The Old Inner city and the FietskeukenFietskeuken

 I woke at 7 and did a blog . At breakfast we had muesili with lots of delicious, healthy ingredients. Then I loaded Silver and Mick checked the tire pressure. I accompanied them to look at one used to be the inner city for the workers of the textile plants.

Close quarters made for lots of diseases. There was only one toilet building for everyone.

Mick and Sofie volunteer one evening a week at a bicycle kitchen. People can come to get help and advice on repairing a bicycle and also come and have some food and social time. It all runs by contributions. There is also a section that puts together bikes from parts and sells them. 

The table is original wood from the building.

Mick is very handy. He works for Tradewinds which builds various outdoor product for the garden. He has devised many bicycle things such as this lamp

Bicycle clock

Bicycle medallions from Ghent

The table for eating and socializing. Sofie brings extra vegetables from her job on the organic farm.

A bicycle frame mirror

Thank you so much for the tours Sofie and Mick

A tour of Ghent

 

Sopie and Mick with Ghent's 3 towers in the background

The old Harbour area

The cathedral

The dragon on the steeple

The buildings date back many centuries

Old facades

The former horse entrances and cement posts so the carriage drivers didn't hit the edges of the walls.

The "Sheep Barn"

By the canal

The Behijnhof  for women

The castle

We met friend Sofie and Peter

By the statue commemorating the death during the inquisition of many opposed to the king. They were marched out in their nightgowns with noises around their necks.

A plaque of a boat for well to do people

Mick and Sofie were excellent tour guides and it was an enjoyable evening.  Thank you!

 We went back to their home , did the dishes and went to bed.

One of the textile mills that this area was known for.

To the reader.: I have not learned yet how to delete a photo once it is on. Bear with me as I learn

From Brussels to Sofie and Mick in Ghent

 I was happy with my new bags to leave the city of Brussels.  However the streets are all full of glass and I am now always concerned for a flat tire.

A street cleaner made conversation with me.

During a snack break I met Jan. He was on the way to an outside velodrome . Both of us knew some rain was coming soon.

Later as I was bicycling in the rain a woman was standing waving me down and it was Els ( Elizabeth) and she was offering me a time out of the rain and some refreshments  I took her up on the offer and met them farther up the road . 

What a friendly warm couple. Elizabeth is a parttime teacher and Dominek works at Universi ty of Antwerp in Applied Science and travels a lot. They have three grown children. I felt at home immediately . Thank you so much for the visit and the lunch. May God bless you both. 

At 4:30 I arrived in Ghent and made my way to  Sofie and Mick  who live beside a canal.

Sofie and Mick completed a ling cycle journey to the Baltic States last year. She works in an organic farm that distributes vegetables to a thousand people. They have a house from the 1830's and Mick has and stilk is renovating it all.

I am their first Warmshower guest and I must say that they are the best of hosts. After my warm shower and cup if tea Mick took me to do some groceries while Sofue made supper. 

In the evening they took me for a historical tour of the centrum of Ghent. I will do a separate blog for it. 

From Joanna and Jaime in Brussels

 Joanna and Jaome and I had a pleasant evening together. They both work in economics. Joanna who is from Poland works for a private company and Jaime who is from Mexico works for the government of Belgium. During Covid they did their long bicycle trip because it was easy to cross borders only on a bike. Their apartment is also in downtown Brussels but they are looking to buy an older nice home.  They like to travel and Joanna likes to cook. She made a delicious vegetarian supper and we talked about our families, jobs and travels and we learned different things from each other. It was interesting  to hear of their cultures and also their bicycle trip from South of France to Poland.

I was able to tell Joanna and Jaime the long story of my broken rear pannier. It involved  a broken and then repaired old pannier,  a trip to the store and not finding my credit card and a flat rear tire. When I still thought I would go to the store in the morning Joanna suggested I could have a set of hers. I tried with success to see if everything would fit and it did so I insisted tgat I pay for them and now have "new" bags. After a Mexican breakfast they helped me load Silver and I was off feeling very thankful. Thank you so much to both of you. May God bless you . May you also find a suitable house to buy.