On the 13/14 of March, I went to Antwerp to visit my former Global Village roommate, Florence. Yay! I was so psyched to see her!! Apparently, I was so excited that I forgot to bring my camera...which means no pictures. When I got of the train at Antwerpen Centraal, I walked through an enormous station out to an incredible entrance, which you can see in this youtube video. I waited a little bit for Florence to get there, but finally found her taking a picture for some tourists in true Florence fashion. I was so happy to see her! Florence knows a TON about Antwerp, so we immediately set out on our tour. We walked near the shopping district, where Florence explained about the gold statues on top of the buildings, which were symbols of the former guilds that were housed there. Our first stop was an iconic Antwerp landmark--Rubenshuis--the former house of the painter, Rubens. The house was amazingly luxurious for a painter. I guess Rubens was not exactly the starving artist type. There was a lot of Italian influence in some sculptures he had and Asian influence in his curio cabinets and china. I was really amazed by his walls, which were gilded leather. Pretty plush, huh? After wandering our way through Rubens' house, we met our other Global Village friend Dennis and headed towards the Grand Place. First thing we noticed: some odd contest going on with cows. Kind of made me feel at home in a weird way. I think they had to try to guess the weight of the cow and then they could keep it? Not really sure...it was a little bizarre. Still a little bizarre, but entertaining was the story that Florence and Dennis told me about how Antwerp got its name. The story goes that there was a giant who lived under a bridge and made everyone who passed him pay a toll. One guy was upset about this and refused to pay the toll. They got into a spat and the guy cut off the giant's hand and threw it at him--hence the name Antwerpen, or "Throwing Hand". Kinda crazy, right? We walked over towards the river and the old fortress, which was really cool. The fortress was small, but really pretty--I just wish you could go inside! After that, we decided to make our way over towards the University of Antwerp where Flo and Dennis go to school for a short tour. On our way, we stopped in a gorgeous little courtyard with an amazing Jesuit Church. This was one of the prettier churches I have ever seen, and Florence's sister just got married there last weekend (April 24th?)! It's always nice to have a personal connection with all of these old European buildings. We walked all around the University campus (which is pretty small), which was an interesting mix of old and modern. I even got to see a classroom--a little more high tech than ours in Lille. And by a little, I mean a lot. It's a beautiful school! We stopped for a coffee in the student union and then visited Dennis' apartment. I'm sure anyone from GV would be seriously curious about Dennis' natural habitat. Let me just say, it's much tidier then you would expect, but there is no food besides Coke. 5 liters to be exact, because that's how much Coke Dennis drinks every week. After this pit stop, we parted with Dennis and walked around the shopping district for a bit. I must say that Antwerp seems extremely chic to me. I'm not sure, but I would guess that's due to the diamond trading history in Antwerp and the money associated with it. By this time, it was starting to get dark and we were starting to get tired, so we headed towards Flo's house, which is just a little bit outside of Antwerp. Her house is so amazing! Very modern in a super Flemish neighborhood. Let me tell you a secret: we may have different traditions, languages, foods, etc., but when it comes down to it, a family is still a family no matter where you are, and a home is a still a home. I feel like everyone is always so excited to meet a foreign family, but we're all a lot more similar than you think. Her family was so kind and welcoming to me--I was so appreciative! More on that in later entries. Florence and I had been planning to go back downtown for dinner, but the smells coming from her kitchen persuaded us otherwise. We ate with her parents, younger sister, and two brothers. Flo has another older sister and older brother, too. Huge family! It was really cute because most of them speak some English and were all trying very hard to include me in the conversation. It made me smile. We had a wonderful dinner of steak, potatoes, salad (with olive oil from their home in Tuscany), and finished with dessert rice with raspberry coulis. I'd never had dessert rice before, but it was so amazing! Of course, Flo also had to end with a couple pieces of chocolate. I think her family is just as amazed at her chocolate obsession as we were last semester! Delicious and enjoyable meal. After dinner, Florence and I went downtown for a drink. We passed the new courthouse, which Florence told me was built with cones on top as a tribute to the french fry culture there--pretty cool. We went to a really cute little restaurant and had a glass of wine, then decided to head back home for a restful night of sleep.
The next morning, we woke up to bakery and fresh squeezed orange juice that Florence's mom had got for us. So delicious! After breakfast, I said goodbye to her family, and we left to meet Sadie at the train station. We took Sadie through a quick tour around Antwerp of a lot of the same things I had seen the day before. Then we went to the Plantin-Moretus Museum, the house and workshop of the owners of one of the first printing companies. This museum was SO cool! It was amazing to see some of the first books ever and the place where they were printed. The museum also houses the two oldest working presses in the world. One of my favorite things was a score I saw--one of the first ever printed. It was amazing to see something so monumental to the world of music. After the museum, we were starving, so we got some lunch. It was also--surprise, surprise--delicious. Sadie and I both got stoofkarbonaden (yes, I had to look that up), which is a kind of beef stew made with beer, and fries--very Flemish, indeed. Another GV friend, Christophe, met up with us for a bit as we finished our lunch. We walked around a bit and they took us through the tunnel under the river. You go down two sets of these incredibly long wooden escalators, then walk 500 meters to the escalators up, and eventually pop out on the other side of the river, in a park with perfect views of Antwerp. So pretty, and the journey over is definitely worth a story. To round off my trip to Antwerp, we stopped at Désiré de Lille for waffles. Yummm. :-)
Here is one of Sadie's pictures of the two of us by the river:
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