Best laid plans o' Gent...

Little did we know when we arrived in Gent that nothing would be as expected. First, the tram system was only running a loop with one stop at the heart of town- a heart in the process of being torn up and reconstructed. Luckily, we had already 86'ed the out-of-town camping idea and decided to stay indoors at De Draeke youth hostel not too far from the center of the city. Armed with a map from the wonderfully helpful tourist info station, Chris navigated to the hostel. After dropping off our things, we explored Saint Bavo's Cathedral, built over four centuries. Appropriately, we then made our way to the closest drinking establishment. 

With the help of a Use-it map, we discovered the hole-in-the-wall-along-the-water Dreupelkot and enjoyed traditional, pear and lemon jenever with a friendly local. Traditional jenever is not wholly unlike a nice sipping whiskey or tequila, and was strong enough to embolden up to chat with a local couple. Toward the end of our pleasant conversation, our friendly local moved us to consider changing our travel plans to include a trip out to Normandy. "As Americans, you must go," he beseeched us. "You MuST." He would be surprised to find out that we would be on a train to Normandy within 24 hours! But I am getting ahead...

After our jenever, we enjoyed ridiculously delicious and bottomless spare ribs at Amadeus- recommended by said friendly local and a few guidebooks. Trying to find the restaurant, we passed an American girl with her hand up to her mouth, blabbing something like "there was just a huge bucket of ribs- disGUSTING!" and we knew we were on the right path. It was a perfect meal and added part two of our trifecta of enjoyment for the evening: jenever, ribs and beer. Post-ribs, we needed some Belgian beer. We went to the Waterhouse on the Beerside for some local brews on tap. Jess discovered she enjoyed Rodenbach and a rather large Chimay. Chris preferred his Westmalle over the Gandavum. Satisfied and sleepy, we headed back to the hostel. 

In the morning, we knew we had to seek different lodging since the hostel was booked for Monday night. With our packs, we made our way to a different hostel but thought, Why not go to Normandy now? With that in mind, we headed to the top of the belfry, grabbed a great view and sought out some waffles before we made our leave. With a belly full of amazingly delicious waffles and coffee with heavy whipping cream, we were off!