There's art dating back to 1414, which is amazing because it is so damp, and Will tells me this is normal Belgium weather.
Finally managed to buy a map of Ghent after that (had tried a few times) and took probably the least optimal route to the Castle of the Counts. That was awesome and totally made the whole thing worth it. It has a moat, and looks like what I think most people think of when they think 'castle'. Great view of the town, modulo the construction.
Wandered around. Saw the Ghent manneken-pis (which isn't even a fountain). Eventually gave up and made my way back to the station, soggy and ready to get out of the constant rain (which had soaked all the way through my hat :P).
Dinner was delicious veal and lamb-meatball stew, with a trappist ale, Rochefort 8 (very delicious). We went and found the bar with lambics on tap and had one. It was a very uncomfortable bar -- all rough-cut wood and metal. Good beer, though. Maybe they'll figure out to make things more comfortable.
ciao
[Pictures of Ghent Trip]
I put off writing about my day in Ghent because it was so soggy and I was understandably a little grumpy.
Traveled to Ghent yesterday by train, took about an hour with one change inside of Brussels. Round trip about 16 euros. All the tourist-info webpages said basically "Hop on tram 1, it'll go to the city center, and everything's there". So I hopped on tram 1, although neither direction looked correct, and noticed after a bit that we seemed to be going the wrong way. I jumped off and tried to wait on the other side, but a local told me that due to the (stupid amounts of) construction, the tram was only moving one way down that street, and to go north I'd have to go south first. However, here the tram fights with cars in traffic, so is quite slow. :P So, I decided to walk the roughly 30-minute trek to the city center.
Ghent 1, Rosona 0.
Somehow managed to hop a tram heading back to the station, and from there followed the walking directions I downloaded onto the ipod. While walking, the spitting-rain started up (again) -- this has been a near-constant my trip, outside of a few days here and there. I think Saturday it was quite sunny and some of the time in amsterdam. Then this giant wind rolled in (which I'd also experienced in Amsterdam) and the rain picked up to quite serious. Eventually I gave up and sheltered in a storefront. Even if I'd had my umbrella, it wouldn't've helped at all.
Ghent 2, Rosona 0.
I made it to the central square, to find about 5 monstrous churches in the vicinity, and no idea which was the one I was looking for. I ducked into a fancy little cafe, got an espresso (which came with a tasty truffle) and directions to St. Baafs Cathedral. It was pretty epic, honestly. I saw a smaller replica of the famous 'mystic lamb' and decided not to pay to see the real one, and wandered around the crypt. There's art dating back to 1414, which is amazing because it is so damp, and Will tells me this is normal Belgium weather.
Finally managed to buy a map of Ghent after that (had tried a few times) and took probably the least optimal route to the Castle of the Counts. That was awesome and totally made the whole thing worth it. It has a moat, and looks like what I think most people think of when they think 'castle'. Great view of the town, modulo the construction.
Wandered around. Saw the Ghent manneken-pis (which isn't even a fountain). Eventually gave up and made my way back to the station, soggy and ready to get out of the constant rain (which had soaked all the way through my hat :P).
Dinner was delicious veal and lamb-meatball stew, with a trappist ale, Rochefort 8 (very delicious). We went and found the bar with lambics on tap and had one. It was a very uncomfortable bar -- all rough-cut wood and metal. Good beer, though. Maybe they'll figure out to make things more comfortable.
ciao
