Oh the time we spent in GHENT

9/21
Arrived in Ghent late and after wandering around the town for 45 minutes, we came upon a little hole-in-the-wall place that looked good for the night. Zach had passed out in the car and we put him to sleep while I went down to order some food for Marie and I. I had a steak that was wonderful and Maries salmon was edible.
Got to bed late around midnite.
9/22
Woke up and had a quaint breakfast prepared by the owner of the B&B.
She was a cross between Annie Lennox and Maude if you can envisage that...ran a restaurant, did the cooking and also ran a small hotel...amazing lady.
We got out and headed to the center of the city. Ghent is the 2nd largest city in Belgium and has the highest number of university students(place was teeming with youngsters).
Ghent probably goes back to Roman times as some observers note the name Ganda, which is Celtic for "confluence" was inhabited by Celts way back when. Our first thought was wow this place is absolutely beautiful and not so touristy.
We got on a boat tour to check out the city and decided that the beauty rivalled Amsterdam so far on our trip from a pure architectural perspective.
After the ride, got some lunch at a local Brasserie, which started off innocently enough with a nice meal for both of us. However, we were shocked and awed by the audacity of the guy charging us $4 for an extra plate and a fork- his response was that the Spaniards would come and order one thing and need extra dishes, so they decided to charge for it...
a first in my life(after forced to buy water since Tap wasn`t available).
We didn`t let it get to us and enjoyed the sightseeing for the rest of the day. I normally am non-plussed walking thru a cathedral, but the St Nicholas Church was absolutely beautiful with its ornate gothic style and some amazing sculptures that I had to take some shots of. The church dates back to around 1200....wow.
We took off since we didn`t want to arrive in Brugges too late...The drive was about 45 minutes and after some help from people in the city, we found a great B&B near the center of the town for only 100 Euros.
Walking around Brugges for only 30 minutes, we had flashbacks to our trip last yr thru the South of France with all the fantastice villages taking u back in time to a simpler pleasant place. Had dinner at a touristy place that seemed crowded enough to warrant a look- oh well what a mistake that was. We got there and not only did it take 20 minutes to take our order, but the attitude of the waitress was beyond surly. Again, you would think that they know people are there for a vacation and want to enjoy, but they try hard to make the experience like going thru security at an airport...jeez. Got to bed around 11pm and look forward to the day in Brugges.