Ghent, Belgium

The boys had a week break from school ("Ski Week").  Greg had to travel for work.  So, we decided to tag along with him.  His destination was Ghent, Belgium.  It is about 2.5 hours away so it was a nice drive and I'd heard wonderful things about the town.

We stayed at the Holiday Inn on the edge of town.  Greg had to work all day so the boys and I explored the city on our own.  The hotel's website said that the tram to the city was nearby.  I assumed that we could figure out the tram since we use the German system all the time.  Well, I see why people rave about how good the German system is!  Thankfully, I had asked the hotel receptionist...who spoke English...about the tram.  He was extremely helpful in giving me directions to the tram stop, selling me tickets, and telling me what to do with my ticket (always important!).

We got to the stop with no problem and expected to find a rail line map...well, let's just say the German system is much better!  I couldn't find a map anywhere.  What I thought must be a map, perhaps was, but it really didn't tell me anything.

The tram stop station was deserted so there weren't even many people to ask for assistance.  A tram arrived and I told the boys that we'll just get on it and see where it takes us.  You can imagine the questions they had!  They know a lot about a public transportation system now so they knew what to question.  

I put our ticket in the little yellow box four times just like the receptionist had said.  Thankful for that bit of information.  Then, I searched again for a map of the tram line.  Nothing.  There was, however, another mother with a child and a young professional woman on the empty tram.  So, I got up and asked if they spoke English.  (In Belgium they speak Flemish, French, Dutch, German, and thankfully some English.)  They both answered yes, although the mother let the professional woman answer my questions.

I asked her what stop we should get off at in order to see the city center.  She told me.  I couldn't really understand her and since there's no map I couldn't have her point to the stop.  I asked her to repeat the stop and then they said that they were both getting off at the same stop so they would just signal to me when it was time.  Great, how helpful people can be!:)  I returned to the boys and our seats and told them the good news.  They were relieved to know that we had some idea of where we were going.:)

As the tram left the station,  the boys and I observed where we were and watched the trams coming the other direction so that we could get back to the hotel.  We quickly realized that our hotel was at the end of the Tram 1 line which made it easy.  Back to figuring out when we were going to get off...watch the other ladies.

Well, the empty tram soon filled up and  we could no longer see the other women.  Something we hadn't considered!:)  I knew from the hotel website that it was suppose to be an 18 minute ride into town so when it was getting close to the time I knew we'd be getting off soon.  At the next stop I could just see that the other ladies stood up so we tried to quickly get off.  Unfortunately, there was another stroller blocking our way but we did make it off, thanks to one of the original women holding the door open for us.  I thanked them and then we were ready to see the beautiful sites.  Well, maybe...

The stop was the middle of a city block so I had no idea which way to go to the city center...and our helpful ladies had left.  I had read in my research on-line that Ghent had lots of signs directing visitors to the various sites.  (The tram line may not be well labeled, but the city really was.)  We soon found one of these many signs and headed for them.  I wanted to find the information booth, St. Michael's Bridge, and the castle.  We started following the signs.  I had brought along a GPS, in pedestrian mode, so I typed in the address for the Tourist Information booth.  The GPS recognized the address, but then it told me that it couldn't register my location.  It asked me to enter my location.  Too funny!  I laughed - isn't that the point of using the GPS...tell me where I am and where I need to go!  Technology is great until it doesn't work!:)  I turned it off and went the old fashioned route with our city maps from the hotel and the street signs.  Each boy had a map.  Alex really enjoyed following the map and was very helpful.

And...if all else fails, I looked up and saw a church spire.  I told the boys we were heading in that direction - it must be something to see!

Three of the churches we could see through the fog in the city square.

After just one block we came to a large city square.  (On a side note, if we had turned the other way from the bus stop originally we would've been to the square after just half a block walk, but that's okay.  We just walked around the block instead and still found it.)  We could see five large churches from where we stood.  The boys were impressed.  We were observing how each building had different design elements.

St. Michael's Bridge

Carter, Liam, Alex, and Kaleb on the bridge.  They love their baby!:)

I had read that St. Michael's Bridge was the place to stand to see the beautiful buildings of Ghent.  In all the pictures I had seen the bridge was busy.  Today, we were the only ones.  It was so peaceful and relaxing to not worry about the boys getting lost or run over (which is often the case when we're in a large city).  It was a nice quiet day.

Gravensteen - 12th century castle

The castle - right in the middle of the city.

From there we could see the castle so we knew where to walk.  Alex kept track of where we walked on the city map I had given him.  He did a great job, too!  He knew right where we were and told us when to turn to find the castle and the information booth.  It was really helpful to have him reading the map.  I thought how things had changed and this is how the future will be.  All my boys helping me:)



The castle was cool.  We got to climb all around.  I had to carry Kaleb and some of the stone stairs were dark, winding, and tight so it made me nervous.  But, we had a good time seeing the castle and looking out on the city from the top.

Liam, Carter, Alex at the top of the castle.

Ghent from the top of the castle

Inside the castle walls

Exploring the castle grounds.

Castle cellar

We ate lunch...at McDonald's.  It was right in the city square.  We could see all the beautiful buildings, watch the tram go by, and the boys got what they wanted to eat without waiting - just what we needed.  After watching the tram while we were eating, we easily found the stop and got back to the hotel with no problem.  Liam wanted to find a park to play in, but it would've involved lots of walking.  We opted to return to the hotel instead.

There were a few moments at the beginning of the day that I thought to myself...are you crazy taking  the four boys in to a new city by yourself!  But, we did it.  They did really well.  We found it to be a successful and enjoyable day in a beautiful city!

Bridge from the castle