Belgium wrap-up

I wasn’t even supposed to be here today, so this was a gift day. The airline had “maintenance issues” and pushed my return flight to tomorrow. But it’s not as scary as it sounds– they warned all the passengers about this two weeks in advance.

So, I had lunch with Didier Debaise, who wrote THIS FINE BOOK on Whitehead. As usual, he generously shared his thoughts on the various forces at play in contemporary Francophone philosophy, and there are always a number of interesting surprises in his account. Didier also highly recommended a certain book, so I bought it. I usually leave Brussels with one new book specifically because he recommended it.

Then off to Ghent for the afternoon/evening, and I absolutely love Ghent and its spooky late medieval riverfront, which can be intoxicating just after nightfall. The one uncomfortable point is that they’re starting to add a bit of Disneyism to Ghent (its neighbor Bruges has already been in Disney territory for quite some time). When I first came to Ghent as recently as 2007, there was still a raw and run-down flavor to it, almost as though someone could hold a rave in the city center and it would fit in perfectly. Not anymore: it’s Euro-bürger territory now. But the architecture still carries a nice hint of melancholic decay.

And of course, you can’t pass through Ghent during daylight hours and not pay your 4 Euros for yet another visit to the astounding Ghent Altarpiece (i.e., “The Adoration of the Mystic Lamb,” by the Van Eyck brothers).