《2018.12.21 Christmas Break》
The first winter break in London, I planned a one-week Christmas vacation for me.
Before knowing Iris through her blog, I never heard of Ghent (Gent), an ancient city in Brussels.
This city is old yet lively; it’s calm and romantic…
The way Iris describes Gent was so tranquil, but energetic at the same time; reading her post one by one, making me start to yearn for an exploration in this fairy-like city.
It was already evening when we arrived Gent. Except for bars and clubs, stores and shops always closed early in Europe during the night; after settling down the luggage in our room, refreshing ourselves and taking a small break, it was a little bit hard to decide if we should go out again or not; yet, deep in my heart, I wouldn’t want to waste any moment of this precious vacation.
All of a sudden, I remembered that there was a café shone brightly on the way to our room, with my favorite interior design: European country style; since we would only keep scrolling social media on the phone in our room, it would be better to order a cup of hot drink and kill the night time.
Café always has a special charm to me since I was little; my friends always find it strange when I tell them that I can focus more in the café rather than in the library; I couldn’t explain the reason but the murmur and the music blended in the atmosphere help me concentrate even more, they make me relieve; spending time alone in this sea of people, those sound let me feel that I belong to part of this world.
MA en IK was surrounded by French windows, the see-through design is always one of the reasons that I fall in love with a store; if this was a boisterous daytime, I would choose a seat beside the window, spending a whole afternoon observing the street.
On this quiet street in Gent, watching the sparkling chrome yellow light from the window, made MA en IK seem like a small lighthouse.
《Warme Melk met Honing》
I thought that French is everywhere in Belgium; however, maybe due to Gent is a lot closer to Netherlands; everything is written in Dutch instead. Grabbing the menu, reading through the items carefully……
I could understand nothing.
Luckily, Dutch is one of the members in Germanic family; it was still possible for me to guess some of the words. “Warme melk met honing, “written on the beverage part of the menu, “I think it should be warm milk with honey, shouldn’t it?”
Having a cup of warm honey milk before bed in such a cozy café in my first nigh in Gent, I ‘m sure that the rest of the week would also be so peaceful and relaxing.
