DAY 5: Wednesday, March 13, An Overnight Trip to Ghent & A Rant

GHENT

Veni. Vidi. Vici.

 I came. I saw. I didn't trip.

Do I begin with what went wrong or what went right? 

I'll start with what went right. It's a shorter list. 

1. I saw the Jan van Eyck's Adoration of the Mystic Lamb, the famous Ghent altarpiece. It was the sole reason for making the trip.

Please take a moment to look up the altarpiece on Wikipedia. It has interested me for years. I have always wondered why Jan van Eyck doesn't have a reputation as great as that of Leonardo da Vinci or Michaelangelo. When planning the trip, I saw that Ghent was fairly near to Amsterdam. I'll unlikely be here again, so I thought it was worth a side trip. Writing from the warmth of my Amsterdam hotel, I think it was. Yesterday, I wasn't so sure. 

Here's what went wrong (feel free to skip this--it's long):

1. I didn't understand the difference between the Sprinter trains and the InterCity trains. Given the amount of planning I dedicated to this trip, I should have known the Sprinters are for commuters traveling shorter distances. There were ten Sprinter stops between Amsterdam and Rotterdam, the first of two transfers. There were also many more stops between Rotterdam and Antwerp, then Antwerp and Ghent. Instead of taking three hours to get to Ghent, it took over five.
2. At the Belgium border, the travel data plan on my phone crapped out. (Salty language ahead.) I no longer had online access to any cellular system, Eurail tickets, the ticket to see the altarpiece, the address of the inn where I was staying, etc. I had printouts of some of this, but left them behind in Amsterdam.
3. The weather was colder than I expected, a lot colder. I had not dressed adequately.
4. Eventually, having remembered the name of the inn where I was staying and approximate location, I checked in. When the proprietor showed me my room, I discovered I was on the third floor of an ancient house without a lift. There were four flights of stairs.
5. I got lost on my way to St. Bavo's Cathedral. What should have been a ten-minute walk became a half-hour slog in bitter cold. 
6. I got lost on my way back to the inn. See the last half of #5.
7. When I finally returned to the inn and climbed the steps to my room, I couldn't make the door key work. I went downstairs to get the proprietor and then climbed back up with her. For some reason, she did not carry me up on her back.
8. Once safely ensconced in my room, I realized it was the coldest room I'd ever been in. I may not be embroidering. No, I'm not. I remember now. I'm definitely not embroidering. I slept in my clothes and my coat.

The Big Sleep Inn

That covers it. Eventually, my data plan kicked in and all went right with the world. If I think of any additions to the list, I'll wait until tomorrow. Meanwhile, here are some more photos.

St. Bavo's

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The Inn--A lovely quirky room