Gent (Ghent?)

After a surprisingly cosy and delicious sleep last night (despite sleeping in a room with 8 other people), I awoke early and rose as the moon was still out and the morning rain was still pattering down outside. Successfully manoeuvring my way down the rope bridge steps that shake and rattle as you walk on them (a real test of how awake, or drunk, you are). Breakfast is delicious. First of all: toast!!!!! That in itself is amazing. I actually have not had toast since I left NZ. That is a long time after practically living off it during flatting. There was a huge assortment of spreads, including Speculoos! The delicious biscuits that have been turned into a paste (because anything that tastes good as biscuits of course tastes good as a paste). And, best of all, tea. Real tea. Not French tea. Thank goodness.

By the time we set off the morning rain that seems to plague Bruges had disappeared and once again, the morning was beautiful. Blue sky and brisk temperatures. After buying a ticket to Gent (5.90 euro, the cheapest price I have ever paid to get to another city. Bless you, Europe) we went to the platform, only to miss the train by mere seconds. One hour (and a delicious waffle) later and we were on the next train. The trip was short, about 25 minutes, and it passed even faster when the ticket conductor came past and told us we were sitting in first class. Our bad. We thought all trains had deluxe seats, entertainment systems and free flowing champagne served by topless waiters.

Arriving in Gent it was clear that it was much larger than Bruges! We actually had to catch a tram instead of walking everywhere! After getting lost but eventually finding our way to the hostel, we dropped off our bags and set off into the beautiful streets. Gent is considerably bigger than Bruges but remains a beautiful town, framed by skinny brick buildings all attached to each other, dangerous cobblestone streets, quaint canals and welcoming people.

Belgium so far feels like one of those places where nothing bad ever happens. Everyone is happy, people know they are living in a beautiful place and anyone who ever feels like doing something bad is instantly distracted by the delicious chocolates or the warm smell of waffles wafting throughout the streets.

We ended up walking all day around a huge part of Gent, checking out many churches, a Japanese garden, a well known and well loved tree (yup, a tree. It's actually pretty average. Think one of Hagley Park's gems on an autumn day) as well as stumbling upon outdoor ice skating, a fairground, and getting completely distracted by impressive looking buildings and churches (and consequently lost. We may or may not have scaled a hill and walked across a dangerous construction site bridge that had cross signs on it to find our way back. But it was fine, we made sure to distribute our weight evenly across it when walking, and then sprinted our of fear.)

This city is beautiful, but I am absolutely exhausted.