From the journal of the semester I spent backpacking through Europe at age 21, April- June 1993
"June 9
I took the train to Ghent (will this journal see me through 2 pens?) for the St. Bavo's cathedral. Okay—new pen. Okay, yeesh. I don't like this new pen as much. As I hurried to the cathedral (I knew it closed at noon and it was already passed that) a man asked if I was a tourist. We began to talk and we sat on the cathedral steps and chatted for awhile. He works for an electrical company and has a passion for learning language. His Spanish and English were impeccable. He said he wished he had more time, so he could show me his city. Such a nice man, and when he left, he kissed me on each cheek.
I bought postcards I knew I'd want and some stamps and then realized I wouldn't have enough Belgian Francs to get the tram back, so I cashed some Austrian $$$ which left me too much money (Aaaah. Too bad :) ) so I got my marzipan fruit treat and some strawberries. I went back to the cathedral steps and ate bread, Nutella, strawberries (which were delicious). The treat was fantastic, as I've mentioned. And it was only 47 BF, that's about $1.50 for that special of a pastry. And the strawberries were 60 BF ($2.00). Needless to say, it was an exquisite lunch.
I finished Square Dance and began Jurassic Park which Robert had given me. Then it was 2:00 and with baited breath, I entered the cathedral. Tall, stately, peaceful, everything that describes gothic architecture. But the art, oh the art!, was not to be believed. Massive pulpit of wood, gold, and marble (unfortunately this postcard doesn't illustrate my favorite part, 2 angels on the left hand side, it was so touching it took my breath away. Also, the main knave had a lovely marble/gold/wood work. One of those that uses straight beams of gold to represent divine presence. I like those. The man at the counter was very nice and told me I could take pictures, though not of the altarpiece, which I already knew. 40 BF to see probably one of my all time favorite pieces of art. And by God, it was worth so much more than that. I remember how when I saw this in art class, it was the figure of Christ (with his hand raised in benediction) that brought tears to my eyes. This time it was the angel beckoning to Mary. I just wish I could get inside the glass case with a ladder and inspect everything more closely. It was difficult for me to see the details and with Van Eyck, who was into hyperrealism, that's very important. I circled the piece for a long time.
Finally, I left and deposited my postcards in the mailbox, unfortunately forgetting to put stamps on them. A nice woman about my age offered to help me when she saw me trying to figure out what to do. We sat on the ground and she wrote a letter to the postal employee telling him the stamps were in a bag and could he PLEASE put them on? After we finished that, we walked to the tram station together and she told me about herself. She lives in Bruges (how could she leave that magical place?) but wants to live somewhere with a bit more activity so she's moving to Ghent. She's a model, but doesn't like it because people always tell her how she should change her body. Her boyfriend lives in Italy.
She was SUCH nice person."
Aaand, scene.
