Gent re-visited

Visiting with our friends Harry and Goedroen in Gent, Belgium is starting to become an annual ritual. We took a three hour intercity train from Amsterdam and took note of the flat landscape in Holland. If the stars align next summer then we're on for a bike tour of the Flanders region. Just in case you need a soundtrack suggestion for a Gent bound train, try the most recent Three Mile Pilot album The Inevitable Past is the Future Forgotten.    

Harry and Goedroen live in a lovely flat in Kouter Square with the million dollar view of De Viaamse Opera house and the Sunday morning flower market. 

Towards the center of town. 

We met Eddy last year when we stopped by his bar and I was wearing a Void shirt (early 80's Washington DC hardcore band-the group's logo is right side up and upside down cross). We had both an interesting and profound conversation about the meaning behind the logo. It was nice when he asked about the shirt.  

Els aka 100% got wind that we were coming for a visit and prepared another out of this world meal for the occasion.  The title 100% comes from her approach to food, she earned the nickname for how she uses natural ingredients mainly from her garden. She has opened our eyes to a whole new world of gastronomy. 

Els is not only an expert in the kitchen, she also makes rugs and furniture. But that's not all, in her spare time she owns and operates Champagne and Cava bar on the edge of the city's center. No slowing down Els! 

Dinner's salad-straight from the garden into the tummy. 

Harry contemplating if he should join the dinner guests in the hot tub. 

The bunny's head. We may have eaten the rabbit (maybe from the garden as well), but one of their friends took delight in pulling the tongue from the mouth and eating it. 

Even the ice cream and mint leaves were 100%!

Last year we posted several pictures of the Medieval Gent. This time I will attempt to mix it up. I remember living in a gated community in Atlanta with strict housing codes to prevent people from doing this to their homes. There is a lot to be said for uniformity and those who wish to challenge one's aesthetics. 

Back in San Diego I'd take a daily stroll around the South Park neighborhood often passing a house doubling as a shrine. The porch and lawn were packed with knick-kacks and lawn ornaments. For some of the neighbors this might fall under the definition of an eyesore, for others it is how one resident wishes to express herself. One weekend morning I recalled a hand written sign posted outside the house desperately begging for the return of the ceramic turtles. A few days later another sign appeared with a tirade condemning the person(s) who lifted the four-legged creature. This is the price of non-conformity. Here in open view, two pocket sized dog sculptures. One could easily walk off with the pieces or simply arrange them to sniff each others behinds as dogs are prone to do.        

You can't stop a man who's in love with a monster bunny.

Not going far today.

Have extra space beneath the step to your front door? Try a plastic toy mushroom and animal diorama. 

The Gent library has free internet and cool posters and...

...a map to public toilets. 

Art along the canal. 

Contour drawing 101.

You know you want to live in Gent!

How could you not love these buildings?

Your new home. 

Best bakery in Gent. 

Any beer sporting a witch is drinkable in my book. We had a nice lunch at a quiche shop near Haus Aljin (The House of Alijn)-The museum of things that (n)ever pass. We bought the exhibition catalog to the show Tomorrow we're expecting the school photographer; the exhibit celebrates the long tradition of picture day and its' rapidly fading future. There is an argument that as ordinary as school pictures are they serve to chronologically capture one's natural development, celebrate moments, and are "tangible memories of school." This show was a nice follow-up to the exhibit Notities bij het kijken we saw last year; a series of home films spliced together celebrating infancy to old age done in the vein to the ending of Giuseppe Tornatore's Cinema Paradiso or Tarsem Singh's The Fall, both are truly touching and sentimental. Ana and I have visited museums and galleries from around the planet, and Haus Aljin ranks up there with the best of them. A must see when in Gent. Below Images from the exhibit. 

       

The quiche.

What better way to attract patrons to your eatery.

We skipped the Middle Age Gravensteen Castle this round, but always worth mentioning. 

More art along the canal. 

Stencil near the shopping district. 

Minutes before a downpour. 

Who knows Belgium Dutch? Translation please.

Detail.

Understanding Left and Right.

Mural outside a cafe.

