Getting to Ghent

Thurs Bruges / Ghent

Thursday found us on our last day in Bruges and second to last day in country, with an agenda to see the Groeningmuseum and then catch a train to Ghent.

We woke up with sunlight streaming into the our cozy attic room and headed down to breakfast. We'd known breakfast was included at Ter Duinn, but we didn't know it would be so great! It was my first taste of a proper European breakfast, since Kendra knows that if left to my own devices I'll eat chocolate croissants until I die).

Heading downstairs we passed through the central garden and the quiet reading room to reach the breakfast room, which was now replete with all sorts of fancy breakfast components. Grabbing a plate that was normal size, and by that I mean, the size of an American appetizer dish, we perused the variety of jams, breads, breakfast meats, pastries, and all sorts of toppings. Sunlight streamed through the adjacent window looking over one of the northern canals while we enjoyed coffee, tea, and fresh OJ. There were actually even a few types of breakfast chocolates (!), and, ever the addict, I sliced open a fresh, flaky croissant and placed a dark chocolate inside. Kendra, determined to see me become more cultured, taught me how to properly eat the delicate soft-boiled eggs were were served. I made a bit more of a mess than she did, to the surprise of no one, but was able to keep the lower shell intact while I scooped out the yolk and egg white mixture.

Since I'd declared that my new life goal was to read in the reading room, Kendra set about doing some useful stuff, as is her custom, while I lounged a little bit, as is mine. I was reading the autobiography for Bear Grylls, who, as an ex SAS (top British special forces) overcame a broken back to climb Everest, is a new personal hero. After reading through his adventures, we set about on a few of our own, and packed up our backpacks to drop off again at the very accomodating Hotel Academie before checking into the Groeningmuseum for a baptism into the Flemish primitives.

But not before saying goodby to Chez Albert!
We love you, Chez Albert waffles. You'll always be with us.
As in, literally with us, because you made us fat.

We also perused chocolates, because we'd given up on anything even resembling a normal diet. It seemed like a good price was ~1.60 Euro per 100g. We were seeing a lot of inflated prices though and attributed it to the prevalance of tourists, so we risked it in Ghent (and were very glad we did! See next post)

Having a morning to kill before our train in one of the best cities we've found for killing time, we headed over to the Groeninge museum. In addition to being difficult to spell without copying from Google, the Groeninge museum houses some famous artwork from the Flemish primitives and some very forgettable modern art. These painters coincided with advances in oil painting and gained worldwide fame in their lifetimes for their ultra-realistic portraits. Winding back through a courtyard into the museum - it's built on the site of an medieval abbey - we were immediately struck by a few particularly memorable pieces. The painting of Mars defeating ignorance was very intriguing, and I had a visceral reaction to the painting of the flaying of a corrupt judge (which was kept in the city hall as a reminder not to betray your post... it seems like we need to bring these paintings back, unfortunately). The Flemish Primitives are kind of the hipster Italian Renaissance - they were the best painters before it was cool, and it was eye-opening to see their work. The museum itself was fairly small, though, and it didn't take long to pass through, even for Kendra.

Finally we made a more responsible choice for food and grabbed lunch at the Manna and Co Italian shop. We picked up a margarita and pepperoni pizzas with a salad and took it to Minnewater Park for a picnic en route to train station.

We then caught our train to Ghent! We were excited to head there but were underwhelmed by having to be on transit. I tried to romanticize the trip in my classic optimist way and told Kendra, "Remember we're on a train through the Northern European countryside!" The train really is the best way to travel. We've run the gammut from miles-long walks, to bikes, to tuk tuk rides, to taxis and Ubers, to chicken buses, to city buses, to high speed buses, to trams, to trains, and planes, and trains are the way to go. Beautiful scenery, quiet surroundings, and the chance to sit in a spacious seat and read about Bear Grylls. Awesome.

Until it's not.
Google Maps did a stellar job giving us all of the info we needed. Unfortunately one of us, who will go unnamed - partially cause I'm writing this blog and don't want to self-incriminate- discovered literally all of the ways not not to find the tram north. Ultimately we did, and were glad we gave ourselves a thirty minute buffer to get to our Air BnB, the stellar Bed & Bike in a hip neighborhood just off the city's main attractions. To wit, we wandered off to find dinner and stumbled across a castle! We came around a corner and actually said, "Is... is that a frickin' castle?"
Little did I know we'd be able to walk around the turrets and dungeon and always the next morning. As it was we took in a pleasant dinner ordering the Flemish menu items from 'Tparadijs. I did order a beer, the Piraat, which was "only for real pirates," probably because it was an 11%). The Hotness got a local beer called Augustijn Ghents abdijbier. We had a great dinner together, until it finally rained on us, and we beat a hasty retreat back to the room, ready to rest up and take in the city the next day.