Our second dayin Belgium commenced on Friday the 17th of June. Kristen awoke before me and perused the morning flea market for bargains. The market itself consists of a multicultural mix of people with blankets spread out and a wild assortment of wares arrayed about the place. Basically any piece of junk that could cenceivably sell is placed out for the relatively small number of shoppers and bargain hunters.
After I crawled out of bed, we both headed down to the station where, with less than the expected amount of fuss and bother we managed to get ourselves tickets to Antwerp AND day return tickets to Ghent and Brugge the following day. One thing about Belgium that should be noted at this point is that it's multilingual. Some people speak French only, some people speak Dutch only, but everyone generally speaks English to avoid confusion. Because of this a lot of cities have a Dutch name, a French name and sometimes an English name (think Florence/Firenze in Italy). I'll probably slip up at some point at write Anvers, Gent, Bruges or Bruxelles, but please bear with me.
As I mentioned, getting the tickets was easy. Getting on the train, even easier. Within the hour we were in the port city of Antwerp. Now, geography lesson time: What is Antwerp famous for? Answer: Diamonds. It is the historic centre for the world diamond trade and still maintains a stranglehold on that most unusual of commodities. I'm going to wax political for a moment and mention that diamonds are abundant, cruelly harvested, fabricatible and artifically price controlled, so don't buy them. Now back to the scheduled programming.
When we arrived in Antwerp, we saw a number of jewelery shops all trying to cash in on the city's reputation. We also saw the zoo, but chose not to go into it as we've seen zoos before. Instead we walked down the back streets towards the MoMu aka the Fashion Museum. There was an exhibit there on knitwear throughout history, which was really rather fascinating. After seeing this, we were starting to get hungry so we hunted around for somewhere to eat.
We settled on a friterie in the main square, which was manned by just one man who scurried about trying to do everything by himself. At one point he abandoned his post for a smoke break while confused patrons looked around trying to figure how to get their frite fix. Yes indeed, by this stage we were both already deep within the throes of frite addiction, ordering up a hearty portion each with wurst and chicken.
After lunch, it began to drizzle a bit, as we wandered about the streets of the city centre. This seemed like the perfect excuse to go to Pater's Vaetje for a drink. Again I was confronted with a bewildering assortment of beers on the menu. I found that I developed a taste for Duvel and Chimay Bleue after a few attempts. It should be noted that one does not get drunk while in Belgium. Instead, a beer is poured properly from a bottle into a special shaped glass and appreciated for its strong and unusual flavour. At no point during my stay in Belgium was I ever really 'drunk' however.
When the skies had cleared a little, we went for a walk down the riverside and past a wee castle perched on the shore. We walked all the way up to the limit of the city centre and then back again through the red light district. Yes, it was intentional this time, unlike Aachen. I have to admit that the talent on display in Antwerp is of a much higher standard than in Aachen.
With this out of the way, we went in search of the pedestrian tunnel which links one side of the river to the other. We found it after searching around a bit for the entrance and descended into the depths. The tunnel itself is quite scary and is incredibly long. It just seems to stretch on forever. I was really hoping the whole way through that the lights wouldn't go out because that would be really rather horrific. On the other side of the river, there's not much to see except to look back on the side we came from. So back we went through the tunnel again.
One really remarkable hidden part of the city is an alley just off the town centre. It took us a fair few minutes of searching to finally find it after we saw some people wandering out of the entrance. The alley winds its way between a pair of restaurants and leads past a few locked residental properties and pops out again on the other side of the block. I have a video somewhere of me walking through it that I'll have to dig up.
As the day grew late and we tired of walking around, we caught the train back to Brussels again and relaxed at the hotel for a short while before heading just down the road to a small bistro called Restobieres (beer restaurant). Now, from the street this place is only announced by the presence of a chalk board announcing the day's specials. The front window obscured by glass bottles does not allow one to easily glimpse inside. This place wasn't even mentioned on any list on wikitravel, so the very act of crossing the threshold could have spelled our doom.
But I jest, we knew from the instant we saw it that this place was a real find. Our hunch was confirmed when we gingerly pushed the door open to find the most beautiful little bistro in the world. We were sat down at a table and I believe we were given the menus in French, because that's how hardcore we are. I really do enjoy the mystery of ordering food in French as I only know a few words. But I do know what escargots are (snails duh) and also lapin (rabbit) so I had the escargots in a sizzling beer sauce followed by the rabbit in a beer gravy. Kristen had a deep fried, breadcrumbed melty cheese case and then the Belgian version of sausage and mash. Both were absolutely amazing. Dessert was speculoos and icecream and a waffle with whipped cream and candied cherry sauce.
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