Beautiful Belgium!

Hello!

I am back in the village and getting back into my routine. J I had such a good time during my break! It is far too much to write in one entry, so my intention is to post a few entries of my adventure. You know, make the suspension last longer, haha!

I’ll just start from the beginning…

I started in Malaga on the southern coast of Spain. I went down early so I could catch my flight the next day. I stayed in a hotel right on the beach. It was gorgeous! I left my balcony door open all night so I could sleep while listening to the waves hit the shore. It was so peaceful. I just wanted to feel that peace every day, all day. J

This is what I woke up to... rough life, huh?

There was no excitement on my flight to Belgium. A small delay, but nothing serious. Met Christophe, Leah’s boyfriend, at the airport. It was fairly chilly and a bit misty upon arrival, but nothing too extreme. We had to drive from Brussels to Ghent. It was about an hour & a halfish to get there, but mostly because traffic was pretty slow in a lot of places. I’m told that this is typical. I don’t know if you know much about Belgium and to be honest, I didn’t either. Christophe showed me a YouTube video that is a brief and accurate portrayal of Belgium.  It’s not one of those boring, serious videos. It puts a funny spin on it. I think you’d enjoy it.

Anyway, I think I told you about my first night, so I will just dive into day 2. J We had some breakfast from a delicious bakery in Ghent (pronounced with kind of a rough ‘H’ sound). Sweet pastries and some delicious bread with some spreads. Everything that I tried, I liked. J My favorite was the chicken salad spread. After breakfast, we headed to Dinant. Dinant is still in Belgium, but it’s in the southern part of the country (about a 2 hour drive) and is in the French speaking part. There was a big difference in the landscape from Ghent to Dinant. There were many forested areas and much more rolling hills. Everywhere (including Ghent) was so green. I was informed that it rains all the time. (It rained or was misty/cloudy nearly every day of my trip) Dinant is a smallish town with a lot of history. We went to La Citadelle, a fortress from hundreds of years ago. We went on a guided (in French) tour of the fortress and I got some great photos. The last part of the tour was a simulation of the trenches during wartime and it was crazy! They built the last part of it (it’s really difficult to describe the feeling!) sideways. You’re walking as you normally would, but the perception of your eyes is not what you are seeing/feeling when you are walking. It was like being incredibly drunk, but very conscious of your surroundings. It was definitely something from maybe one of those funhouses at a fair. You know, the one that has mazes and mirrors that make you look all sorts of silly? It’s just so hard to describe. The feeling was not that fun, haha, but the idea behind it and the creativity was really cool.

Here is kind of the idea of the leaning room, haha... she wasn't trying to lean sideways.  That's just how it worked.

Leah & Christophe had a brunch they had to attend Sunday morning, so I slept in and did a bit of ‘Facebooking’ and a blog entry before we headed out. First, we stopped at the Gravensteen Castle. We toured the castle and enjoyed some views from the top. It was very cool. It is just really surreal for me to put myself into the mindset that something like castles, knights, etc, really existed. The things that intrigued me the most (and please don’t judge me) were the torture & punishment methods. Seeing the guillotine (with the authentic blade that cut off countless heads) and the other torture devices just blew my mind that this was actually reality at some point in our past. Obviously, there are some places that still exist that accept this type of violence, etc, but it’s not a reality to me. It’s hard to wrap my mind around it. Anyway, here is a picture of one of the devices we saw.

The stretched the body out and then poured water into his stomach through the throat

After our journey around the castle, we went to ‘Max,’ the place where the waffle was invented. They still use the original waffle irons. I got my waffle with ice cream, whipped cream, and caramel sauce. You can pick a large variety of ways to get your waffle. You can create any combination of fruits, ice cream, sauces, butter, powdered sugar, etc. It was hard to decide! HaHa! And it was delicious! It was light and fluffy and just so tasty!! 

They, so kindly, let me come into their kitchen to take a photo of the original waffle irons... history happened right there, folks!

