Old stuff

On one of the greyest, darkest summer days so far Jeroen and I headed off for the day to the mediaeval city of Gent (in East Flanders, Belgium). Ostensibly the trip was to actually collect a rare Prince CD from some Belgian guy who collects/sells that kinda stuff (!!!!), BUT that process was only to take 5 minutes so we had the rest of the day to be tourists.

The weather just added to the dark mystery of the city. As you can see in the photos, all the buildings look REALLY old. And walking around the castle, smack bang in the middle of the city centre, was a bit like walking around a movie set! The castle has been in existence in that spot since the 800s; and has undergone various transformations and served different purposes throughout that time, the main one seemingly to be the centre of torture and executions for wayward citizens. As we wandered through the various "rooms", they ALL appeared to have been used as a torture chamber at one point in time :-/

Apart from sightseeing, we managed to stuff our faces with a late breakfast of eggs and biodynamic breads at the Brooderie and drink the obligatory Belgian beer on a not-so-sunny terrace :-) Being so close to a real castle we indulged in a Kasteel beer - damn that stuff is strong, and one was more than enough! The Belgians must giggle about the watery, insipid beer we drink here in NL.

On our wanderings through the beautifully cobblestoned streets we came across a store that seemed to have found a niche market ;-)) and on our way home spotted a bus from Germany that speaks for itself!

Driving there and back I was also reminded that despite the existence of the EU, not all countries have merged into one amorphous Euro-state with the same laws and conditions. The road system being a perfect example - the surface of the freeway in Belgium was really crap BUT they do have every inch of their freeway system lit up! Apparently it is the only country in the world that has lighting along all its roads! The "border" of NL and Belgium is marked by a distinct and immediate difference in the quality of the road surface, (you can actually see on the road where Belgium starts and NL finishes ;-D) and the lightpoles start/finish (depending on which direction you are driving!) with a definate abruptness at the border.

Alli xxx