I spent 3 days in Belgium about a week ago, visiting my friends Lisa and Els. They live in Gent which is near to Brussels. My first day of the trip was odd to say the least. The tube didn’t run early enough to get me to the train station on time, so I had to be up and out of my house in London by 3:45am in order to catch a series of buses to the Eurostar station. It was surprising to see how many drunk people are out at that hour. Me and my fellow passengers witnessed several drunken arguments. The most disturbing vision that morning however, was of an Asian guy taping at the door of the bus with a bloody finger. He was bleeding at the mouth and was either wasted or just messed up from being in a fight. The bus driver ignored him and we drove away. He left bloody smears on the glass doors…I felt bad. Of course, I was also thinking that I should take pictures of it…cuz I’m sick and wrong. We really should have stopped and helped him.

Anyway, the train ride to Brussels was fairly short, about an hour and a half and I was able to catch a couple winks. I checked my luggage into a “puttery” at Brussels Central so I wouldn’t have to carry it around all day.

**Note to those looking for luggage lockers at Brussels Central - the lockers are to the right of the puttery. There are no signs that tell you that they are there, they are basically hidden. The puttery closes at 9:30pm and is more expensive than the lockers. So, if you’re going to be out later than that and want to save some cash, find the lockers. Otherwise, you’re basically screwed after 9:30, as myself and and another ignorant traveler realized at 9:45pm. **

I then wandered around Brussels for about 10 hours, as my host Lisa didn’t get off work till about 6:30pm. The city is beautiful, and everyone speaks French. It’s weird to go all day without talking to anyone in English….especially when you are sleep deprived. Anyway, Lisa made it into town at about 7 or so and we had a couple of beers, tried to get my luggage (sigh) and then caught a train to Gent where she and her partner live.

Gent is GORGEOUS and walking around the old medieval part of town is fairly simple and completely doable if you’re body is tired and lazy like mine was last weekend. :-) They speak Flemish in Gent, which is a little intimidating. There is some kind of odd cultural divide in Belgium between the French speakers and the Flemish speakers. So trying to speak French to a Flemish speaker seemed to be a futile endeavor…not that my French is worth anything. Luckily I had Lisa and Els to speak for me…which makes you kind of dependent and lazy, but I like being spoiled so, I was happy. Gent wasn’t totally swarming with tourists either, which was SO nice. I am getting very tired of the whole tourist culture. I know I am fortunate to be experiencing these different places, but the amount of tourists and the businesses and people that cater to them can become really tedious and annoying. It was wonderful to be treated like a traveler and human being again.
One of the many highlights of my stay there was a night of Pub crawling with Lisa and her friend Robin. We went to this crazy bar called Het Velootje. The place was filled floor to ceiling with garbage. I’m not exaggerating either. I didn’t really know what “rats nest” meant until I’d been to this bar. It was dark and cluttered and CROWDED? The owner, or rat king as Lisa and I called him, let me take some pics (he encouraged it actually), but it was so dark that I was having a hard time focusing. The only light in the place came from candles and hurricane lamps. Yeah, fire and flammable clutter screams disaster doesn’t it? To add insult to injury, the rat king also charged 4 euros per bottle of beer. At least they were in bottles though…can’t even imaging what a person could catch out of a pint glass.

The images at the end of the gallery, although have no artistic value, illustrate what we were experiencing…somewhat. Although disgusting, it made for a wicked memory. Thanks Robin for suggesting it, you nut.

A big huge thank you to Lisa and Else for hosting me in their awesome flat. I had a great time and hope to visit again someday. You two are simply yummy to be around. xoxo

Photo’s taken by Katrina Cole