Day 3: Arrival in Ghent

   We woke up early today and caught the 6:55 AM train from Paris to Brussels.  Then we got on a tram for the 30 minute ride into Ghent.  It was a little confusing, but we're getting good at this.

  The first thing we checked out (because it's not part of our tour) was the Ghent Altarpiece,  in Saint Bavo Cathedral.  It's one of the most stolen works of art in history.  It plays a major part in "The Monuments Men" (which was a great movie, despite what you might have heard.)

  The 15 large panels were done in the 15th century.  The panel on the lower left is still missing, and is the subject of a lot of mystery to this day.  All of the panels are being restored over the course of a few years.  The top left and top right ones (showing Adam and Eve) are replaced with black and white copies right now.  The above photo is from Google, because they don't let you take pictures of it.

  Our hotel in Ghent is fantastic.  It's in the middle of this picture, right on the water.

  ...And our room is right in front, on the second floor.  Here's the view from our window:

  Also, the room is giganitc.  You could fit our entire hotel room in Paris into this one's bathroom.

  At 3:30, we met our Rick Steves tour group.  There are 28 people on our tour, and everyone's really cool.  Some of them are on their sixth tour with the company.  It's a cult, but in a good way.  Here's our tour guide. Hilbren.  He's a sharp dresser:

 
    He took us on a walking tour, then a boat tour, of Ghent.  It was one of the largest and richest cities in Northern Europe in 1300.  Everywhere you look, you see sights like this:

  One thing you notice, walking around Ghent, is that there isn't much graffiti.  We found out that's because the city decided to ALLOW it, but only on ONE specific street.  it looks like this:

  For dinner, our whole group went to a restaurant together.  We had three choices:

-Some sort of fish thing,
-Ossobuco, which is veal shanks, or
-"Filet of young pigeon"

  I went with the pigeon.  I figured it would "taste like chicken."

  It did not.

  Instead of being white meat, it's actually red meat.  It was OK, but I won't be ordering it the next time I see it on a menu in Cleveland.

  Dessert was a work of art, consisting of different treats, chocolates, and some sort of candied kiwi thing (I think.)

  We also had a lot of wine and beer, which is why this post is a day late.