For an early Christmas present, I wanted to take Carson on a quick day trip. I decided on Ghent (a big city in Belgium) because it was only an hour away by bus, has a big Christmas market, a medieval castle in the middle of downtown, and cheap beer galore (though I suppose this applies to pretty much anywhere in Belgium.) Though, what really sold me on Ghent was that it was described to me as “much less touristy than all of the other places with Christmas markets.” After having to essentially swim through a sea of witty British tourists to get anywhere in Lille over the past few weeks, I jumped on this opportunity.
I refused to tell Carson what we were doing—just that he needed to keep Monday free—and I’m pretty sure it remained a surprise until we reached the train station. Our bus was driven by yet another hilarious, ancient Dutch man with an incomprehensible accent no matter what language he was speaking. Once everyone had arrived, he announced that the bus would be late due to traffic by about “fouteeee-(nn)?” minutes. Everyone looked around, clearly very confused; fourteen...forty? WHAT IS THIS NUMBER?? Fourteen minutes was no big deal, but we already were limited to five hours in Ghent and couldn’t afford to lose nearly an entire hour. Luckily, one bold woman said “I have no idea what you just said, so do I have time to smoke a cigarette?” He replied: “Yes but only fourteee (n)? miutes so stay by the bus.” Everyone still didn’t really know what this meant, but it turns out we were only stuck for fourteen minutes and still got to Ghent exactly on time.
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| And it was very pretty and charming |
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| Canals really should be an everywhere thing |
Our first stop upon arrival was the medieval castle: Gravensteen. I usually wouldn’t opt to spend an hour walking around on top of an old thing if I were limited on time and there was a Christmas market near by, but this castle was special. Not only did it have a really cool torture museum (I had never seen a real guillotine and decided that was a necessary life achievement), but it was decorated to look like a “winter wonderland” castle. Torture and Christmas magic all in one locale!
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| A sword larger than I am just seems impractical |
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| The entrance |
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| Channeling my inner Arya |
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| But really...straight out of Game of Thrones |
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| View of Ghent from the top of the castle. I feel like The Ferris wheel in Europe is equivalent to the mall Santa in the States...children are terrified to approach either yet towns and cities are not considered legitimate if they don't have one and display it elaborately. |
We then made our way over to the Christmas market for lunch and browsing. We were both reaching a pretty dangerous level of hunger, and this was only made worse by the fact that my brain had fixated on the idea of soup after we passed a make-your-own-soup place on the way in. We walked through the whole market (which was awesome and gigantic) on our seemingly hopeless quest to find a soupery. I was convinced that between these millions of waffle stands, there had to be at least one place that sold soup. When we were on the verge of giving up, we magically came across a stand that was selling big cups of soup for ONLY one euro. Christmas magic is real. Unfortunately, the nice people at the stand said the soup needed to be reheated for about 10 minutes because the power went out. Since there was now no other option for me at this point, I decided to wait. Carson then realized he wanted a sausage from a stand that was a couple minutes away instead of 1 euro soup (fair enough), so we headed that way. When we reached the stand, they informed us that it would be a fifteen minute wait because the bread wasn’t ready.
Ultimately lunch was postponed for about thirty minutes and I’m sure Carson has never feared more for his life. However, it was worth the wait. I ended up buying roughly three giant soup cups—mostly because I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything in a Christmas market for only one euro and felt a need to exploit this cheapness—and Carson obtained his dream-wurst.
Ultimately lunch was postponed for about thirty minutes and I’m sure Carson has never feared more for his life. However, it was worth the wait. I ended up buying roughly three giant soup cups—mostly because I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything in a Christmas market for only one euro and felt a need to exploit this cheapness—and Carson obtained his dream-wurst.
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| A gigantic grill for a gigantic hotdog |
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| So much culture in one sausage |
After lunch, we walked around the market with some vin chaud. It was about 10x bigger than the Lille market, and vendors were much more liberal with free samples. We stood by one stand that was giving away incredible Mediterranean-ish food for like twenty minutes until Carson started feeling bad about loitering.
We slowly made our way to the other side of town and accidentally came across a bar I had wanted to go to but decided we would never find. It’s a pretty typical Belgian bar, with a rustic cabin-like interior and gigantic beer selection, but it has a key, defining feature: the kwak.
We slowly made our way to the other side of town and accidentally came across a bar I had wanted to go to but decided we would never find. It’s a pretty typical Belgian bar, with a rustic cabin-like interior and gigantic beer selection, but it has a key, defining feature: the kwak.
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| The Kwak |
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| Kwak-in like I've been doing it my whole life |
Basically, you order this gigantic chemex type thing full of beer and give the bar a shoe as collateral in case you break the Kwak. They then put your shoe in a basket that is hoisted up to the ceiling for safe keeping. Probably the most unnecessary and lengthy process we’ve ever gone through for a beer.
Eventually, we made our way back to the station to head home. I am sure that we were simply delightful bus-mates after having spent about 2 hours at the kwak bar. Anyway, it was a wonderful day trip and a great way to get even more into the Christmas spirit.
