Skip to main content

THE FRENCH COUPLE IN GHENT



They should be in their sixties, though I might be wrong. On one summer evening, when we were trying to track the tram number at Sint Pieters station at Ghent, we had met them. They were standing in front of us in the queue and had just taken their tram tickets from the machine. We were still trying to figure out the best way to reach the City Center or Korenmarkt. A bit of hurried morning research, while, was enough to inform us that Korenmarkt had almost all the important landmarks of the historic town, was not enough to inform us the best way to reach Korenmarkt. "Can we help you" - asked the gentleman, with a very warm smile. And the same question was asked by the lady to EM...and she had really kind eyes.
Not only they helped to get the tickets  from the machine, but also informed us that we could join them as they were going to the same location.  So Tram number 1 was it.

The tram took about 15 minutes from Sint Pieters station to Korenmarkt...The couple was visibly happy and they did inform us that they were French with Flemish origin, and that they had stayed in Ghent during the early days of their marriage...which according to them was way way back. And that they wanted to visit the museums of Ghent this time.

While we were still on the tram, they informed us about the most popular landmarks of Ghent along with a glimpse of their history.

The list was sort of long but the good part was that most of them were just around the Korenmarkt...All of us got down at Korenmarkt and the couple accompanied us to Saint Michael's Bridge. From there, they guided us with the directions to Gravensteen and Graslei and showed us Saint Michael's Church and Saint Nicholas Church. He pointed towards Saint Bavo's cathedral and told us not to miss the City Hall.

With Brussels, Bruges and Antwerp just around, Ghent often is dropped from the list of the Belgian must visits. It felt nice to get a glimpse of this medieval fairy tale town, even though it was for a few hours. Needless to say, the experience of Ghent wouldn't have been the same without our chance meeting with the charming French couple. Indeed, in the journey of life, we meet some people for a very brief time...we don't even know their names...by all likelihood we don't meet them again...yet, we remember them throughout life.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

ANTWERP CENTRAL STATION

 As deep as I can peep into my past, I always sense very fond and nostalgic memories of railway stations. So many moments of  childhood began and ended in railway stations. My love for railway stations continues and whenever I get a chance I don't miss a visit into a station to experience the magical energy of the mixed sound of thousands of  fast moving footsteps and eager voices. European settings provide infinite moments to any traveler. Antwerp is no exception too. Like any other  European city with a strong medieval connect, Antwerp owns its history and legends. While it may take pages to write about Antwerp, let me restrict this post to the first landmark of Antwerp, its getaway - its very own train station, the Antwerp Central, located in Koningin Astreidplein, in the heart of the city.   The brainchild of King Leopold II and designed by Louis Delacenserie, Antwerp Central, with its stone clad structure and huge dome, has s...
20 comments
Read more

THE CLASSIC RIVALRY OF OLD ZAGREB

We stood there absorbing the beautiful sunset that Old Zagreb, locally known as Gornji Grad, offered. The February evening was delightfully clear and presented a view to remember. In front of us,  mingling with the red tiled roofs, dominated majestically the two famous monuments - the Zagreb Cathedral of Kaptol and the St. Mark's Church of Gradec...along with the bits and the pieces of the historic panorama of a thousand years.  Few centuries back, during the medieval period, when the region was not known as Zagreb, existed two hill top settlements - the Kaptol and the Gradec, separated by the then existing rivulet Medvescak. The Kaptol housed the Cathedral and was the religious center while the Gradec was home to the merchants and the craftsmen. It took the two settlements centuries of bitter rivalry before prudence took over and they decided to unify during the nineteenth century, thus together becoming Zagreb. The reasons for this bitterness were many ranging from s...
3 comments
Read more

DREAMS OF A SIMPLE AFRICAN MAN

(From my diary of 2009) Riding bumpily on the muddy stretch of land which they call roads, we were busy confirming appointments with representatives of various oil companies who have a strong presence in this part of the world (Port Gentil in Gabon). I was accompanied by a Gabonese guy who was entrusted with the joint responsibility of driving me to the respective offices and be the French-English translator wherever required. The meetings went well…enlightening to be precise. It’s a great experience to understand how culturally diverse people can be. But I don’t intend to go in-depth into how people work here. I will rather like to look back into the dreams of a simple African…or shall I say the dreams of a simple man!!! This guy should be in his late thirties…its difficult to estimate the ages of people. A native of Togo, he had moved into Gabon in the pursuit of a better life. These days, he has been granted Gabonese citizenship and has well adopted to the nuances of t...
Post a Comment
Read more