Birthday Week

We did celebrate my birthday.  Dad came home with a bouquet of orange roses. Then we went to dinner with Dave and Laurene at the Hotel de Rantere restaurant. The food was exceptionally good although the hour was later than I like to eat. I had a vegetable soup. Places don’t even open to serve until seven o’clock. Vegetable soup here is pureed vegetables with a little cream. It has a good flavor and it is good to eat. When we got home Laurene had bought me a cream cake with just one tea candle on it. She didn’t want to burn the place down.

Saturday we thought that we had a barbecue at the church so we each fixed a dish just to find out it is next Saturday. We took Dad and Dave to see the Liedts Castle in Oudenaarde. It was closed when Laurene and I went to see it earlier. Well it was still closed so all they got to see was the grounds.

We had learned of a church from the people that we meet that had the barge. We took the drive to Geraardsbergen about 16 miles to the East to see it. We were told that it would be the best one around. They said it was beautiful inside. It was by far the best we have seen although it was very  plain on the outside compared to other churches we have seen.

Front of Chapel



Organ (Always in Rear of Chapel)

So we went to the lake (Donk) at the edge of town and had a picnic with our stuff for the barbecue. This is the same one that Dad and I walked around with our neighbors, Michelle and Silvio.

Then we just came home to take a nap before we drove to Gent to see the town all lit up at night. We strolled around the river streets while we watched the young people all around. It was crowded more than Dad remembered but he was there in the winter. Summer brought out all the people from the town. It was a nice night to walk, not too warm or too cool. We took lots of pictures but it just doesn’t show how crowded it was.

I loved the walk after dark. I even enjoyed all the crowds, smells and sounds. It was just a neat evening all the way around.