Belgium--Friday, August 15

On Friday morning we loaded up the car and headed for Belgium.  Not bad—only a 3-hour drive.  We were on our way to meet Tom and his family.  Lloyd met Tom in Perugia, where he was studying Italian for a month.  They met in the middle of town during an open-air jazz concert.  After talking for about 30 minutes that evening, they exchanged addresses and invited each other to their homes.  Little did Tom know that we would take him up on his invitation!  His family was so kind and gracious to have us into their home and to make typical Belgian food and then to take us out sightseeing. 

After a wonderful lunch, we got on a train and headed for Ghent, about 30 minutes away.  What a beautiful city, with old buildings and a real castle!  The first thing we saw after getting off the bus was a stand selling homemade gingerbread and small raspberry cone-shaped candies.  The gingerbread was a cheesecake-consistency and moist and absolutely delicious!  The raspberry was also wonderful, but very, very sweet.  The Belgian word for the candy translates as a “nose” because it is shaped like a nose!

Then, we went to Gravensteen, a castle that was built back in the 800s, which was rebuilt over a period of decades, starting in the 1800s.  It is now a museum containing medieval weapons and torture instruments.  The kids loved it.  The tower also offered a spectacular view of the city.

We went to the Cathedral of St. Bavo in Ghent, which holds a very famous painting by Jan van Eyck, called the Mystic Lamb.  Here is a link to one site about St. Bavo's:  http://www.trabel.com/gent/gent-saintbavo.htm