Gent, Belgium
April, 1994
I had forgotten the name of the restaurant in Gent,
Belgium, that Kim and I went to our first night there. Well, our first morning there. We
had to stop off in the Holland and see Wageningen, her ancestral birthplace. I was worried
that we wouldn't get to Brugge after stopping there, but I wasn't worrying about it
because I was on vacation and whatever happened was fine.
We stopped to change trains to go to Brugge. We were looking for the train when Kim stopped to ask a passerby what train to take. The woman Kim asked looked very confused and said, "I think this is the train to Brugge." I was aprehensive at such a tenuous response, but I looked at a nearby train board that confirmed that it was our train. Then woman got on board with us.
I was very tired and the woman was annoying me, so I busied myself with an essay that a friend had given me to read over. The woman talked and talked and talked. Kim was conversing with her. Finally I finished the article and felt a bit more social. The woman, who introduced herself as Eva, told us that Brugge was boring and that we'd enjoy Gent alot more. She told us that she'd lived there for a while and that it was a nice place and there was quite a bit to see.
It was getting really late and I said that it might not be
such a bad idea because we wouldn't get into Brugge until well after midnight and we had
no hotel reservations. Eva was very happy that we had agreed to stay in Gent. We arrived
at the outter Gent station and hopped off the train so Eva could take her things home.
Some guy drove by in a lorry and yelled something lewd at us in Flemish. "That's Gent!" Eva told us cheerily.
We walked about 2 or 3 miles into town to the Hostel. When we got there it was about 23:30 and they had shut up their doors at 23:00. "Oh sheet!" Eva exclaimed. Then she read another sign that was in Flemish and said, "Follow me." We followed Eva around the corner to an unmarked door. She rang the bell and a guy appeared. They had a quick conversation in Flemish as Kim and I just looked lost. After a while the guy said to us, "I'll see what I can do for you." "He says he'll see what he can do for you," Eva translated his English into the same words.
The guy told us that he was all filled up but since it was sooo late he'd put us up in a meeting room, which I thought was going to be some Hostel term for a big pile of people on a floor but it ended up being a conference room. He brought us some mattresses and we thanked him profusely. He told us what rooms we could shower at in the morning and went to bed, after showing us the combination lock on the front door.
We said we were hungry and Eva said she could show us
something to eat. It was going to be hard finding veggie fare at that late hour, but she
thought she could figure something out. So we went to the restaurant that I can't remember
the name of. I think my map is accurate, so if you are in Gent, or are planning on going
there, here's a quick description of the place.
It's down an alley. The front is glass and wroght iron with a big blue neon sign over the door. If you still can't find it, Eva works at a flower shop around the southeast corner of the Square. You can't miss the square. Oh, also on the southwest corner of the square (and slightly down the street) is the restaurant Buddah's Belly, which Eva highly recommended, but it wasn't open when we went there the next day. It's all vegetarisch.
At any rate, at about 00:30 we walked into the restaurant. The place looked like the A#1 ultimate medieval holdout Belgium stereotype damn nifty restaurant ever. And it didn't seem to be that way for the tourists. It was a bit off the beaten path. It was in a thin alley in a several hundred year old building with about five levels and big stone steps and huge rough wooden beams. It had outdoor seating on the other side, which I would assume to have been overlooking the river.
Eva walked up the the proprietor and greeted him like they
knew each other. She asked him if they had anything for her vegetarisch friends on the
menu and he said, "No, not on the menu." "There's a lasagne, but it has
fish." he said apologetically. Kim was very hungry and said that fish was okay. I
said I didn't do fish, but thanks anyway. We briefly discussed other options and the
proprietor said that he would be happy to make me a vegetarisch lasagne. I told him that
would be very very nice.
Eva was insistent that we sample some Belgian blanche beers. Then she threatened to leave because it was almost 01:00 and she had to wake up early. We insisted that she stay for at least one beer. So the prop. brought out three of them. It was awfully tasty beer. I thought Eva would slam hers and hit the road, but instead she sipped it very slowly.
Then our dinners were served. The instant they were ready. Searing hot. But awfully damn good. Incredibly good. I was totally amazed. Instead of making just a marinara sauce with some pasta, they had created this incredible lasagne the likes of which I have never seen. And this is a statement, because my friend Roger makes the most wonderful lasagnes and I thought I'd seen or heard tale of them all. But this one was made with lentils and about a million different spices -- but it wasn't too spicy. It was filling but not heavy. It was just perfect. I was enraptured. While I was eating that lasagne I never wanted to leave the restaurant.
We talked for a long time. At one point, after my second
blanche beer, I looked outside and was convinced the sun was rising. I knew this was
impossible, but the buildings were all glowing that early morning light blue. Then I
realized that in actuality it was the neon sign illuminating the thin alleyway.
We discussed a great many things. Eva told us of her travels throughout Canada. She worked for a short time on a reservation in Quebec and said it made her very sad. Eva's english was a bit lacking so she often described adjectives by making emotional noises and gestures. For being sad at the reservation she sort of went, "eeeyah." and drug her right hand down her cheek. So quite often Eva would say something like, "I was all like eeeha" and would wave her arms or hand or something. It usually worked and was rather endearing.
Now, recently Heidi asked me what I thought my most attractive quality was. I told her I didn't know what it was exactly, but there was something about me that makes people trust me right away. I was sort of used to this, but it really surprised me when Kim got up to go to the restroom and to chat with the prop. and Eva started telling me all these problems she was having with her boyfriend. Then Kim came back and she stopped. It was very surprising.
Shortly after Kim came back we settled the check and then
left. Eva counseled us on how not to tip in Europe, which was nice of her. Then we said
goodnight, Eva went on her way and Kim and I walked through the very early morning streets
of Gent and went home to bed.
After a phone call with Kim I was reminded that the restaurant is the Cafe Virus. You can't get much more stereotypical European then that. A blue glowing Virus in the middle of a turn of the century alleyway. Reminds one of Mike Myers' line, "I would like to see you play Eddiemunster entirely covered in sores."
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