Today Lennie's family took us to Gent, a neighboring town known for 3 towers (one a cathedral, one a belfry (tallest in Belgium), and the Saint Nickolas church), and a castle. Today also happened to be the hottest 2nd of August ever on record (38c- which is 100.4f) which made for some sweating. There is a lovely little river, Leie, running through town and it also has some canals off it through the city.
Some of the roads running though the city center are more than 500 of years old. We toured a small castle there, which the boys enjoyed a lot (their first castle). Making some of our historical fiction stories we read come more alive. We went on a nice canal tour and into the St. Bavo's Cathedral.
The kids had a lot more staying power, interest and awe in the St. Bavo's Cathedral than I expected, which pleased me. The first thing O said when we went in was 'They made all this without modern technology!' then he slipped into a pew to slowly look all around him. It certainly made me regret not retaining more of my art history (and history of architecture). They were simultaneously fascinated and disturbed by the practice of keeping small parts of saints in ornate boxes on display and also knowing there were important (or rich) people buried under their feet. St. Bavo's also housed the most famous painting in Belgium, the Gent Alter piece or the Lamb of God. We got to see it and the boys took a long time listening to all the auto tour provided. This patience towards art pleases me to no end.
I forgot to add that we did get to eat Belgium fries (does everyone know by now that fries are from Belgium not France?), which was top on the list of things they wanted to do.
Here is what the oldest child says of these past few days:
"Here for Breakfast and lunch we have dessert. Which is tiny loaves of bread with chocolate and sweet spread (breakfast) or waffles with powdered sugar and whipped cream (was lunch). For dinner we have gravy meat sauce, french fires and salad.
The streets (where we walked today) were about 600 years old. I was walking all over history.
We went to a cathedral which is free but we had a painting so famous you had to pay to see it. When you go down into the crypt you could see places where dead bodies are buried. You could also take and light a candle and make a wish".
The youngest says (surprising short on words):
"We went to see a castle which was amazing and had cool rooms".
Side note: Gent is Belgium spelling, Ghent is the American spelling.
