Belgium, Gent (Ghent)

      We wanted to explore Gent and the LDS branch that meets there was at the perfect time so that's where we decided to go to church. It was such a spiritual meeting and the branch was so friendly. There was also a couple of other English speaking people so they gave us head phones and translated it for us! One of those English speaking people were the parents of Elder Wells. He was one of the missionaries that was hit by the bomb in the Brussels airport. Elder Wells mom was so sweet, she kinda perked up and said something about me being an American when I started talking to her and it was in English without an accent. We talked for just a little bit but then they got a call saying a med flight crew was there at the hospital so they had to go. It was so humbling to be able to speak to them for just a short time and give her a hug. 

      After sacrament meeting and talking to the Wells we headed to downtown Gent. It was so beautiful! There were so many amazing building and churches. We went into 2 of the churches, took a little boat tour, walked around some, and of course bought one more waffle before we left. The boat tour was really cool. Learning more about the history of the city and the buildings makes it so much more interesting. The tour guide would explain everything 3 times, once in Flemish (I think), once in French, and once in English. It was pretty impressive. 

After Bret took this pic I thought, wow that kinda looks like the Big Ben clock tower in London. We then went on the boat tour and learned that it was modeled after the Big Ben.  

The last entrance gate still up from when the city was walled off. It is no longer used as an entrance but looks pretty cool.

The backside of one of the churches. It is amazing!

The left gray side is the oldest building in Gent. On the right it is the little sliver of red brick and blue window edgings that used to be the post office. 

Enjoying the ride.

The graffiti on the building here is because of the filming of The Monuments Men in Gent. 

Buildings in Europe are really close together like this but I feel like Belgium's building were so easy to define where one ends and another begins. I just think it looks cool. 

The backside of a castle! 

The front side! We didn't get to take a tour of this castle but hopefully we can go back and do it another time.

One more waffle! The first one we had in Brugge was the best but this one came close.