Ghent: Day 4

Another hot and sticky night with not much sleep.   The fan in the apartment registers never less that 29º all night!

The Wandelbus

We made good use of the little free bus today.   It wanders around the city on a circular route.  You put your hand out to stop it and tell the driver when you want to get off.  As it goes past all the main sights it makes a useful way of getting around at a gentle pace...it's battery operated, so slow, especially over the cobbles.   We were surprised that it wasn't used more and also that people stared at us, amused, as we trundled past.   Maybe they didn't know about it being free!  The other bonus was that it goes right past the apartment.

Huis Van Alijn

Inside the museum

Our destination in the morning was the Huis van Alijn, a museum housed in an old orphanage.  The one that was closed yesterday.  The first part of the museum was devoted to the history of the Gent Festival that we had just missed.    The second part was a tour through the changing social customs of the 20C with some excellent displays.   We had read that there was a cafe at the museum but it turned out to be just a bar.  We had our coffee there.  One of my favourite things in the museum were the smell jars!   In this picture on the right you see the puffers for smelling soap and washing powder!

Lunch

We followed the museum with a quick search for lunch.  Again, no sense in wandering far in the blistering heat.  We went down the road by the museum and into a health food shop with cafe and chose seats outside under shade by the riverside.    We had large salads, with a great variety of vegetables and greens, humous and couscous, washed down with lemonade and plenty of water.   We watched the boats go by on the river.

After lunch we bought our supper in the shop - the makings of a Spanish omelette, Liss style and then hopped back on the bus and back to the apartment to rest and freshen up.   Another cold shower!    We made supper and then walked to Sint Baarfscathedral for an organ concert.   The organist played about 6/7 pieces.   There was no clapping between pieces and we slightly lost track of where we were in the programme; a) because we couldn't read the programme notes and b) because we kept nodding off!   It was enjoyable but we decided organ music is not our favourite.    We walked home and enjoyed our nectarines before collapsing once more into bed and struggling for hours to get to sleep!   We are looking forward to our cool house in Norwich and some rain, which is forecast for today.  At last!