Take Two: Gent

Hi there! Liz here. The weather was glorious on Thursday (the 31st) thanks to it being Sylvie's birthday (Happy Birthday again to the best host mom ever!) so we decided to go see Gent for real this time. We parked liked pros after going on a very scenic route thanks to Tom the GPS taking us on an all-over-heck-and-back detour. We got into the city and went first into the biggest and most beautiful cathedral that I have ever seen. I couldn't help humming old Latin pieces from High School Choir and reveling in how completely breathtaking our voices would have sounded, echoing through those halls. Sigh...So an hour later, I'd made it through both levels of the church. One was the massive chapel with surrounding rooms displaying artwork and tombs and then there were actual catacombs underneath the church that you could go down into. That was awesome! It made me feel like I was Tom Hanks on The Da Vinci Code or something! Haha:)

this is the one and only picture I have of the church because that little white sign says that cameras aren't allowed...and I know no one follows that rule anyway, but it was nice to just enjoy the art and not have a camera between me and it, ya know?

I am so bummed that the front was under construction

There was a castle right smack in the middle of town that we saw and took pictures of, but a ticket to get in was 10 euros so we decided to opt out and go to another castle in Leipzig someday which is free to get into :) It was beautiful from the outside and I thought it would be so neat to have an actual ball in an ancient city pulled by actual horse drawn carriages (which you can totally do a tour like that BTW) in an actual and really old castle...

We stopped for a very necessary ice cream cone on our way into the shopping streets. Belgian chocolate ice cream is SO delicious! I also ran into this sweet guy playing his accordion in the square. I put a couple euros in his case and asked if I could take his picture. He nodded and smiled. What a cutie!

 can't decide if these are cute or creepy...

The last thing we did before heading home was stop for something to eat. We finally settled on a cafe that had a spot to lock up the trailer and had enough seats or all of us :) Not a small task! Especially when it's coffee and cake time (the hour between 1500 and 1600) I got a Belgian waffle with vanilla ice cream on top (holy tasty, Batman!)

Here are the last of the pictures. We also got to see a very old building where town meetings (maybe) and even more likely hangings (probably) were held. Please disregard the large pieces of meat hanging from the ceiling...

elephants for my Sydney

this is supposed to have some sort of historical significance, but there wasn't a sign so....I just felt obligated to take a picture haha :)

It's not hard to imagine the town of Gent hustling and bustling in the thirteenth or fourteenth century with all this amazing architecture!

 another church

for you, Mom! I knew you'd love it

I'm so glad we got to go back and actually do some serious sight seeing. Gent is such a gorgeous city with beautiful churches and a rich history. Hopefully this isn't the last time we go back! I hope you enjoyed the pictures!