Weekend Trip to Belgium

I was supposed to be back in NYC this weekend, but as always there was a last minute change. As I did not want to be in the same hotel during the weekend, I again drove for 2 hours to my favorite city Brussels (and the hotel is so cheap there for some reason).

This time I stretched my trip to Gent - 45 minutes drive from Brussels, where you can see a lot of historical architectures. It is surrounded by rivers (I think it is not canal like Amsterdam/Haarlem).

Of course there was French influence all over and you can find great pastries in the town. You can see it is different from the one in Germany or the Netherlands. It looks like from Paris, if I don't tell you, don't you think?

There was one local cuisine I researched for. This is pretty similar to Japanese cream stew but more lighter version in terms of dentistry. It was a big bowl and sufficient for lunch.

At ANOTHER bakery I bought this waffle but a bit different from the one in Haarlem. It has vanilla butter cream in between, vs. caramel and it was actually really good. I couldn't wait till going back to the hotel so I ate some of it outside, even it was pretty cold.

I don't drive a car in the U.S. but I need to do here in Europe. I was told one time if I own a car, it would be Mini. This time I have a Mini (while I usually have a BMW, ha ha). I like a traditional Mini over this but it is still unique design. It stands out especially in front of the old buildings.

Before heading back to Haarlemt on Sunday, I had another round of pastry hopping. This is even more French looking place and I bought TWO I had as "lunch".

While waiting for the rain to stop, I found this beautiful flower shop. I have favorite one in Brooklyn Heights, but this is actually prettier than that. Very dramatic building/space and good for the colorful flowers to pop.
It was a very nice weekend trip and I am sure I will do that again when I have a weekend to kill...