Wednesday 12 October: Belgium

Up at the crack of dawn and checked out of the Hotel du Quay Voltaire. We had come to quite like the hotel and its rather eccentric staff, despite the fact that it's a little tired and run-down.

We took the Thalys high-speed train to Brussells, where we changed to a regional train for Ghent. At Ghent station we were met by Philippe Clement, better known to his thousands of Nikonian friends as Photophil. Phil had very kindly offered to put us up for the night and show us some of the sights of Belgium. We all piled into his Kangoo van (Sue in the back with the cases) and headed off to his apartment.

Regular readers of this diary will know that we've been travelling with overweight cases and camera bags. You can imagine our horror when we discovered Phil lived in a studio apartment on the 3rd floor - and there is no lift. Anyhow, we got everything upstairs (Phil is stronger than he looks) and then set off for a tour of Ghent.

Ghent is a medieval town of great charm, built around a series of squares, a river and canals. It's a little like Venice, but without the crowds and better organised. In some respects it also reminded us of Tallinn. The ancient architecture has been well preserved, but this is a living, working city - not a museum piece.

We went for a nice relaxing ride in one of the canal boats, then walked round the city centre, stopping at the first of several bars and cafes. There are a number of very large churches and a bell tower, which give the Ghent skyline a very distinctive appearance. One of the churches was running a photography exhibition, which was excellent.

Photophil is somewhat of a legend in the Nikon world, known for his obsessive pursuit of excellence, his technical knowledge and his outrageous stories. We found he is also a fascinating character, and an excellent host. We were, however, disappointed to find that his freezer contained only ice cream. No roadkill today.

Phil took us to a restaurant which was more like a library - floor to ceiling books on every wall. We had some excellent Belgian food, and another walk around the city. Unwisely we had left the "real" cameras and tripods at the apartment, and spent some time trying to get the little Coolpix to produce quality pictures under impossible conditions - it was fun trying, though.

We had to leave early on Thursday for New York, so reluctantly we headed back to Phil's apartment and bed.

Again, we have been very generously treated by somebody we previously only knew from the internet. Philippe made us very welcome, and we are greatly in his debt.