More of the same. When all was said and done on our way back to the Gent-Sint-Pieters rail station we reflected what a special place Gent is and appreciate the time Harry, Goedroen, and Els have spent with us during the past couple of years opening our eyes up to new experiences and introducing us to their fine friends. We look forward to our evolving friendship.    

Gent, Belgium Part 2

We enjoyed Gent soo much we decided to dedicate another posting to one of our new favorite cities.

Rumor had it that the sun was in the forecast and sure enough by our third day it was out and so were people. We did a 45-minute afternoon boat tour along the Leie. The guide spoke no less than four languages and cracked some good jokes about the passengers.

A building along the Leie 

Can you say Warregarenstraatje? In English to tourists like us it is called "graffiti street" located Vrijdagmarkt section of the city.

Graffiti Street spans about 100 yards and changes often.

Goedroen and Harry own and operate a screen printing business supplying all the soccer teams, pubs, and other businesses in the region. The work the two of them do is impressive.

 

While reading the Gent Visitor's Guide it had mentioned that the city was the center of all beer breweries and that Gruut (Gent City Brewery) was "bringing this lost tradition back to life." It sounded like the ideal breakfast spot. For 5 euros we got to sample the Wit Beer, Amber Ale, and Bruin. Ana liked the Wit (wheat) while the Bruin was my favorite. The Amber Ale was voted off the island.  

A boatload of tourists on Leie going under the Saint Michael's Bridge. If you had enough gas and some time to kill, you could ride all the way down to Northern France, but why would you want to do that.  

The other side of the Saint Michael's Bridge.

Huis de Alijn (House of Alijn) is what I would call a museum of Gent historic and popular culture dating back 100 plus years. I have been to my share of museums and this by far held my interests the longest. Upon entering the grounds it is an open and neatly manicured courtyard housing three separate building of exhibits. As a bonus a pub is tucked in the corner to conclude the visit. The articles are arranged thematically with care while the lighting created  a mood of eeriness. The first couple of rooms we entered questioned "the meaning of birth, illness, suffering, and death" from a cultural perspective in a religious context. I picked-up the free pamphlets along the walls to learn more.  The photo above deals with death. I learned that "the relatives wore black clothing in order to be unrecognizable for the deceased."  

A child's toy horse bike.

"...After the delivery, the mother stayed at home for forty days. For the Church considered that every condition which resulted from sexual contact, was unclean. During this period, the new mother received the visit of her neighbours who brought coffee, gingerbread or eggs. On these occasions the woman drank a glass of jenever, "the people's wine", and ate pancakes or gingerbread." 

Then there was the Boxing exhibition in the second building.

...and the stain glass of Saint Katherine.

The locals seemed to know who this character is, but we didn't.

There were some drawings that illustrated a story in the third building before entering the the room of old "found" home movies. The black and white footage of super8, 8mm, 9.5mm, and 16mm is compiled and sectioned into three films on 2 dvds. The first of the batch deals with the arc and scope from birth to old age. The images are spliced together in the style of the "deleted kissing scenes" at the end of Giuseppe Tornatore's Cinema Paradiso or Taesem Singh's The Fall homage to the early stuntmen of "moving pictures." To say the least, the mentioned above are both moving and nostalgic and are set to an appropriate score. Ana and I were fixated by what little we saw and was enough to encourage us to purchase a copy of the film.     

What a difference the sun makes. The people of Gent sitting along the banks of the Leie taking in the afternoon.  

On our final evening we met up with Goedroen, Harry, and their friends for some bocce ball, drinks, snacks, guitar playing, and all around fun. 

Their friend Els is also known as "100%." She is an amazing and colorful artist and makes much of the furnishings in her studio. The house has a sauna she built, a crazy kitchen, courtyard where she grows most of her food, and a studio where she constructs her creations.

Bottles aren't complete without warmers.

Another room.

The dinner was all natural and delicious hence the name 100%. All that was served came from her garden or her dad's farm outside the city. The bread was one of the finest I've ever tasted. There were cats and a dog running around and the conversation was lively. After dinner we all piled into Goedroen and Harry's van and headed to their friend's Christophe birthday party. A cemetery laid behind the house, there was a slide, and the Obama "yes we can" toilet seat. Thanks Goedroen, Harry, and our new friends for a great time!