Antwerp Day 2

This is the view from our Airbnb by daylight.  The big church in the midground is our lady of Antwerp (the cathedral from the previous day), and the tall red building in the distance beyond is the Ann de stoop museum (MAS ).

As we wrote about in our last post, the city is remarkably walkable.  Throughout the day we covered the full distance to and back from the MAS on foot, and then some.

Ok this guy was just cute.  Reminded us of another cute retriever we miss.  He was sitting like this outside of a coffee shop while his person was getting a coffee inside.  He didn't move a muscle.  I doubt that Digby may have been quite so diligent.

We started our day near the railroad station (hold your breath, the photos are below), but before we went to the rail station, we got a bit lost in the streets.

Just a Sunday morning with people shopping about

This is the entrance to their mall.  Somehow developers in Canada haven't jumped onto this bandwagon when they design new malls.  

And this is the inside of the main promenade

Kristin liked the chocolate Sinterklaas and Swarte Pete

I can't actually remember what this statue was commemorating....   But it was a stunning scene in a park just outside the train station.

Before we got to the train station ( and I guess we didn't take any photos) , we stumbled across a farmer's market happening in one of the town squares.  It was completely serendipitous, but also quite a pleasant surprise.  Being such a close neighbor to the Netherlands, there was quite a few influences from Dutch traditions.  I was able to buy some speekulaas (dutch gingerbread cookies in the shape of a windmill), and had my morning coffee (an Americano), with a stroopwaffel, which is a small (cookie shaped) waffle that it's taken hot of the iron, cut in half and has caramel spread between the two sides.  What a wonderful compliment to a hot coffee in the morning.

Fueled up, we then made our way to the train station

This is the entrance approach for the trains.... I mean it's alright

Here is the end of the train approach and the outside of the building

The grand hall (it seems to be a more recent addition to the original building which may not have had a covered area for the trains to load and unload)

The old building facade

And a bit wider view

Kris liked that you can see the mechanism inside the end of the escalator

I think this is just a guy in the train station selling nuts from a bicycle

The old station building

The ceiling of the old station.  It's a remarkable reminder to a time when train was a luxurious form of travel, and the services along the way were designed to support the clientele.  We nearly had a similar experience with the great hotels along the CP/CN rail line (Chateau Frontenac, Chateau Laurier, Royal York, Banff Springs, and many others).  It's a shame we let our rail infrastructure fall to pieces.

Back out on the street, we were aiming to find one more of Belgium's traditional foods, moulins frites.

We meandered our way around for a while then drove down to the waterfront again.

Remember this giant in a few mins....   History alert!

The Christmas market by day

We managed to find Sinterklaas and two Suarte Pete's, who were happy to pose when they heard I was missing out on my own family's Saint Nicholas celebration.

Ahh at least Moulin frites.  Mussels and French fries.  We had the Antwerp style, which has the mussels cooked in beer with leeks, onions and bacon.  Nom nom.

Kris found a sauv blanc  that she really enjoyed, and I was recommended to a trappist ale made in Belgium.  We were both happy travellers after this meal.

Did you catch the changes in the series of photos.  This was our view from the restaurant.  There is a still life artist in the scene drawing quite a crowd.  

A closer view of the still life artist.

We found a Belgian beer store nearby and I picked up a couple of extra bottles to bring home with me.

So usually I would recommend history first and to document our trip second, but we did find this photo in our last two hours there which provides a great starting point for a little of the history of Antwerp.  

The city is said to have received its name when one of its heros faced a giant who threatened to destroy the town.  The hero cut off the giant's hand and threw the hand into the Schelde river.  Believe it or not Antwerp in Flemish breaks down to Ant = hand Werp = throw, so the city's name literally translates to thrown hand.  To celebrate / remember the city has a disembodied hand as its logo, cast in wood, chocolate, even bronze in the city centre.  We didn't get a photo of it but the statue at the centre of the fountain in front of the regional parliament (don't get me started on government in Belgium, that's a minefield to try and understand), depicts the hero holding the giant's cut off hand, and the fountain water spouts from the cut off end of the giant's wrist.

Slightly gruesome, but a historical reminder none the less.

Our last stroll through the Antwerp streets before we have to start our drive back.

And with that we closed off our 32 hours in Antwerp.  Squeeze in every hour!

We both really enjoyed Antwerp.  Of the countries we have visited so far it tops the list for both of us.  There is lots to see, lots to do, it's easy to walk around, and they know how to brew a mean beer (i will be returning before the year is out  to continue this cultural exploration).

Sorry to everyone for how long this took to post.  With exams and work we just ran out of time.   We'll have the posts from Spain and Greece up before Christmas.

We miss everyone.  No snow is making it harder to get into the Christmas spirit.