Day 115: Brussels - Gent, Belgium

I had another great day in Belgium today.  Maarten has been a really fantastic host.  This morning, he came and got me from my room at around 10h, and we walked to the train station.  We stopped along the way to see one of the fish markets.  It was cool to see a fish market in real life. 

Oostende train station

We then took a train from Oostende to Bruxelles(AKA Brussels), and we arrived there at around 12h 30.  Brussels is a great city, with lots of very cool architecture, and beautiful churches, government buildings, and plazas.  While I didn’t like it as much as Brugge, it was still a lot of fun.  Brussels,  is also a primarily French speaking city, so it was cool to hear, and use, French encore.

Bartok en Bruxelles.

The Brussels opera.  There seems to be this idea in Belgium that if you increase public works spending it helps to sustain the economy.  There is construction everywhere you look.

Weird 1970s architecture.

Me with a rocket from what comic?

Hey kid, do you like comics?

The cathedral of Saints Michel and Gudul.

It was full of beautiful stained glass.  Some of the prettiest I have seen.

It is also huge.

Large spaces.

More winder.

The Brussels town hall.

This is the Manneken-Pis.  Or "the little pissing boy".

Maarten called it the Mona Lisa of Brussels, I am assuming, for it's notoriety, and not the quality.  There were probably 100 people gathered around it taking photos.

A view of Brussels, with the Royal Liberry of Belgium on the left.  And a homeless guy making bubbles. 

Eglise de Ste. Pierre

The white paint job made it seem larger than life.

The king of Belgium's house.

When we finished in Brussels, we took the train to Gent, which is not too far.  Gent is probably the mean of Brussels and Brugge.  It was probably my favorite of the three cities.  It seems a little more authentic, and bigger, than Brugge, while still maintaining a quaint, small-town feel.  We were there at night, so there wasn’t a lot we could do, but we did walk around and look at many of the buildings, most of which were lit up.  There were lots of people out, dining and shopping.  It was very nice.

A building on a canal.

Several buildings on a canal.

Several different buildings, on a canal.  The one on the far right is an old post office.

This is a castle.  On a canal.

Gent Town Hall.

A church.  Forgot the name.

More different church.  It is in the process of being restored

We then took the train back to Oostende, and Maarten’s dad picked us up at the gare.  We went to their house and ate dinner.  It was come kind of poulet dish with champingons and gravy stuff, in a pastry.  Like a poulet pot pie.  We had pancakes for dessert.  Belgian pancakes are like half-way between American style pancakes and crepes.  

Awesome dinner.  There were also frites.

Maarten’s mom is also doing some laundry for me, since I have been wearing the same jeans for the last like 10 days.  The whole family has been incredibly welcoming, and has made it a really great visit.  I am bummed that tomorrow is my last day here in Belgium, but it has been a fantastic visit.