Gent Again(t)

Bit of a blog hiatus recently. I'll simply state that a combination of a dense teaching session at work, other work things (like papers and grants), and a brief 31st birthday celebration have kept me busy. But, while my nights and days have largely involved work recently, I can look back a few weeks at the rest of the Doug/Ruben Amsterganza. 

After four days in Amsterdam for Ruben, and two for Doug, the three of us and Kat took an 8:30am train to Gent on Saturday morning. There had been discussion of visiting Brussels and Brugges, but, based on the recommendations of some Belgians I talked to - and my own excellent experience in November - we settled on going to Gent for our brief visit to Belgium.

After a train ride sitting in front of a group largely composed of loud and obnoxious American women in their late 20's or early 30's (with conversations characterized by comments such as "I can't wait for the beer in Belgium - I'm going to always pick the strongest beer on the menu" and "I can't believe how awesome Twitter is - I've been hash tagging all week"), we had a thirty minute layover in Antwerp. Which was nice - the Antwerp train station is (by far) the most beautiful train station I've seen. 

While waiting, we noticed a group of women around our age dressed (or getting dressed) as nuns. I walked over to them and asked if they were part of a bachelorette party, or if they were staging a mass conversion. It was indeed a bachelorette party, and they happily obliged when I asked to take a photo with them.

Minutes after this photo, a real nun walked past and gave the girls a withering look. Fortunately, the real nun had gone when, minutes later, a man dressed as Jesus and carrying a wooden cross arrived and left the station with his nuns in tow.

Despite the facial expression, the one on the right was the most friendly and outgoing when I talked to the group.

After our comical adventure in blasphemy, we hopped on the train and arrived in Gent thirty minutes later. We stayed in a man's apartment through AirBnB, a service that is kind of like couchsurfing, except you pay, and your host typically doesn't stay with you. So essentially, instead of staying in a hotel room with two beds, we paid half the price to rent a two bedroom apartment fifty meters from the main square in Gent.

Ruben apparently was mocked extensively for planning a trip to Gent by his fellow guests at a wedding he attended in the UK before the trip. Not because there's anything wrong with Gent, but because none of the Brits had ever heard of it. Which is kind of funny, since Gent is a) amazing, and b) under 200 miles from London. Or about the distance from Phoenix to Yuma. 

We only spent about 24 hours in Gent before moving on to Paris, but we fit a lot in, including Flemmish meals, Belgian waffles, a boat tour, climbing the Belfry of Gent (pics from the top above), visiting a church, and, naturally, drinking some Belgian beers. Our favorite beer experience was provided by one of the best beer bars in Gent, which had its menu translated into multiple languages. This page did not seem to be designed to move merchandise.