Day 3 of our Belgium experience continues with an in depth walking tour of Ghent. We met our guide, who as we walked, pointed out prominent locations in Ghent along with their history. She took us in the town hall where we got a glimpse of Ghent’s law making and even a chance appearence by the mayor. We went to St.Bravo’s cathedral where we got to see the magnificent sculptures, paintings, and decoration. It was here that we got the see The Ghent Altar piece. As we continued to make our way through the city, we got to see many sidedness of Ghent’s city center. We passed modern shops, 12 century homes, and a 21st century ice skating rink.

We had a wonderful lunch that began with a salmon mousse and white asparagus soup. We then had beef stew with French fries and dessert.

Our afternoon began with a trip to STAM. In this museum, I especially like the books as well as the room with the floor map and miniature model of the city. The room with leather walls relocated from the town hall was very cool as well.

We concluded our day with an amazing trip to the museum of fine art where we got to see the panels of the Ghent Altar piece which are currently being restored. The grandeur of the museum was amazing but my favorite part of both the day and he museum itself was the symbolism room. I stumbled upon this room a little over halfway into my way through the museum and stayed there for much of my free hour. I walked in and saw three paintings that i immideatly loved. They were all together on one wall and I would later find out they are all by the same artist, Leon Spilliaert. Once I found these, I sat and observed them for a long time. One was a picture of a man in silhouette against the background of a window inside a house. The one in the middle was of a woman with unnerving eyes, posing, painted all in black and blue. The last was of what I took to be a bed at an asylum or a hospital. This has a lot of gray in it. My favorite of the three was the woman. This primarily was because of how captivating her presence was. I also really enjoyed all of the sculptures and Oskar Kokoshka’s painting of a man with a blue book.