September 9, 2015 –
Gent is probably just as historically important as Bruges, but instead of being overrun by tourists, it was a living, breathing city. There are a few colleges in Gent, so there are lots of students around. Jeremie had recommended the stop, because he thought that we would enjoy it and for the short time that we were there, we did. Gent, we would learn is a larger city than we anticipated, so we missed some of the finer attractions, but it was a nice pit stop.
Like every city, once we stepped out of the train station, we had to figure out the local transit system. There were some cable car/buses that traveled throughout the city, so after consulting the map, we bought a few tickets. From the train station, we rode the cable car to the area of town where there the old town hall, Saint Nicholas Church, and the Saint Bavos Cathedral was located.
We were getting really hungry, so we started roaming the streets looking for a grocery store or cheap restaurant, but like most places in Europe, every store front was closed after 5pm. We walked up and down the streets and after following the GPS to a COOP market that looked like it had been shut down, we saw the bright, shining sign, for a vegan sandwich shop called, Tasty World.
This little place was different from most sandwich shops, in that it was completely vegan focused, with no meat options on the menu. All the sandwiches had cool English names, and were a combination of a veggie patty, black bean patty, or just straight up vegetables, topped off with more vegetables. The biggest difference in the sandwiches from what I could see was the type of sauce that they put on top. I ended up getting a veggie patty, with carrots, lettuce, pickles and French dressing.
We asked the clerk, if she knew where we could buy some alcohol at this time and she said, “Maybe at the nine shop”. We asked her for specific directions and she said, “Down the road and then around the corner.” We followed the directions, but didn’t see a shop around the corner. We turned back around and stopped a small group of people that looked like local college students with their parents. “Excuse me, do you know where the ‘Nine Shop’ is? Or a place to buy alcohol?”
The group of people looked at each other and asked one another in Flemish and then simply pointed down the direction that we just came from. We turned around walked a few more streets down and sure enough, around the corner was the “Night Shop”. We bought a few beers for €1 each, then walked over to the Saint Nicholas Church near the bus stop where we arrived. There was a little park, where we could sit down for a bit and have a picnic.
In the park, there was a man in his early 20’s, who was juggling. He was spinning around and doing poses, as if he was trying to come up with a routine. Next to the park, there was a staircase leading to the top of a hill, on a different street level, where there was what looked like a large pavilion, called the Stadshal or Market Hall. From the structure, you could hear music being played on a piano, as if there was a concert being performed.
The huge structure appeared to built with wood and glass and when you looked up from the inside, the roof was decorated in a pattern reminiscent of the black keys of a piano. The acoustics in the hall were amazing and one piano sounded like it was amplified and could be heard a mile away.
After we finished eating, we climbed the steps to take a closer look. Under the structure was a piano, that was chained to the ground and two people taking turns playing different songs. Some of them were classical and some of them were pop songs. The song that I recognized clearest was from the movie, Amelie, by Yann Tiersen, but one of the songs might have been Coldplay.
As we went along on our journey, this was something that we would also see in Paris and Venice in train stations. Randomly placed pianos for people in street clothes to play beautiful pieces of music and bring good energy into the air. I loved the idea that anyone at any time could pour music out of their soul for the whole world to hear. I, myself, wanted to join in and play a few notes, but these two gentlemen seemed to have it covered and I just would’ve sounded like an amateur.
It was starting to get dark, so we took the cable car back to the train station. Trains from Gent to Brussels were fairly common during the day, but at night, not so much. We looked at the time table and found out the next one was departing in a few minutes. We ran up to the platform and minutes later the train arrived.
Once we got settled into the almost empty train, we sat back relaxed. About 15 minutes into our trip, a conductor was walking through the aisle to check our tickets. I pulled out of my pocket, what I thought was my ticket and showed it to the conductor. He looked at the ticket and dismissively said that it was only a one way ticket. I said that I swore that I purchased a return ticket at the ticket booth. Elizabeth said, that there was probably a different ticket in my bag. I looked in my back pack and she was right. The conductor looked at me and said, “I’m sorry to say it, but this time she’s right.”
He went on to say, that if I wasn’t able to find the ticket and had to purchase it on board, I would have also had to pay a fine. The conductor spoke pretty good English and must have been pretty bored, because after he finished checking all the tickets on the train, he came back and talked to us for close to twenty minutes. He looked like he was in his late 20’s and was thin with brown hair. He had the demeanor of someone that was a bit of a troublemaker when he was younger, but was making good by getting a good job and paying his dues.
He talked about time that he spent in LA, driving in Europe and the US, and about cars that he liked. He talked about how expensive it was to drive in Europe and how hard it was to own a nice car, because of the insurance, fees, and taxes. He said that it was even more expensive to have an older car with high miles, because you had to pay fees based on that as well. We talked all the way to our stop, which made the trip go by quickly.
We took the subway from the Central Station to the Montgomery stop near Jeremie’s place. Once again we got confused with which street, we were supposed to walk down and ended up eventually making it into the general area. Eventually, we saw a lady walking her dog, who happened to speak English, and she pointed us in the right direction. We were actually on the right path and once we saw the fountain, we knew we were going to be.
When we arrived at Jeremie’s building, it was about 10 pm, and luckily, he was still awake to let us in. We talked for awhile about Paris and about his fiancée. He explained how complicated it was to get married in Belgium to someone that wasn’t born there. She was born in Russia (I think), but lived in Germany, but they planned to get married and settle in Belgium. He explained that paperwork needed to be translated and approved, so the whole process could take months to complete. He mentioned that they had brought up getting married in Vegas, just because it would be a fun place to just get it done, but he was sort of joking.
Our next destination was Paris, where we had decided to stay at a campground to save money, so we asked him if he would let us do our laundry there. While the washing machine in Münster had been in the kitchen, Jeremie’s washing machine was in his bathroom. After the washing was done, we hung the clothes on a clothesline that he had in the basement, in a room that was really well heated. When the morning came our clothes would be dry. I went into the bedroom, where Elizabeth had fallen asleep and I quickly dosed off myself.
In the morning, Elizabeth told me that Jeremie had given up his bed for us and had been sleeping on his living room floor. I was blown away at his hospitality. I had thought that he was sleeping in a bedroom upstairs, but that bedroom didn’t exist. He had also bought fruit and eggs for breakfast, while we were in Bruges, so that we would have something to eat in the morning, before our trip. What an amazing person. It’s people like Jeremie that continue to give you hope in humanity and inspire you to try to be selfless and grateful to others.
While we had breakfast Jeremie brought out his iPad and we talked about our plans for Paris. He gave us some suggestions and tips for getting around. After breakfast, Jeremie sent us on our way and we took the metro to the Central station, which was connected to the Thalys (high speed train) station. Our train had been waiting there for us when we arrived, so we boarded what looked like a spaceship, with red velvet interior.
Places We Bought Food And Drink
Tasty World
Hoogpoort 1, 9000 Gent, Belgium
The only place open to eat in Gent after 5pm, Tasty World is a oasis in a dining desert. Not suitable for strict meat eaters, this vegan burger joint, offers 10 or more different sandwich combinations, with veggie or black bean burgers. At dinner time, for having only one person at the register, who was also making sandwiches, the service was surprisingly quick. As a person that enjoys a nice, greasy, beef burger, I was truly impressed with the tasty work of Tasty World.
