Planes, Trains, Trams, More Trains, and Tubes

Our flight from Chicago to London went well. We'd never flown on British Airways before, but we'd happily do it again. Great service, comfortable seats, free wine, and a decent dinner. We hurried through the entry process at the airport - for some reason, this was much easier than our last trip due to some of the technology they now use - and we jumped on the Tube. And this, too, was much easier than before. No more Oyster cards; just tap your credit card and you're good to go. 

We dropped our bags at our hotel (Harlingford Hotel) and decided we needed to go to our favorite food market on the planet, Burrough Market. It's grown in the past few years, and we arrived just about lunchtime, so it was packed. We wanted to try The Best One, a sandwich we'd seen all over You Tube that's made at The Black Pig, one of the stalls at the market. It has pulled pork, fennel apple slaw, a bunch of sauces, and then it's covered in parmesan cheese. 

It was amazing! And because we had to sit on a ledge to eat it, I ended up wearing most of it on my coat. But I think we'll probably go back there next week and get another. Next we had to try the creme brulee doughnut, another You Tube favorite. Pretty amazing stuff. This trip will be a challenge for me to be able to wear my clothes soon

To keep us moving and help with the jetlag, we signed up for one of the London Walks tours. This one was on the Blitz. (Remember that crazy Osher class, BG and JK?) I thought it was pretty fascinating strolling around St. Paul's and hearing stories about the damage and fear during that time. The guide made several comparisons between that period of time and the Covid lockdown, which was interesting. 

We returned to our hotel and walked down the street to a small Greek restaurant (Mine Mane) for dinner. Food was ok but the wine was excellent! The hotel was located close to the train station which was our main reason for booking there, but the small room was comfortable. We grabbed breakfast in the morning, and checked into the Eurostar station for the train to Brussels. And then finally on another train to arrive in Gent. We had just enough time in London to get us excited to return there next week.

We are now settled into our apartment in Gent, and we love it here. When I was researching events in Gent I noticed a concert that was being held in an old church where a small orchestra would be playing the music from the Harry Potter movies. The ones written by John Williams who is so talented. I found a restaurant close to the church so we ate there first. It is called Bonavia, and it is a one-man show. The owner/chef/host was so delightful. The place seats just 12 people, and the menu is written on a small blackboard. And it's far from the tourist section of town. The owner, took our order, cooked it all himself, and delivered it to us. And it was truly one of the best meals we've had in a very long time. He recommended the Flemish stew which you can get anywhere here but this dish was incredible. Who goes on vacation and orders beef stew!? The meat melts in your mouth, and the sauce.... he said there are three different kinds of beer in the sauce and then to sweeten it up and add some flavor, he uses gingerbread! Anyway, it was the best beef stew ever. We also had white asparagus soup which tastes entirely different from the green stuff. I guess white asparagus is a specialty here. And we had gorgonzola ravioli. All just the best. Of course, we immediately made another reservation for our last dinner here in Gent. 

The concert was truly beautiful. The acoustics in the church, the lighting, the total atmosphere was just magical. And I'm sure we were the only tourists there.

We sat next to a lovely young Belgian woman who translated some of the things that were said during the concert. When I asked how she knew English so well, she said it was because in Belgium (unlike France and other countries) they only show American movies and tv shows in English. They don't have voiceovers with local languages. So the kids grow up having to learn English. 

This video does not capture the feeling of the concert but it was the best I could do...

More about today later. Time to eat again!