Hotel Eden Ghent

I slept really well last night at Johanna's place (yes, I promise to make entries -even if they're short- for past days/cities). Then this morning I took the bus under a light drizzle to the Ghent main train station. There I paid my 6.6 Euros for a round trip (weekend price) to Brugges (Brugge/Brujas), which I had heard so much about.

I had quite the positive attitude, even as the rain fell against my ...

... riding the bus with my huge backpack. Things always seem tougher and the rides longer when I have to haul it around with me. I won't miss it that much, I'm afraid. Anyways, it was acutally only about a 10 minute bus ride to the area where Johanna lives,and I found her apartment right away.

I greeted her and we had some really nice conversation, and she made some delicious ...

... watch a little video of horrible acting and dialogue to describe the room I'm looking at is a very bad, bad idea. In the room that supposedly served as a classroom, please don't think that putting in modern table and desks will suffice. Throw down the money and make some replicas. Laminating a simple line drawing that demonstrates how a toilet in those days worked barely qualifies as an exhibit. I could go on but I won't. Maybe it was an off day for the castle.

... a national team. We went to the baggage carousel to collect our things. They all came through except mine. We waited - no bag. The sign on the carousel said that all the bags from that flight had now been unloaded so there was nothing for it but to go and report it missing. To my horror when I tried to find the baggage tag for the missing bag I didn't have one. My heart sank. There was no way my bag would get to me now. The woman on the other side of the desk had a different ...

... at this gypsy, pulling my money belt out of her hands, and then the gypsy hit her, cussed her out in gypsy talk, gave it back, and let her go! We got sooo lucky, and Natalie got back on the tram without a problem. Everyone on the tram was telling us that it happens all the time there and It's hard to manage a large ammount of luggage on a crowded tram. But we're fine now, and nothing got stolen, but now we ...

... the wall walks had a distinct lack of railings. Eliza kept giving me a heart attack. One highlight was the room full of torture equipment. They had thumb screws and steel collars and branding irons among other things. Abigail's favorite was the "thing where they cut their head off" (the guillotine) and Emma's favorite (long after we had left the room because inside of it she was pretty scared) was the "thing where they stretch the people" (the rack). They also really loved being ...

... who have a 'tour' of their facility. By tour, I mean they give you a booklet explaining the different areas and then give you unfettered access to their facility. They do it old-school here, a true micro-brewery. Due, in part, to the brewing process I did find the taste to be a little on the acidic side. Not quite what I'm looking for in a beer. It was alright though because I also had the pleasure of drinking ...

... We met him and talked for a while, used the internet shortly and he invited us to restaurant at the local vegeterian dish 'Greenway' whose only exist in Leuven and Gent. It was tasty and with Dylan we even finished the plate that someone left on his table nearly full. Then another walk into the city to find a cafe to drink something. Laura (HC:lauraasia)and Aurelie (HC:kenza888) were in town but we couldnt join them. There was a ...

... district of Brussels) to have supper at the garden terrass with Mathilde as well (HC - mathilded). After this, I shortly went to shop at H&M for a workshirt and at a camera store for a lens filter. Finally, with Jurgen and Mathilde we moved by foot to Achim's place so that Jurgen could leave is bag and we discussed a bit. I arranged that I could stay at his place for the rest of the week and week-end eventually. We all walked back downtown as they were going out but I ...

December 6 I manage to get up and took the train to Brussels. I waited for Gil and we went together to Waterloo, to see the hill with the lion on top of it. We climbed it and I took some pictures, finally we came back to Brussels. The youth hostel was full so I went to another who is pretty cool and nice, well equipped but really far and not in a safe district. We went together to the Mcdo where I stuck i fork in my mouth... silly me. Gil finally took her train back to ...