Blogs from Antwerp, Antwerp Province, Belgium, Europe - page 12

Today we moved on to our second country, Belgium. After a wet evening the previous day in Rotterdam, the rain eased up in the morning and gave us a chance to look around Rotterdam where we went down to the waterfront. In the early afternoon it was time to leave Rotterdam and the Netherlands and catch our first international train into Belgium. Unlike all the internal Netherlands trains this one was packed and we couldn't get a seat despite the train being something like 12 carriages long. We ended up having to sit with our bags in the doorway for the 1 hour trip into Antwerp. At Antwerp we used one of the lockers located at the station and stowed our packs and then went for a walk into the town. We located the main ... read more

...and the vacation fun was back on Antwerp was fantastic from the moment of arrival. The train station was the best I had ever seen (in my opinion, even better than Grand Central in NYC). There were pubs abound and the food was good. Our hotel was near the train station and what I'm assuming is in the party district. It was good and clean and the room was huge!! We stayed in the diamond district and so you can imagine the wonderful window shopping we did. We had forgotten about the football (soccer) championship going on last night and were happy to find an Irish pub (don't laugh it was fun and crowded) with an outdoor eating area to eat fish and chips at while enjoying another Belgian brew. After a few (Adam had more ... read more

There is so much that I feel that I need to say, stories I want to relate, happenings I wish I could convey, and experiences that I so desire that I could pass on but due to lack of time and word power I cannot succeed. In Paris on Saturday I had one of the craziest days on record yet. Saw the Musèe d'Orsay and let me just say that the impressionist paintings are simply spectacular. I found the seeminly chaotic brush stokes, that with the right perspective, melted together to form a structured and ordered composition. In this I found metaphors for life. Take a single day in anyone's life as a single stroke of the painter's brush. Stand to close, inspect that single day by itself, and it seems meaningless and unimportant but take ... read more

Antwerp was a rewarding day trip from Brussels. It is only about half an hour away by train, but Antwerp is not nearly as touristy as Brussels or Brugge and has just as much life and energy as either city. It had the standard Belgian city layout of pretty town square with Christmas market and ice skating rink. However the city had a vibrance to it that I didn't feel in the other Belgian cities we visited. There were lots of interesting restaurants and other shops in which to browse. I was sorry that the shops closed so early because the main shopping strip was both picturesque and full of great deals. We thoroughly enjoyed our day wandering the streets and absorbing the atmosphere, even if that atmosphere was ridiculously cold and wet.... read more

We stayed at this absolutely wonderful hostel (AB Hostel). Finally, a small friendly place that was very clean. Most of us there ended up in the living area chatting away at night. Even the owners hung out with us. It rained the afternoon we arrived so we took refuge in the mall. Amie was mysteriously drawn to the colouring books and pencil crayons...again...then she realized how silly it may look to see a backpacker contently colouring between the lines while waiting for the train or in the lobby of a hostel :D The next day (our full day there) it was the 50th anniversary of the Tall Ship Festival where they race around Europe and end here in Antwerp. there were so many huge wooden ships with three tall mast. It was a weekend of many ... read more