Ghent, Belgium

This will forever be the place where I ate my first real Belgian waffle.  I had it the way locals do.  No fruit, no whipped cream (those are tourist waffles).  I had it with powdered sugar and it tasted like I was eating delicious funnel cake for breakfast.  Ghent is probably the most peaceful city I have ever visited and I was glad we stayed here all three nights in Belgium rather than dragging our stuff and checking in and out of several places.  It was incredibly easy and cheap to take day trips to neighboring cities using the local trains and Ghent was a great home-base.  Well, besides one unfortunate late night tram incident where we ended up waiting in the rain for over an hour for a taxi in a creepy neighborhood somewhere between Ghent and Bruges.

I wish I could lick that plate right now.  And the coffee was a yummy house blend.  I reccomend Mokabon if you ever travel here.

In front of the Gravensteen (Castle of the Counts), where I heard an amusing story.   In 1949 about 130 students decided to stage a public protest against the rising price of beer by occupying the Gravensteen. They sneaked in and barricaded the entrance gate. Police could not get past the barricade and were forced to climb the medieval battlements to take siege on the students. So funny to me.

Another shot of the Galvensteen taken from our boat ride.

A view of the center of town.  I love the Belgium flag waving.

Rotting hams in the old meat hall.  Disgusting or delcious?



Ghent city officals dedicated a whole street to local graffiti artisits and the result is beautiful. 



I loved graffiti robot.  Sad for him that the window is in the way. 

My sweet tooth was pleased in Belgium and not just by chocolates.  Check out all of those crazy candies (some of which you would need to aquire a taste for)

We encounted this lovely old man selling Jenever (a special type of gin available in the Netherlands and Belgium).  Look at the bottle he is holding out.  It is him on the label!  He is probably the most famous person I have ever had the pleasure of meeting.