The outside of the place where waffles were invented

After the waffle experience, we took a small walk around Ghent before catching the tram to their house. The architecture was amazing to see. You could tell that there is so much history there. Simply gorgeous! J On this walk, we ran across this little hole in the wall bar that the owner made his own alcohol in different flavors and served them in shots (I chose the blood orange flavor--delish). We sipped ours before catching the tram. Christophe cooked us a traditional Belgian meal that evening and it was delicious. I don’t remember what it was called, haha! I’ll ask & then let you know. J It was cooked chicory wrapped in ham and covered in a cheesy alfredo sauce. And then, you combine it with spaghetti. Cut & mix it up for a delicious treat! It was really, really good. I wasn’t sure about the chicory (it’s in the lettuce/cabbage family), but it was very tasty. J

Monday morning, Christophe had to go back to work in Brussels, so it was only Leah & I. We had coffee and a sandwich before she went to class. While she was in class, I was able to explore the city for a few hours by myself. I did a little shopping and collected a couple souvenirs for myself. J I bought some tea, chocolates, and mustard for myself. Leah and I then went to a fry shop. They’re all over the city. Fries are their specialty! (Just don’t call them French!) I ordered a fried hamburger with mine that had a special sauce on it. It was probably the unhealthiest of meals, but it was really good! HaHa! After fries, we went to the Bierhuis (beer house) and had a beer. Also tasty!

My last day in Belgium, we went to Dr. Guislain’s Museum. It is a museum for the history of psychology. It also houses some art exhibits. One exhibit was about psychology and treatment of children. It was really interesting. I’m not going to pretend I’m an artistic person, though. I don’t know much about art at all, but I was entertained. Then, we got into the section about the history of psychology. It had displays showing treatment methods and all the ways they studied the mind (some very questionable). It was very interesting to me. It was a bit disturbing at times, but very interesting! 

Leah had class again, so I did a little sightseeing on my own for a few hours. I visited a cathedral in town that housed “The Adoration of the Mystic Lamb.” (CHECK NAME) It’s apparently a very famous painting. I felt very out of place, haha. I went into this very dark, protected, secure room to ’view’ the painting through the casing. There were people just staring at the painting and admiring it with such intensity. The room was completely silent (we weren’t allowed to talk). I can now say that I have seen “The Adoration of the Mystic Lamb,” but I was more amazed at the architecture and detailing in the cathedral. I wasn’t allowed to take pictures. I wish I could have. It was unbelievable. The intricacy of all the details and statues was amazing. The altars, the seating, the crypt… all completely amazing… such history. After the cathedral, I went to the Belfry tower. It is the building where they kept all the important documents. There is a bell in the tower. I went to the top of it. You could feel the building swaying in the wind. It was a little uneasy, haha, but the view was gorgeous! After Leah’s classes, we went back to their place and she made us a great & tasty pizza! With carrots on it, haha! I’ve never had carrots on a pizza, but was impressed. J I got a lot of my packing done that night before bed so I could be ready to go in the morning for the next part of my break!

Here is where I’ll end this entry before I dive into my Madrid experience with Annie Castle. I loved Belgium. If I could choose three nouns to describe Belgium, they would be: 1)Beer 2)Bicycles 3)Chocolate. (Number 4 would have been waffles, but I wanted to put bicycles in there!) Everyone rides bicycles! Everyone rides them everywhere. I love to people watch and it was fun to watch. I didn’t try a beer I didn’t like, I don’t think. I even got to try this one beer that is super exclusive to get. It’s made by monks in a monastery and you have to go through some legit processes to be allowed to get any. Apparently, if you buy a SINGLE bottle of beer in the states, you’d spend upwards of $30. It was a dark beer, but quite tasty. Click here to go to the site where it tells you all about Westvleteren   Three adjectives would be 1)cozy 2)historical 3)pretty. When I say ‘pretty,’ I mean the people more than the scenery, although the scenery was gorgeous! Everyone seemed to be dressed to a T all the time. The women were riding their bicycles through the rough streets (cobblestone) with skirts and heels on. I was very impressed, haha. J

Okay, enough for this entry. Belgium was very fun and I would love to go back and visit again. A big, public thanks goes out to Leah and Christophe for all of their hospitality and for being great tour guides (and chauffeurs). I had the best time!!

I have a ton more photos, but you'll have to check out Facebook for the whole lot of them.  There are many & I'll be sure to put descriptions on them there.  :)  Hope this finds you all well!

Besos!