The gardens of Versailles were beautiful and full of heaps of tourists like ourselves. We decided not to go to the palace or Marie Antoinette’s area because the lines were too long and we wanted a relaxing day, and we probably didn’t have enough time. The gardens took all day as it was!
It was really interesting to see how they were all laid out like different drawing rooms and the sculptures and fountains were beautiful, and I liked how they played matching music in each area.
We had a quiet evening and the next day it was off to Ghent in Belgium. The reason we came to Ghent is because Ghentse Feesten is on (and I read about it in the lonely planet guide of top 10 places to go in 2011 that lil sis gave me). It’s a 10 day festival and in this student town it is very fun.
The only downer is that is kept raining on and of, and my new shoes don’t fit as well as I had hoped. Being sopping wet didn’t help. But by evening it had gotten a bit better and our hotel room is very spacious and comfy, so if you have somewhere nice to go back to, getting rained in isn’t so bad.
Plus I got to use Ghost Kite, which is what I have named my cheap raincoat/poncho because I have to wave it around like a kite in the wind when I like it to dry. I look a bit silly wearing it, but since I’m a tourist, who cares?
In Ghent there are about 4 big churches very close together, and all of them seemed to have a concert stage set up in front of it. It was fun to hear slightly accented covers of some great 80’s hits.
The food and drink has been delicious. I tried some cherry beer and sampled lemon, apple and vanilla gin. Tasty! Also, who would have thought that Belgium chocolates are cheaper in Belgium? Dangerous. We also tried these purple cone shaped candies that are gooey in the middle. Mostly just sweet tasting, I think they might be some kind of speciality here. They even have a mcflurry version at mcdonalds. Neusjes, I think they are called noses?
At a candy stall there were smurf gummy lollies and I had to get some… And while it felt wrong eating them, they were pretty tasty too.
I got some sad news this morning. One of my uncles in Thailand has passed away. It was expected as he was very sick. My mother is over there with my brother right now. It is a comfort to know I will be over there in less than a month too, but will miss out on seeing my mum.