The city is gearing up for the Gentse Feesten. The Gent Jazz Festival is currently going strong. It runs for a week before the Gentse Feesten. The first night's main entertainer was B.B. King. The newspaper said his entourage showed up at the hotel with 104 suitcases. They booked 42 rooms for the 50+ members of the crew. It included two guitar specialists and a baggage handler (guess so with that many suitcases). Did I mention he was here for only one night? He looked pretty good for an 83 year old diabetic.
As we headed for the hospital yesterday we had to change from a bus to a tram at the train station. All of the bicycle racks out front are gone. The newly remodeled train station (when finished in 2012) will have covered parking for 10,000 bicycles. Right now there is only parking for 5,000. With a chunk of them gone we could actually see the park in front of the station. Don't worry, the bicycle racks and bicycles are just being moved to the center of the city.
Other preparations? Some of the streets are being closed to auto traffic. Hotels are getting full. I checked on our team reservations yesterday and they said most of the rooms are booked. There is no need to reroute the trams through the city center. Usually they do not run through the Koren Markt from mid-morning until after midnight. With the major construction going on the trams have not been going through since April. However, there is a push to get some construction done so the cafe's can put tables back on the sidewalks.
More people and publicity to been seen is another indication. Saturday is the Flemish National Holiday so after that, it will be full speed ahead with the building of the stages and other attractions.
As for us, we are still baking cookies and getting ready for our volunteers from America. Gotta make a run to get bottled water to distribute to the set-up crews and some more cookie supplies. Our supporters in America have provided an enormous quantity of gift bags for the cookies. We are excited and overwhelmed by your support.
It kind of reminds me of an approaching hurricane. The winds start picking up and it feels stormy but you know the strongest part is yet to come. That is the feeling here. Lots of preparation, it is getting hectic but it will really get busy by the end of next week. And then the storm of over 1 million visitors hits. Lots to to and lots of opportunities.
As we headed for the hospital yesterday we had to change from a bus to a tram at the train station. All of the bicycle racks out front are gone. The newly remodeled train station (when finished in 2012) will have covered parking for 10,000 bicycles. Right now there is only parking for 5,000. With a chunk of them gone we could actually see the park in front of the station. Don't worry, the bicycle racks and bicycles are just being moved to the center of the city.
Other preparations? Some of the streets are being closed to auto traffic. Hotels are getting full. I checked on our team reservations yesterday and they said most of the rooms are booked. There is no need to reroute the trams through the city center. Usually they do not run through the Koren Markt from mid-morning until after midnight. With the major construction going on the trams have not been going through since April. However, there is a push to get some construction done so the cafe's can put tables back on the sidewalks.
More people and publicity to been seen is another indication. Saturday is the Flemish National Holiday so after that, it will be full speed ahead with the building of the stages and other attractions.
As for us, we are still baking cookies and getting ready for our volunteers from America. Gotta make a run to get bottled water to distribute to the set-up crews and some more cookie supplies. Our supporters in America have provided an enormous quantity of gift bags for the cookies. We are excited and overwhelmed by your support.
It kind of reminds me of an approaching hurricane. The winds start picking up and it feels stormy but you know the strongest part is yet to come. That is the feeling here. Lots of preparation, it is getting hectic but it will really get busy by the end of next week. And then the storm of over 1 million visitors hits. Lots to to and lots of opportunities.
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