Wednesday, 20 August 1952:

In the morning we were off to see Brussels in the bus. As we were sightseeing from the bus there was a 50th anniversary for one monument and 100th anniversary for a large exposition building from 1930’s. At the Royal Palace of Brussels the Changing of the Guard wasn’t too showy. However, the Palace of Justice building was a huge monstrosity with almost every architectural style combined in one building. While driving around it was hard for me to resist the beautiful lace and linens in this city.

Then we left for Ghent which was much older looking than Brussels. When we arrived about 5:30 p.m. it was still raining. We found Hotel Flandria where we stayed and went out to buy stuff for our lunches. Later we had a farewell party for Andre in a nice café down the street from the hotel. He had a beer while everyone else ate big beautiful banana splits. Thankfully each of us gave him a dollar while the directors gave him ten dollars for his navigating and driving efforts.