Getting our Bearings and a Few Random Observations

A few things I've noticed about Ghent (also known as Gent) from the first day:

- This is a town that loves to drink and eat and party. Yes, it's a "young" town - there is a large university here - but yesterday when the weather was warm and beautiful, the main section of town was packed with people sitting in cafes that rimmed the squares, drinking beer and eating snacks or meals all day long. Just chilling. I remember this from Paris too but here the bars/restaurants seem more packed together and less spread out throughout the city.

- Everyone bikes. The main section of town is pedestrian only and the bikes whiz around everywhere. We've been almost plowed over multiple times. I don't know how they manage sometimes with the cobblestones and the tram tracks. And the sidewalks contain huge zones where bike parking is allowed. Lots of people use the shared bikes that are available everywhere too.

- No one gets up early. This is our favorite time to explore the town when everyone else is still at home. We love seeing the shops start to open and get ready for the day. So peaceful. But the coffee shops don't even open until 10 on weekends! What's up with that?

- Shops, restaurants, markets, transportation.... no one wants cash. Everyone uses their tap-and-go credit cards. It's common to see cash refused even if someone wants to buy a small item. It makes it easy though. I just keep my card in my pocket. Maybe it's too easy. We'll get quite a surprise when the bill comes.

- There is something just jarring about being in this beautiful old town and seeing a Burger King or a Pizza Hut right in the prime spots on a square. Obviously some people must go there but I just don't understand it. 

- We hear no American voices. I've only seen a few people who I think might be from the US. Most of the tourists seemed to be European.

Yesterday we were up early and searching for a coffee shop that might be open. We wanted to find a local place but the only one we could find was Le Pain Quotidien which is lovely but a chain. There's even one in Chicago. We had reserved spots for a two-hour walking tour of the city, and we weren't sure we wanted to go. Our fear was that it would be lots of standing and slow walking which is exhausting sometimes. But as it turned out, we had a delightful young guide, Ben, who didn't just give us information, he told stories. He talked about the culture of the people here, how they have managed to fight off aggressors over the years (or not) and was honest about their love/hate relationship with the tourists. There were about 12 people on the tour and we were the only Americans. 

Evidently years ago, Marriott wanted to build a big hotel right in heart of Ghent. The city said they couldn't build some big modern hotel. They must instead buy old buildings and keep the facades of those buildings so the outside would remain the same. So Marriott bought a row of 4 or 5 houses in a very popular area along the canal. Ben then walked us into the beautiful main door of the hotel, and after walking 10 feet into the building, all you could see was chrome and glass. It looks like an ultra modern Marriott you might find at a US airport. There was a large breakfast room set up and on a Saturday at 11 AM it was completely empty. Ben said it always is. Marriott clearly made no attempt to maintain the original feel of building. Greg and I had identified ourselves as Americans during the tour introductions, and I immediately felt like I wanted to apologize to the group for what this US company had done. And maybe also for Burger King and Pizza Hut too. 

We had lunch at a cute soup place (Soup'R) and then later decided it was time to check out the sweet shops. We first discovered Sophies where we bought speculoos. They are a kind of ginger/molasses crips cookie. Just the kind Greg loves. 

We also bought some cuberdon, this small nose-shaped candy that they make here. And then the chocolate shops. We walked to Cholaterie Luc Van Hoorebeke where we had to try the hot chocolate. Normally, they also serve it with rum but we were too late and they had run out. But we did buy some carmels. Later Greg determined they were not the chewy type so we're back on the hunt for those and some rum-infused hot chocolate. The weather may be warm here, but that won't stop us from a hot drink.

Here's an interesting chocolate item... yes, it really is made of chocolate. Sorry, E, F, and G. This will not be coming home with us.

Dinner last night was at another excellent restaurant in a quiet part of the city. Again, we were the only tourists in the place. (Perfect! Right, BB?) I ordered the special which was white asparagus (can you sense a trend) risotto with toasted hazelnuts. It was fabulous, and I took a picture of it to post but when I looked at it just now, it's this white glob of goo so I won't put it here. You just have to trust me on this. Greg had pork shoulder. Also excellent. The place was called Takes Thyme, a quiet little place with great food.

A few random shots from today...

Our weather has been perfect and the predictions for this week look good. So happy to be here. I'm not even thinking about the remodeling going on at home. Well, maybe just a little.