belgium

As I mentioned yesterday, I spent last Saturday checking out Ghent, Belgium.  Located in Flanders, and often referred to as “Gent”, the spoken language here is Flemish: for all intents and purposes / in my book, it’s Dutch.  {I can’t get away!  Kidding…)  But, if you’re interested in learning more about Flanders & Flemish and all that jazz, here is a good resource.  Or, if you want to read some crazytalk about “why the Belgium Federation should be dissolved and Flanders should become an independent state“, you can do that too.

Or you can just look at some more pictures, whatever.

Once we arrived, we had to find some wifi to look up a couple things since we accidentally left our map in the car.  It was way too much effort to go all the way back down to the car, parked underground.  And the sun, the sun!  It was simply shining too.brightly to drag us back into the parking garage.

So naturally, we easily adapted, being all flexible and nonchalant…and walked directly to the nearest chocolate shop to plan our afternoon.

Really, it’s a good thing we’re so easy going.  I mean, not everyone would have dealt with going to a Belgium chocolate shop as well as us – ordering drinks, sampling things, you know…really making the best of it.  In fact, I bet most people would have insisted on returning to their car for the forgotten map.

Once we jotted down a couple things, we were off.  We spent the day wandering this way & that, down side streets and main streets and sunny streets…and obviously finding millions of things to take pictures of everywhere & in-between:

…graffiti knitting…

…maybe Grammy should consider this if she’s on the market for a new hobby?? {NYT explains the concept here}…

…we found the famous {lies!} noses of Ghent.  and then lost two euros tasting them…

…and a beer winkel.  One of the few Dutch words that amuses me…

…Dille & Kamille, or a Crate & Barrel-esque homegoods shop…

…a new age mailbox…

…an eight legged bicycle…{see what I did there?  really got you thinking. Ok, I probably should have called it a spider bike.}

…where all the locals hang out…

…and of course we found the perfect spot for a beer along the river…

..and then the second-perfect spot for another beer…

Hey what do you think of that little green guy in the picture above?  I bought him from the Dille & Kamille and carried him around with me for the rest of the afternoon so he wouldn’t get squished.  And I’m so glad I did because he is my new favorite accessory, I got more than a compliment or two.  In fact, it really tied the table together at this place, too bad they didn’t hire me to design their outdoor patio space.

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Last Friday PAB headed home to the states for some quality time with his fam, as he hasn’t been back in Boston since moving here last August.  Rox & I are holding down the fort in the Eurozone, and we have definitely been making the best of the gorgeous weather that has enveloped the Netherlands {and beyond}.

On Saturday morning Lily & I hopped in the car and drove down to Ghent, Belgium, which is located between Brussels & Bruges.

In my opinion, good weather + good conversation make for the best kind of days.

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