On the day of Sara and Joey’s wedding we had planned to see the sights and highlights of Ghent. We started our morning with the croissants we had bought at the market the day before (Scott had Nutella on his and I had the cheese we had bought) and then ventured out and about.
Our apartment looked directly down on an interesting Ghent feature: Graffiti Street, so that was our first stop. Graffiti Street is a short alleyway where graffiti is both allowed and encouraged and the only rule that applies is the “rule of the spray can” which evidently means you shouldn’t paint (paint? Or would it be draw? Maybe spray?) over works that are better than yours and don’t be noisy late at night and disrupt the local residents. It was a wild thing to see and we enjoyed seeing the creativity and talent of some of the artists. The paint that has accrued on the buildings in the alley since Graffitti Street was born in 1995 must have been close to an inch thick.
After Graffiti street we went to see Saint Bavo’s Cathedral which is both the oldest and probably most famous church in Ghent. The church is built on the site of a 10th century church and this particular building was started around 1274. It was as grand as you would expect and we spent some time walking around looking at the art and the ornate interior design.
This cathedral is home to the magnificent Ghent Altarpiece which is also called the Adoration of the Mystic Lamb. It has many claims to fame including being considered one of the great masterpieces of European art, being the first major oil painting, and its creation is considered to be what marks the transition from Middle Age to Renaissance art. It has a tumultuous and storied past and has been stolen multiple times from its conception in 1432 and up to WW1. During WW2 it was removed from Ghent and was supposed to be taken to the Vatican for safekeeping but while en route Italy declared themselves an Axis power so the Altarpiece ended up staying put in France for a bit. Hitler then seized it and it stayed in Bavaria until fighting ramped up in that area and it was moved to a salt mine in Austria. While safe from bombs the salt mine wreaked havoc on the painting and damaged the paint and varnish which meant it would need extensive restoration. The search and recovery mission for the masterpiece was a major plot point in the 2014 film The Monuments Men. It is certainly worth a Google search to see it and learn more about it. The line to go into the room where the Altarpiece is housed was quite long and we had things to do and places to see so we didn’t end up seeing it in person.
The next stop was to see the Ghent Belfry, a UNESCO World Heritage site. It was built around 1300 and is one of the three tall buildings that gives old town Ghent its distinct look. Scott loves a chance to climb a tall tower so this was right up his alley- it is 91 meters tall. The view of the city was incredible at the top and well worth the steep climb. My favorite part of the tower tour was the iconic copper dragon that has protected the tower since its conception and on special occasions has breathed fire.
The nearly 850 year old Gravensteen Castle was next and I don’t know that I have ever seen Scott quite as excited as when he was touring the castle. As an aside, the in-person line for tickets was a mile long. Fortunately, Scott purchased cellular data service that morning, allowing us to purchase tickets online. The eSIM was about $25 and enabled us to have data access throughout the EU - a godsend from the navigation perspective. Unfortunately, it cut down significantly on the prospects of ending up at another beach town by mistake. The tour included a very well done, highly engaging and slightly cheeky audio tour which informed us of the history of the medieval castle and highlighted interesting features. It was when we were in the dungeon portion of the castle tour that Scott turned to me and with a straight face said he thinks he could have been an executioner. I’m sorry, what? Seeing the horrified look on my face he clarified it by explaining that he didn’t think that he could be the one to sentence someone to death but if he had been hired to be the guillotine guy then he thinks he could do his job without any tears or sniffles. So that happened. We thoroughly enjoyed the tour and must have taken one thousand pictures- my favorite one is of a sign asking visitors to kindly refrain from using the medieval latrine that emptied directly down into the Lys river below. (Side note: Scott likes to give things nicknames and his pet name for the Gravensteen Castle was Ass-grabin-steen and he used it every chance he could. I think he is actually a middle school aged boy and not an adult.)
As we headed back to get ready for the wedding that evening we were struck (not literally because I was watching out for the both of us since we were walking on cobblestones and we know how Scott doesn’t respect them as a road surface) by the juxtaposition of the medieval Gravensteen and the modern world that had been built up around it- specifically watching the trolley cars, cars, motorcycles and bikes whizzing around its base. On our walk back we stopped at one of the candy stalls to get some of the famous Ghent cuberdons, or Ghent noses, which are conical purple raspberry flavored jelly candy that look like little noses. They were ok but I can see why the waffles and frites are more famous.
Scott was excited to check out his shower laundry experiment as soon as we got back to the apartment. Leading up to the trip he had researched what sort of laundry detergent was the best option for travel and settled on a bar of Fels-Naptha laundry soap. Determined to pack as light as possible (I was lucky to get him to bring a wedding appropriate outfit and also thankfully talked him into bringing his gym shoes rather than just walking around Europe in his dress shoes that he was bringing for the wedding) he figured that he needed the ability to do some laundry. The night before he went into the shower fully clothed, Fels-Naptha in hand, and proceeded to scrub-a-dub-dub the clothes he was wearing. He then strung the length of paracord that he had packed for a drying line up in the apartment and hung the clothes on it, hoping that they would dry in a somewhat timely manner. He was happy to see that the socks and shirts were dry and that just his pants needed more time. (This then sparked a whole quest-for-the-perfect-travel-tee event when we returned home.)
Freshly showered, performing anti-rain dances, and ready to celebrate the union of Sara and Joey, we took a short walk over to one of the picturesque canals outside the Marriot where they would be getting married. The walk in heels on the cobblestones was dicey and I had to constantly rein Scott in and remind him to slow down and wait for me. We made it without issues and the weather was polite and the rain held off.
The informal and intimate ceremony was like something out of a movie, and Sara and Joey were the Hollywood star couple. Since it was outside and along a canal several canal tour boats stopped to watch, the tourists snapping photos and taking in the sweet vignette unfolding on the bank. I sobbed happy tears when Sara first made her appearance and they continued all through the ceremony.
After the ceremony we had been directed to go take pictures around the old town area of Ghent or enjoy a drink at one of the million bars or tap rooms while the couple and their families took their wedding photos. We ended up at a small little tap room and each had a Belgian beer before making our way over to the event center. We had time to chat with Wim and Nadine before the brunt of the guests arrived and we enjoyed meeting the other guests and learning how they were connected to the couple.
Sara and Joey arrived via a boat in the canal and made a grand entrance into their wedding. Wim and some of the couple’s friends gave some highly entertaining and heartfelt speeches and then we were sent to the buffet. We had the option of the American or Belgian buffet and we sampled from both. The dance floor stayed active all night long and one of the most fun parts of the wedding was the photo booth. I love a good photo booth, do I ever! Scott knows how to work photo booths now so we both had a hoot taking some fun turns in it. (The secret is to have all your props lined up because each picture gets taken pretty quickly one after the other.)
It was a magical evening honoring such a lovely couple and we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. I was thrilled to have been invited and so happy for us to be able to accept and witness and celebrate Sara and Joey’s big day.