Another Christmas-spirit-enhancing happening came shortly after with the arrival of a package from Cathy. It had even MORE decorations (our house looks seriously ridiculous at this point, but in a great way) and awesome presents. One gift for me had a tag that said “from Cathy and Skylar.” I thought that was kind of strange because I know for a fact Skylar would generally have no involvement (or interest) at all in finding me a Christmas present. When I opened it and found my favorite pajama pants ever, which just happen to also be Skylar’s ex-girlfriend’s pajamas that Cathy let me borrow once last year and I instantly fell in love with, all became clear. So, thanks again, Skylar and Cathy. It is an honor to now have these pants in my possession (also, I would love to see the ex-girlfriend’s reaction to learning that her old pajama pants are now being worn daily by Carson’s girlfriend in France).
Surprisingly, Carson and I finished all of our Christmas shopping on the 23rd and had all Christmas Eve and Christmas to just hang out. It was all magical and wonderful and perfect aside from when I almost ruined everything.
Okay, that’s an extreme exaggeration, but I still feel bad about it. On Christmas Eve, I woke up to find Carson had wrapped my presents by using various Christmas decorations because we didn’t really have wrapping paper. When I saw a present wrapped in a Santa hat, I knew exactly what it was: one of those paper-maché stars that Carson loves from the Christmas market. I mean...it was the EXACT shape and size. I was convinced. I was also a bit disappointed because every time we passed the stars at the market, my reaction was verbatim: “meh.” Carson was the one who freaked out about the stars every time we passed the stand and wanted one desperately.... which is why I had already gotten him one and was saving it as his big present.
Eventually, we made our way back to the station to head home. I am sure that we were simply delightful bus-mates after having spent about 2 hours at the kwak bar. Anyway, it was a wonderful day trip and a great way to get even more into the Christmas spirit.
Another Christmas-spirit-enhancing happening came shortly after with the arrival of a package from Cathy. It had even MORE decorations (our house looks seriously ridiculous at this point, but in a great way) and awesome presents. One gift for me had a tag that said “from Cathy and Skylar.” I thought that was kind of strange because I know for a fact Skylar would generally have no involvement (or interest) at all in finding me a Christmas present. When I opened it and found my favorite pajama pants ever, which just happen to also be Skylar’s ex-girlfriend’s pajamas that Cathy let me borrow once last year and I instantly fell in love with, all became clear. So, thanks again, Skylar and Cathy. It is an honor to now have these pants in my possession (also, I would love to see the ex-girlfriend’s reaction to learning that her old pajama pants are now being worn daily by Carson’s girlfriend in France).
Surprisingly, Carson and I finished all of our Christmas shopping on the 23rd and had all Christmas Eve and Christmas to just hang out. It was all magical and wonderful and perfect aside from when I almost ruined everything.
Okay, that’s an extreme exaggeration, but I still feel bad about it. On Christmas Eve, I woke up to find Carson had wrapped my presents by using various Christmas decorations because we didn’t really have wrapping paper. When I saw a present wrapped in a Santa hat, I knew exactly what it was: one of those paper-maché stars that Carson loves from the Christmas market. I mean...it was the EXACT shape and size. I was convinced. I was also a bit disappointed because every time we passed the stars at the market, my reaction was verbatim: “meh.” Carson was the one who freaked out about the stars every time we passed the stand and wanted one desperately.... which is why I had already gotten him one and was saving it as his big present.
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| The triangle in question can be found in the bottom left corner |
When Carson woke up, he knew something was awry and asked what was wrong. I tried so hard to convince him nothing was up, but ultimately caved because I was so baffled by his choice of present.
Me: “I just...and it’s totally fine if you did...did you get me something that maybe you subconsciously wanted too and thought I wanted because you wanted it?”
He was clearly very confused.
Carson: “Uh. I would never use any of the things I got you...I don’t even know where you would have seen any of the things I got...did you look at your presents?? HOW DO YOU KNOW WHAT I GOT YOU???”
Me: “I just know!! The shape!! It’s soooo obvious!!!
This almost turned into both of us revealing everything we got one another, but luckily it did not. I decided that, perhaps, it wasn’t a star. And even if it was, what am I, three? I was disappointed by my disappointment in a present that someone clearly took time to pick out for me and ceased my Grinch-ing.
When I opened the gift later, it was an easel, because I’ve recently been painting a lot.
I am the worst.
Me: “I just...and it’s totally fine if you did...did you get me something that maybe you subconsciously wanted too and thought I wanted because you wanted it?”
He was clearly very confused.
Carson: “Uh. I would never use any of the things I got you...I don’t even know where you would have seen any of the things I got...did you look at your presents?? HOW DO YOU KNOW WHAT I GOT YOU???”
Me: “I just know!! The shape!! It’s soooo obvious!!!
This almost turned into both of us revealing everything we got one another, but luckily it did not. I decided that, perhaps, it wasn’t a star. And even if it was, what am I, three? I was disappointed by my disappointment in a present that someone clearly took time to pick out for me and ceased my Grinch-ing.
When I opened the gift later, it was an easel, because I’ve recently been painting a lot.
I am the worst.
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| But COME ON...Could there be two more similarly shaped things in existence??? |
In any case, we really did have a perfect Christmas that was made even more perfect by all the packages we received throughout the month. The decorations and gifts are appreciated more than I can express, so thanks again to all our loving family members! I hope everyone had the merriest of Christmases. Personally, I’m in denial and plan on continuing Christmas until well into January. Finally, here are some of the pictures of the apartment that I took a month to upload:
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| My elaborate gingerbread estate |
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| Our neighbors across the street totally stole this idea from us. We are bitter. |
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| Candy canes! |
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| Necessary Christmas countdown |
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