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.

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