Hello!

I am back in Paris once more after an exciting weekend in Belgium. But actually, my weekend was very calm and relaxing instead of frantic, which was nice. And here is how it went:

Sunday I took the train from Bruges to Ghent, which took about 25 minutes. I stored my backpack in a locker at the train station and then took a tram into the downtown area. Ghent is another medieval town in Belgium but while Bruges has been partially rebuilt and restored with the goal of attracting tourists, Ghent is slightly more authentic. That being said, there is also less to do there.

I wandered around at first, because wandering is my new favorite past-time. I saw a medieval castle (but I didn't go inside because it is a torture museum inside, and I don't like torture museums), and then took pictures from a stone bridge that had some of the best views in the city. Then I wandered towards the medieval clock tower and went into a church that had the Adoration of the Mystic Lamb paintings by the Van Eyck brothers, which was actually quite amazing. And that had a free audio guide, so I was there a while and the painting was quite impressive.

Then I left and had lunch at a little cafe/convenience store. And an old man sat at my table because there were no other seats and we kind of had a conversation in french, except that he was like 90 years old and didn't enunciate very well. And then he had to go home to take a nap, so I left and wandered about some more, looking at the town hall and other centrally located buildings. And then I had the best waffle of my life! It was in another cafe, and it was a delicious light waffle with a crunchy exterior, served with chocolate sauce, powdered sugar, and ice cream. And it was amazing! And I wanted another, but I only had one.

Then I climbed the clock tower and ended up arriving right before a guided tour, which was informative. The man explained (in English and French) about how the bells worked, the use of the tower as a watchman's tower, and then pointed out all the important buildings from the top.

After that tour I walked around for another half hour, and then took the tram back to the train station, got my backpack out of a locker, and waited for the next train. The trains theoretically run about every 20 minutes, but one train wasn't running that day and then my train was late, so I ended up having to wait an hour, which was unfortunate.

After a 45 minute train ride, I arrived in Antwerp! I walked through a residential neighborhood to my hostel, which turned out to only have 6 beds and be run by a lady named Bridget and her boyfriend Greg (except that is really an inaccurate translation that they use in place of his unpronounce-able real name). And they were very nice, and everyone at the hostel was nice, so that was great. Also, everyone there was traveling alone, which meant that people were much more interested in going to dinner or sightseeing together, so it was a nice atmosphere overall.

A girl (or woman, she was 28) named Claire arrived at the same time as me, and we decided to go get something to eat together. Claire is from England, but she is spending a year in Belgium teaching English. And Bridget recommended that we go get french fries at a specific fritterie, so we did. She also claimed they were healthy, because they were cooked in sunflower oil, but I'll let everyone judge that for themselves. And our dinner was tasty and Claire was nice.

The next morning I woke up and had breakfast and headed towards the main part of town, which was a 20-30 minute walk away. I walked down the main shopping street and then wandered about the city. Antwerp doesn't really have a lot of tourist attractions, and the museums are closed on Monday, but the city itself is very nice and I can see why people would want to live there. So basically it was more of a relaxing day than a rushing to see everything day. I did see the big church with 4 of Rubens' (a famous Flemish painter) masterpieces and walked through the fashion district as well as the historical core of the town. And I had lunch in an Italian Pizzeria, which was amazing! And I had a 12 inch pizza, Italian bread with fancy flavored butter, and a beer for 5.5 euros in a full-service restaurant, and that was awesome. And delicious.

Oh! And I found the world's coolest playground! And I went down like a 12-foot slide, which was great, and would probably be illegal in the US.

After 5 or so hours of walking I went back to the hostel and relaxed and read Proust for a bit, and then I watched part of a Flemish movie (with English subtitles) with two other people from my hostel, before giving up on it and going to dinner. We ended up having pitas at an Egyptian restaurant and found a square (as in a courtyard or a town center) that was lit prettily with lights that looked like stars in the sky overhead.

When we got back to the hostel we joined Bridget and Jeff and two Australian guys who had just checked in, in the lobby area and discussed life and travel, and that was nice. And then I took a shower and went to bed!

Tuesday morning Claire and I walked to see some cool Art Nouveau houses near our hostel, which were interesting and then I had to go pack up my stuff. I bought lunch on the way to the train station and then took a train from Antwerp to Brussels, and Brussels to Paris. And it is funny getting off the train in Brussels and recognizing everything and knowing right where to go to find the waiting room, and knowing I had waited there before. And I felt very worldly.

In fact, I felt very competent this trip. I walked to the train station in Bruges (a 25 minute walk) without getting lost, found and took a train to Ghent, stored my stuff, took a tram, toured Ghent without ever getting lost, took a tram, took a train to Antwerp, found my hostel, toured Antwerp without ever getting lost, took a train to Brussels and made a connection to Paris. And I felt like everything finally pulled together quite easily, and I was proud.

Overall I liked Belgium a lot. There were less "important" places to see, but I had a very nice and relaxing weekend. Belgium was cheap, so I didn't have to worry about spending money and if I wanted chocolate or mussels or to climb a watch tower or drink a beer, I did it without having to think about it too much. And, perhaps partly because I was in smaller cities, but I suspect overall, Belgium seemed like a very laid-back place and it was peaceful and delicious and I enjoyed it a lot. And I would recommend Bruges the most, because Bruges was great!

Yesterday we had our philosophy midterm (which I had studied for over the weekend, no worries) and I think that went pretty well. We shall see.

Kathy left last night to go stay in a hostel this week because her friend is visiting her in Paris since she is studying abroad somewhere else in Europe, and Kathy didn't want to make her stay in the hostel alone. So I have my own room, which is kind of nice.

I register for winter classes today and then we are going to the Marmottan Museum tomorrow morning, and that is my life as I know it. Well, a very small part of life as I know it, in any case.