Belgium

I left for Belgium last week, taking the Thalys from Paris Gare du Nord to Brussels Zuid/Midi and then an intercity (IC) train to the small town of Bruges. I checked in at Lybeer's Hostel near the town center, where the front deskman gave me a map of town with a couple walking tours on it. I did the touristy walk in red around the major sites close to center first - it was quite crowded at intersections and near certain canals. I enjoyed my panini and pastry on a bench near the beguinage. I walked around town more before going into 2 churches - one of the Begijnhof and the other the Basilica of the Holy Blood. Despite getting a restaurant recommendation from a local I met at a bus stop, I stopped at the grocery store for dinner (bread and yogurt) instead of splurging on a proper meal. The old man I met was a former postal worker and knew the area quite well. However, I checked out the restaurant and it seemed more than I was hungry for - plus eating alone in a fancy restaurant has never been that much of an appeal to me.

I walked around aimlessly at night, and happened on another church - missing opening hours by mere minutes. What I could see through the glass door was impressive - and didn't come out in the photo too well. I returned home just after 10 thinking I'd be the first one in my room - but the other 3 traveller's were already there. Two were from Sydney having spent the last few months working in London and just now starting on a journey around Europe. The other was a computer engineering student from Austin who'd spent the last 4 months in Barcelona and also embarking on a tour around Europe.

The next day I headed out into the cold and did the less touristy green walk on the map, skipping bits I'd seen the day before. This was more enjoyable for being less crowded, but not so nice as it started to do the Seattle drizzly rain thing that I really still don't miss at all. It being Sunday, most everything was closed - so I didn't have much else to do but walk around for hours. I saw more churches (just from the outside), a few windmills, went up the clock tower in the center of town, peeked in through windows at the Salvador Dali exhibit at ground level, and then went back home for rest. There I met 2 new hostel mates - one who was nearing the end of his 3 month European tour, after graduating in December with a computer engineering degree but going into Investment Banking, and the other, also a recent graduate just starting on his European tour before returning back to Kansas City to be a math teacher.

We traded backgrounds and travel itineraries and tips before deciding to have a real dinner together. We went to De Hobbit where they got the all you can eat spareribs and I had some sausage dish I couldn't pronounce. The next morning we met up again after breakfast and went out to find fresh pancakes sold by the kilo. (They were really more like thick crepes than a typical American pancake.)

I caught my train to Ghent, where I immediately liked the town much more for feeling like a normal town and not just a trap for tourists. Bruges had a chocolate shop every 5th store and a place selling Belgian Waffles in between them (the hostel man said no local eats those waffles - maybe once a year on a special day). Ghent wasn't as crowded - on the other hand, the poor weather kept me off the exploring path. It was on and off rain all day. At one point, when it was clearly starting to pour, I ducked into the Gravensteen, a large castle near my hostel, hoping to spend my time indoors. I didn't realize much of the tour requires you to walk outside. Anyways, it was interesting enough - with great views from the top and a shocking torture room in the middle.

I also explored the different churches which were quite beautiful. In St Bavo's Cathedral, there were beautiful stain glassed windows - they seemed to range from the classical looking scenes to more modern ones. In fact, the church had art ranging from medieval and baroque to modern. This gave the church a timeline feel to it - as you could see a deep history juxtaposed against modernity. Down a level there was a crypt with more artwork and information on the architecture of the building. I also stopped at St Michiels and Sint Niklaas.

I gave up on fighting the rain and spent most of the night reading and listening to my iPod in my room - which I had all to myself at the De Draecke hostel. I had a quick breakfast in the cafeteria and then caught a tram up to the Guislain Museum to view artwork by the mentally disturbed. I had only an hour to spare before needing to get back to the train station - so kept a quick pace through the exhibits - but I could easily have spent thrice the amount of time there. One wing was devoted to the history of psychiatry, with explanations in Dutch, French, English and ??. They had displays of old apparatuses (straight jackets, forced water baths, lobotomy tools) and lots to read about.

I ended up 10 minutes late to the train station, but fortunately, my train was 15 minutes late, so I made my connection in Brussels to get on to Amsterdam...

Tips

• Best maps for Bruges and Ghent is the UseIt versions. They are available for free.
• 24-36 hours in each city is enough if you're a fast walker. You could use another day for biking outside town.
• Ghent has a great soup place for a cheap dinner - a big bowl of soup, 2 bread buns, and an apple for 3.50 euros (SoupLounge).
• You can walk around in Bruges without a map and not worry about getting too far from center as it is surrounded by canals and the 'other side' is visually different. There are also town maps all over town in case you do feel lost.
• Ghent, on the other hand, is longer and skinnier with a canal system that doesn't mark the limits as well.
• In Bruges, everything is cheaper further from center you get. Bakery prices especially drop - with fewer and fewer English speaking patrons.