Anyway, Ghent was great! It's got canals and awesome churches (y'all know how I love churches) and castles and parks and oh my giddy goodness! I can show you better than I can tell you.
This is Gand. Gent. Ghent. Whatever. It pretty much looks like a Disney movie threw up all over it, except for the lamp posts with Michael the Archangel slaying dragons on top of them. I love Disney movies, so I'm cool with that.
CASTLE. I love castles! This is the Gravensteen which is literally just sort of hanging in the city center. It was built in 1180, and was falling apart until the 1880s when the people of Ghent started reconstructing it. Now it's a museum with lots of castle-y weapons (spears, maces, GIANT SWORDS WITH 5 FOOT BLADES; y'know, the usual) and pretty rifles. Seriously, the rifles had ivory-looking panoramas carved into them. Ridiculous.
And this is me. Laying out on the lawn on top of the Gravensteen. I definitely fell asleep there. That's right. I napped on a castle. Be jealous.There are a couple of interesting churches in Gand. One of them is Sint-Jacobskerk, which we passed by but didn't go in (it has purple window shutters!), and then there's Sint-Niklaaskerk (which is a MONSTER oh my goodness it looks like a castle but it's a CHURCH), and, my favorite, Sint-Baafskathedraal. This is Sint-Baafs:
Impressed already, aren't you? I know. I know.
Y'all know how I love big old impressive/imposing churches. We walked up to it and my mouth was open. It was really undignified. It got worse when we went inside. Pictures aren't allowed inside Saint Bavo's (the English way of saying Sint-Baafs) but I love it so much I found some on the internet to show you. Seriously, this is my favorite church in Europe thus far and I must share it with you folks back home.
That is the altar. Just the altar. There's a big walk around the altar that you and it's got all these little side cubbies with shrines (I use the term loosely, and only because I have NO IDEA what to call these little rooms that are everywhere in Europe) with impressive sculptures and paintings of Jesus and one of them had a narrative painting of the crucifixion and oh my.I love Saint Bavo's. Everything is black and white. More specifically, everything is black and marble. You heard me. Marble. Think the altar was something? That's not even the best part. This is:
THAT IS THE PULPIT. THAT IS THE PULPIT. THAT IS THE PULPIT. DO YOU UNDERSTAND HOW EXCITING THAT IS? IT IS OAK AND MARBLE AND THE SERPENT IS A DRAGON AND THE APPLES ARE GOLDEN AND THERE'S A DOVE ABOVE WHERE THE PREACHER'S HEAD GOES DO YOU SEE THIS. I wanted to curl up in a ball and live in it. I still do, actually (just in case you couldn't tell).
We ended the day by sitting in a park near the train station. If you didn't notice, it was a gorgeous day. It was 75° and perfect, and lying on top of the Gravensteen was the most peaceful moment I've had in the last 8 or so months--heck, let's make that in the last year. Someone build me a castle at home so I can nap on the roof when the going gets tough (or when I otherwise feel like it).
Easter Break starts this weekend and goes through the 22nd! Friday I leave for Germany for a week, and then I'm on to Greece (Santorini, specifically) to lay on a beach and drink fruity drinks all day. Updates will be few and far between (or nonexistent) until I get back because I'm not taking my computer. I will, however, take lots and lots of pictures and post a good percentage of them here so you guys can see :]
Things I've learned:
1. Ghent is the city of French Bulldogs, epic mustaches, pregnant women, and people who speak really really good English.
2. It does get warmer than 55° in Belgium
3. 70° F is 20° C
4. Canals are cool
5. Castles are good places for naps
Ah. Most amazing pulpit EVER. However it would be awful if I wanted to hear the priest. I would be like "What was that? I was totally distracted by the DRAGON next to your head."
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