Well, I am all settled into my room here in Sint-Martens-Latem, a suburb of Gent which is a small town 45 minutes outside of Brussels.  It’s mainly all farming around, which I am sure is really nice in the spring – but today it’s rainy and cold and overcast, so I’ve been inside most of the time.

The flight over was nice, and didn’t feel like 8 hours, even though it was. Are you ready for this?  I read an entire book from start to finish – something I haven’t done in years.  Jeff gave me a book for my trip and from the time I read the first page, I couldn’t put it down until I finished it.  Chelsea Handler’s “My Horizontal Life: A collection of one night stands” was one of the most entertaining and flat out hilarious things I have ever read.  Within four hours, I had gone from cover to cover and laughed more and more.  For the first time, I can say I can’t wait to pick up another.

After trying to doze some and get some rest, we landed in Brussels Tuesday morning at 7:30a.  This time, I got all my bags at one time! I was so excited to see them come off the belt.  Remember, last time it was 36 hours later before my bag showed. Remember again, when I was driving a sporty rental?  Not this time. I am rolling in a Ford Galaxy – aka a MINI VAN.  Yeah, tell me about it.

So I made my way out to the little community where I am working till Saturday and checked into my room.  It is way cute – they’re little villa type buildings each with 4-5 rooms in each.  After traveling for 24 hours, all I wanted was a hot bath, and I didn’t know if I was going to get it… my last trip to Belgium left me in a room with only a shower.  Much to my surprise, I have a huge bath tub in my gorgeous little room.

After getting settled in, I made my way across to the hotel grounds to get some lunch.  The hotel and restaurant have a very solid French influence – it is after all Auberge du Pecheur.  So for lunch, it was time to jump into local cuisine.  The starter was an oyster with garlic, followed by eel on cucumber jelly and an ice fish and apple chutney mix, which was awesome.  Lunch was delicious – truffle ravioli with potatoes and mushrooms.  So. Damn. Good.

From there it was nap time – I was totally jet lagged from the trip, and the dreary rainy weather made it all that much harder to stay awake.

Being a way from town, and in the suburb of a small community, there’s not much going on – so this week is going to be catch up and lounge night at the hotel.

I have a few pics I’ll put up, and hopefully tomorrow will be a little dryer so I can get more.

-30-