Belgium: Singing in the streets of Ghent

Wow! I thought for awhile that I hated western Europe, but all I actually hate is the cost. We got on our airport super early and they kept trying to sell us shit. All I wanted to do was sleep, and I would have understood if they had asked us once, but it was every 15 minutes.

After arriving at the Brussels airport we purchased our bus tickets to the central train station. Unfortunately once again these cost us even more money at 18 euro a piece. After a nice 45 minute ride, we arrived at the Brussels central train station, activated our eupasses and hopped on a train to Ghent. We made it only 10 minutes later than I told my couch surfing hose we would.

Didiers was a very cool guy to stay with, and he was also hosting a girl from the states who was studying abroad in London. We dropped our packs off, planned on meeting up around 7 and headed out to explore the city.

Typical street. Charming even in the rain :)

We spent several hours just walking around and seeing some very cool architecture in the form of castles and churches. There were several christmas villages along the way. Eventually we found a beer house and headed in to select several beers to enjoy. I had a triple and daryn had a hoppy beer. I made him agree in the beginning that we wouldn't ever order the same beer, due to the vast options. Starting off the afternoon with an 11% was probably a great idea. We then split a hopped duval triple, which was the best beer I've had since I left home. We headed out of the bar feeling much better about life, unfortunately we must have wandered a bit far, because we got insanely lost. Luckily, we had plenty of time to wander around, eventually ask for help, and to find ourselves again.

Gavensteen Castle

It was noted that we still had an hour and a half before we needed to meet up with people, so we stopped for another beer. The regular duval sucked, which is surprising, because I was told it was the best beer in Belgium. Maybe it was good, but I was just comparing it to the previously incredible beer.

hopped duvel tripple: reaction after first taste

Dinner was soup and bread, eaten over a discussion of what we all did during the day, and shortly after we headed out for some more beers, because we were in Belgium and what else did we want to do? We got a bit lost on the way, taking directions as best as we could from our host, but the lights on the buildings were beautiful, and eventually we found our way. Me and Daryn were lost as to what to try next, so we asked the bartender for suggestions and he was very helpful. I had a wonderful hoppy ipa and an 8% something else (which he recommended when he found out I liked stouts and was in charge of getting everyone home.) Daryn noticed some men drinking quite large glasses of beer (de dulle griet) and was intrigued enough to turn in his shoe to get one. We thought this may be similar to "das boot" in Wisconsin.

Daryn and our host with their de dulle griet

We ended the night by catching the last tram home and singing Gram Parsons in the streets of Ghent. Who knew that after walking about 8 miles in one day the next day on the train would be even more exhausting (see next post.)

Beautiful night time view