we had to wake up at 5am and get on the road. the misty dark drive through those old towns was magical. we had to return the rental car and get our pass stamped for the month. back on the TGV, racing at 380 km/h through France, and back into Paris for a long subway ride to the paris north station, and another TGV ride to Lille that was actually too quick, we couldn’t believe it. then back on familiar Belgian IC trains, first to Kortrijk to transfer to Gent, where we got off for a quick visit with some friends from last year’s tour. we had our new cd ready to deliver to Dirk and Joost, and so they came, with dirk’s two kids, to meet us at the train station. we had a quick organic beer at a vegan restaurant, and it was really great to see them again. we will have to come back to gent for another show and a longer visit next year! they saw us off on the train too, which was really cool :)

a couple more transfers and then a short ride in the back of a truck had us in Rupelmonde, playing at Bert’s bar Gildenhuis. he took us out for a huge dinner next door, and the plates were so big we couldn’t finish our meals. but the place had no take-away boxes so they told us to just take our plates home and Bert could bring them back the next day. it felt funny walking across the square with plates of food in hand!

Joost and his neighbour surprised us by coming to the show. we played one long set. we didn’t have a packed house or anything that night, but the audience that was there enjoyed it, asking us for two or three encores...

after the show we enjoyed some strong Belgian beer in the cool night air with Joost.