dear all,
steve has settled into work, found out lots of info, we met derk from dhollandia today. hes been very helpful and has even taken dad out for dinner and drinks...needed the password to get back into the hostel because he came back after lock out!naughty naughty
weve been occupying ourselves, reading, eating, shopping and wandering around ghent. its a fairly small town so everything is within walking distance...dans legs are REALLY REALLY sore.
today we took ourselves on a walking tour of ghent..we were our own tour guides with a pamphlet telling us all the important places to stop.stops included an old meat market (with massive ham bones hanging from the ceiling, dan was considering lunch), a few museums and parks, the bell tower, 3 cathedrals including st bavos cathedral with parts of the cathedral dating from 1150.the buildings around ghent are amazing, with several beautiful houses dating from the 17th century.
we were stopped by an old man who rambled on about knowing australians, and then how much he loved ghent and a little history about the spot we were standing in...he continued on for a while, bec looked about as excited as wet dog food, he was really nice and said he was sharing his town with us and making all strangers feel welcome..and then had the cheek to ask for money for his sevices!!! we later saw him catching other tourists with his dirty scam...we were stingy and gave him nothing.
dads last day of work is today so tomorrow were planning on doing the tour of the castle gravensteen. tonight were going on another walk around the city because it all gets lit up at night, and the christmas decorations are all on their way up. then on friday its onto brugges.
mum, dad and bec are all coping well with weather, were all rugged up with hats and gloves and once we get walking were toasty as..toast! theres not as many crowds and the christmas decorations in all the towns are beautiful, and a white christmas is going to be gorgeous.the hostel is toasty as well, feels like summer in our room, and the bathroom is even warmer. pitlochry is damn cold at the moment, work was being done on the water pipes into town and overnight they all froze up and there was no water in town..brrrr.
the hostel is nice, were in a 6 bed room with only the 5 of us and we have our own shower and toilet. breakfast is included so weve been having eggs, cheese and ham on bread and cereal and yoghurt. theres also a bar at the hostel so dan and dad have been testing out the beers. theres no kitchen but because were so nice they have let us use their staff kitchen.
andrew, hope your arm is feeling alot better.
gai, was the postcard you received from london or iceland? i think icelandair ate all of my postcards...dodgy economy, post office worker probably stole the stamps..
hope all is well
love jess and mandy
p.s. there are a few more photos up now.
