ghent and bruges

I bounded out of bed Sunday morning at 5:20 a.m.  I knew the sun would be coming up shortly.  The east facing terrace right off my bedroom was quiet and cool, with dozens of teeny tiny spiderwebs glistening along the posts with spiders so small they were barely visible.  As quietly as possible, I made coffee and sat outside. 

We had another peaceful morning.  It was Mother’s Day in France, so Katie’s friend visited his mother like a good son, then brought back fresh chocolate croissants like a good host.  It was so over the top!

But I knew on a very personal level that one of the main reasons why this visit was so incredible was due to the weather.  Having lived in Michigan until age 18, I understood completely when he described the endless winters with no sun for days, even weeks.  Where there are no clouds in the sky, but instead the sky is completely covered as though there existed no sun at all.  I was positive that he was even more excited, relieved really, than we were.  If the long summer days were inspiring, the opposite, painfully shorts days in winter were beyond depressing.  We opened every blind, window, and door in the place.  The birds sang and flew around in the complete splendor of spring, almost summer.

I had read a little about Bruges and Ghent, 2 small cities in Belgium.  They had told me when we were in Brussels that today would “be even better”………and the entire day was incredible.  It was like every excellent part of Europe I had ever seen wrapped into these 2 cities, just 45 minutes apart and only an hour away.  We went to Ghent first, which is smaller and a little less popular so it was quiet and lovely.  No matter how far we walked or which way we turned, the small city with its old buildings and homes were there down every alley, every road, as far as you could see.

So here are a bunch of pictures of Ghent.  I really don’t know what to say. 

When we arrived in Bruges around 4 p.m., it was raining lightly so we chilled in the car for a bit, with the thunder rumbling constantly in the distance.

The rain seemed to chase away many of the tourists; in fact, her friend said he’d never seen Bruges so empty.  It also gave us the perfect reason to stop and try another beer at a darling little pub.  As we were going to leave, Katie noticed that the guy at the end of our table had a UCF sticker on his phone.  When I said, “Go Knights!”, he was so thrilled and it turned out that he and his wife were there for their anniversary.  We talked for several minutes and compared notes about where we had been and where we were going.  

Belgian beer companies make a glass for every type of beer, one they believe brings out the best flavor in their beer.  Every bar and beer store has a glass to go with each type of beer they sell.

We pulled together our remaining euros to split a couple more waffles with chocolate, which were possibly even better than the ones in Brussels.  There are probably differences between Bruges and Ghent, but the only one I noticed was Bruges had actual souvenir shops. Otherwise it was yet another quaint, breathtakingly lovely city.  When we got home, we enjoyed fresh bread, tomatoes, strawberries, and dark Belgian chocolate on the terrace. 

So here is Bruges and again I am going to just post a bunch of photos while I sort it all out in my mind.  It was a lot in one weekend and maybe there just are not words.  I am glad to have a day home today with not much to do except sit on the balcony during the sunny, 78 degree Northern France summer.  

Photo:  Ghent, Belgium