Antwerp

It was the 2nd beautiful blue-skied, sunny day in a row so I was lucky.  I went to Antwerp yesterday!  Today of course it's raining again, but that's life.

Antwerp was really a charming place - similar in some ways to Brussels, but in some other ways very different.  Upon getting there I realized that the train station I stopped at (Antwerp Central) was the scene of one of my favourite flash mob dances ever (click here to experience the magic).  I asked for a map at the tourist info place in the train station and headed for the historic downtown.  I found another tourist place there and they gave me a booklet with 2 historic walks I could choose from.  I chose the 2nd (even though it was longer!) because it went by the historic ports which is what I wanted to see, because I know that is where my Grandpa was in 1944.  It was a great experience.  I really suggest self-guided walking tours (if you are in a safe place and during the day), because you can take your time, and stop for a coffee at any time you'd like.  Well, here are the pictures!  As always, click on any picture to make it bigger for your viewing pleasure!  (There are a lot so give yourself some time!)

 My original train was to leave at 10:09.  I got on that train, and about half way to Antwerp the ticket man came around and checked my ticket.  He told me I had the wrong one (I actually had one to go to the airport) and so I had to go all the way back to Brussels Central, to change them.  Once I finally got back the guy wouldn't take my ticket back because he had sold it more than an hour ago.  I tried to explain that it was his mistake in the first place because I KNOW I didn't say Airport.  Anyway, he said something like "If you came back within the hour you could have had it refunded."  I was like "How could I have done that if I was already on the train that I THOUGHT you had given me tickets for!!?!??!!"  Anyway in the end the guy gave me a discount of 5.40 (which was half of the airport ticket, so still 5.40 more than I had to pay).  BLAH.  Well, after all that was said and done, this was the train I finally ended up taking.

 In Antwerp Central station - cool see-through escalators!

 This is where that flash mob took place.

 Coolest invention ever.  Although the sound was a little weird.  It's a trumpet bell attached to the sound section of a violin.

 That's the "Our Lady's Cathedral" in the background - the largest Gothic church in Belgium.  In the Brabantic Gothic style.

I was sure this building was going to fall over while I was taking a picture of it!

The cathedral made for a very photogenic background!
 The picture below has a McDonalds with the cathedral in the background.  I usually put my descriptions under pictures, but this picture won't allow it for some reason!

This is the city hall in the Grand Place of Antwerp, also known as the Grote Markt because we're in the Dutch speaking (Flemmish) part of Belgium here.

The statue explains the name of the city of Antwerp.  "The Brabo Fountain (1887) was conceived by Jef Lambeaux, and represents the legendary Silvius Brabo who, after having slain the giant Antigoon, throws his hand into the river Scheldt.  Popular etymology has it, that Antwerp derives its name thereof: 'throw' in Dutch is 'werpen', and 'hand' is 'hand'; therefore 'handwerpen' (to throw a hand) would be the origin of 'Antwerp'!"

This is just outside the tourist info place in the Grote Markt.  I picked up a pamphlet (panphlet?)... anyway, I picked up a little book about historic walks through the city here.  Like I mentioned above, I did walk #2, which started here and generally went north, while the 1st walk headed south.

"The Steen" is from the 12th century.  Origianlly it was the house of the burggrave (the name appointed to the person in charge of a castle), then it was a prison, then a museum.

In the days it was a prison, the Steen's death row inmates were able to stop here  to say their last prayers before they were put to death.

Just in front of the crucifix, looking up.

This and the following picture made me really happy and proud.  I've highlighted the English parts for you.

This is the site of the historic ports.  I'm not sure when, but they moved almost all of their water traffic to a huge system of ports up north.  This is according to that sign however, the location of the port during the end of WWII.

This wasn't on the walking tour, but it's cool.  I'm not sure what it will be used for.  It seems to be for lease.

It had wavy windows which I thought was neat.

Slightly different than the Best Buys at home eh!

Then the wonderful walking tour brought me through a sketchy part of town...

Then, amidst all this history, I found a tattoo shop!  I was thrilled.

This is St. Paul's cathedral.  It was built between 1517 and 1571.  

Just in front of the church they have a public basket ball court.  I thought the basket ball court and the church in the background made for an excellent photo op.  I just love this one.

This is what the tour describes as where "the City Council has destined this neighbourhood for welfare houses."... this looks pretty decent for welfare housing!!

I couldn't decide which of the pictures between this and the next 2 to choose from, so I put them all up here.  The only difference is the colour of the building.  Anyway, the building is the Vleeshuis.  It was built between 1501 and 1504.  It was originally for the butcher's guild.

In this picture you can see the remnants of the old castle wall, to the left of it is an older building, and to the right a very new building - all sorts of history coming together here!

A small tavern that I thought looked charming and old.

Back to the railway station.

The escalator here went down, then level, then down again.  I thought it was cool enough to warrant a picture.

Then of course the see-through escalators again are neat looking, so another picture.

That was my day at Antwerp!  It's a great city, and easy to navigate on foot.  The people are nice and speak English very well.  If you visit, stay away from using French.  Even if they know it, they don't want to speak/hear it.  If you're a French speaker, it's better to try limited English than to speak French!

Alright, that's it for now.  Meetup group bowling tonight.  I'm also going to a friend's house (Klaude) for dinner.

Have a great Thursday everyone!