Woke up early to put our bags out, and although it had drizzled in the night - no rain this morning! And we have to leave…

Hopped aboard the bus which drove us to Ghent. Along the way, Steven explained that Belgium was the first to discover fries! You see, a long time ago, the people of Belgium caught little fishes in the sea, like sardines, and fried them whole. But unfortunately the fishes became depleted. Around that same time, America had been discovered and with that, the potato found its way to Europe. So a creative Belgian cook began cutting the potatoes into little fishes and frying them. Twice! Belgian fries are twice-fried. Not very healthy, but truly tasty. During WWI, the American doughboys ate the Belgian fries, but because the soldiers were stationed in the southern section of Belgian which speaks French - well, they called the potatoes, "French" fries.

Steven also discussed why Brussels was chosen as the EU capital: 1) at first there were only six nations in the EU and Belgium was in the center. Now, however there are 26 and it has grown to the east. 2) Belgium seemed insignificant to France who didn't want Germany to have the capital located there, and vice versa. 3) Belgians are affable and well-liked because they represent both the northern (Flanders) and southern Europeans (Walloonia). But every month France demands the capital be moved to Strasbourg for three days. (Go figure, it's French.) So everyone working for the EU packs up and heads there. So much for governmental efficiency! Some famous Belgians: Audrey Hepburn, John Claude van Damme, the Smurfs, Tintin and of course Hercule Periot.

We arrived in Ghent to walk around the city center with a local guide, Ron. It's a much less interesting town, I felt, but Ron seemed to sense this - after a stay in Bruges. He explained, Ghent (and Antwerp) have grown and become modernized with trams and buses, whereas Bruges remains a walled city still in the Middle Ages - well sort of - so it's more romantic. True!. We passed the oldest church in Ghent, St. Jacob's, built in the 13th century in Romanesque style. We walked by a Trappist brewery where it was explained, there are over 1,200 kinds of beers in Belgium, some made in monasteries by the monks, others called Abby beers, though made commercially, not by monks, like the Brugge beer I had last night. There are also fruit beers, like kriek, the cherry beer. And of course pilsners. I am really learning a lot about beer!

We walked through the butcher warehouse where, hanging from the ceiling, were gander hams (nothing to do with gander geese). This is a unique ham, cured with only sea salt, pepper and water. We stopped in front of a vendor's cart, selling a local candy called nouzen, meaning noses because of their shape, so we bought a small bag.

One building was renovated into a shopping mall and restaurant, but the façade was impressive & meaningful. Neptune rode his horse-waves at the top. On his right was Hercules, strong and straight, representing the Schelde River, a straight, powerful river, which joins the Rhine. On Neptune's left was Venus, soft and curvy, very feminine. She represented the other river in Ghent, the Lys, a gentle, winding river.

The city maintains its historical quality in their renovations, by keeping the 16th century facades, but removing the interiors. We saw such renovations in a Marriott hotel.

We had lunch at 'T Voksen, right on the town square, and enjoyed tomato soup & a ham & cheese sandwich. No beer, bottle water instead: Eaulala (pronounce it ooh-la-la) served in a pretty blue bottle I am bringing home for my kitchen collection. As we walked around the town square after lunch, Darrel meet a man from Grand Circle who had just finished the cruise and was headed to Bruges. We will be sleeping in their cabins tonight!

From Ghent, we drove into Antwerp and boarded the MS River Rhapsody, our river boat for the next two weeks. After the bus pulled away, I realized I left a bag on the bus with all our gifts for our exchange daughters we will visit at the end of our river cruise! Woe is me…I was so embarrassed to have to go to Steven to tell him, after he had to retrieve my purse yesterday in Damme, running three blocks to carry it back to me! But he was so nice, and assured me that the bag would catch up with us along the river.

We settled into our room, greeting our friends joining us from Michigan, with hugs and kisses on both cheeks (very European!). They were on the trip to China with us two years ago. There are eleven of us together. We had the obligatory safety meeting, signed up for an optional tour tomorrow, had a great Dutch meal of three little salads, mustard soup, chicken with gravy, mashed potatoes, carrots & salisfy (a vegetable new to me & very good) and tiny little puff pancakes with custard sauce and ice cream in a cookie cup for dessert.

After, the Program Directors (we now have three: Usama, Rya and Steven) gave a discussion on legalized prostitution here, followed by a walking tour of the Red Light district. No thank you, we went to our cabin and tried to figure out the internet - and to sleep! Good night!

TOMORROW: Antwerp, and we board our river boat.