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Published: June 27th 2011
The weather report AGAIN called for 70% rain, and our shoes were still wet - so we decided to explore the town of Antwerp on foot! It is a great city with a population of about 475,000. The train station is absolutely beautiful - full of history and ancient architecture! We started out our trek looking for the two fabric/quilting stores that I found through some searching. Lana's was first that we came upon on Anselmostraat 92 - a quaint yarn and fabric store. Most of their fabrics appeared to be by American manufacturer's but I did find a few pieces of fabric of a more European color scheme. The shop owner asked where we were from, and seemed quite honored that someone from the US would buy fabric in Belgium - she said - It is always the other way!
The second shop we found was Calico House on Vrijheidstraat 27 - a wonderful front facade with a long explanation of the days that they were open like the 1st Saturday of the month, one evening a week and two mornings a week or some such thing. Well, it was the fourth Saturday of the month! Probably for the better
as am not sure Jean could have lasted through another quilt shop!
So off we headed to the main shopping street of Antwerp, past the diamond district. We were drawn to the big white tents - and came upon a BEER FESTIVAL! We thought - where are our sons Alton, Kevin, Mitchell, Josh and Tim? They would LOVE this! For 3 Euros you get a glass - then you buy tokens to try all the wonderful Belgium beers! We splurged and bought 2 tokens each (3 Euros). We tried the Kriek Framboise, then we ended up walking around downtown and getting lunch before we tried our second. Jean got the Liefmans Fruitesse on the rocks, I got the Duvel Vedett extra blond. Both were very good! The beer festival had gotten alot more crowded as the day went on! Everyone seemed to be having alot of fun!
We opted to browse through a kitchen store, as the 70% precipitation was now 100% rain! I got pretty excited when they were making Belgium Waffles, after a taste test I asked them how to make them - they pulled a box from the trash and said, buy this type of
sugar, and the recipe is on the side! We found a grocery store on the way back, and found the right kind of sugar - very exciting, we will have to try to make them at home!
We came across a Gay Pride parade and a childrens' parade - a very busy day in Antwerp!
We walked about 6 miles and came home with our post cards and treasures! Settled for cheese and crackers for dinner and we are hoping that the weather report holds for no rain on Sunday!
Kathleen and Jean Biking Belgium 2011
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