Ghent

Wednesday, July 8, 2026

I found hot chocolate in the fancy coffee machine. It was so cool watching it come out of the machine – first chocolately, then milky, then foamy. It made a beautiful cup of hot chocolate. It was too dark for me and Keith had to drink it. He always saves me.

Our Ghent day started with a tour of the Castle of the Counts. It was a really castle-y castle. I liked it. It had some high, which freaked some people out (not so much me!).

At the end, I gave Keith my audio guide to return while I sat at a picnic table. He returned it and came back still wearing his audio guide. Then he walked back to return his.

We lunched in the town square at Paul. It’s a bakery/sandwich place we have frequented in other cities.

We went to the grocery store to get a soda after lunch. Keith and Jenny found ice cream bars.

We walked over toward the meeting spot and came across Mike finishing his lunch at a table next to Dick, our tour planner and leader. We were chatting about this and that and Mike said he hasn’t really been anywhere outside of band trips. Jenny concurred, saying, “I’ve only been on Dick Trips.” Mike questioned if that was the best name for our excursions and Dick said, “I didn’t know that was a thing.” I looked around at the other people eating their lunches and said, “Can you imagine the people overhearing us that don’t speak English as a first language?” I whispered, “I heard a lady say Dick Trips..” and then Keith laughed so hard ice cream hit the side of my head. Seriously! It was so funny.

Our walking tour guide was Frederick and he was a million times better than yesterday! Yay!

There is a town festival starting this weekend and the guys were out floating floaty deals on the canal. It was fascinating as the crane set it down and the guys pull it into place and attach it with big pins.

Pretty stuff by canals.

We went by the courthouse several times. Weddings!

This little guy was super important in the long ago – and was reallllllly horrible. Frederick pointed out that he is holding a representation of the Earth and it is not flat. This was made in the 12th century, and people knew the Earth was round then. Sorry Flat Earthers.

In our hour of free time, we walked to the grocery store. We saw Judy and Todd and Angie ready to taste the chocolate they had just purchased.

I may forever regret not finding out what Ghent noses are. I’m sure the best are the ones made of 100% Gent.

Buses are not allowed in the city center unless loading suitcases, so we got dropped off outside of the town. Mike is using a cane because he needs a knee replacement. We four sat on a bench and waited for the local shuttle to come by and take us near to our hotel. It was 3 euro each. We waited a bit, then started our very interesting ride. Dan texted after we were almost all the way back that they had just arrived after a long, hot, sweaty walk. That ride was worth every cent of our 3 euros!

Today is Mike and Mary’s 37th anniversary. We gathered a group and had an Italian dinner on the rooftop of a very-near-to-our-hotel restaurant.

After dinner, in the perfect evening weather, we walked down to stand outside chocolate shops and chat with all the band members buying more chocolate. No one can believe or fathom that Keith and I are not interested in Belgian chocolate. We tasted it quite a bit when we were here a long time ago and we decided we like Cadbury and Milka and cheap American chocolate, so we haven’t been buying. Keith was motivated to get a store-made ice cream bar and he enjoyed it. (I didn’t care for my bite.)

A few more pictures I took that I like