Antwerpen - city of Diamonds
With out a doubt The Diamond Capital of the World - 7 out of every 10 diamonds finds it way to Antwerp in it preparation phase... quite amazing really! You step out of central station and the entire street (although under construction - something new and exciting for my Europe trip) is jewellery stores.... crazy stuff. And remember the bad Jewish costumes of those guys at the start of 'Snatch' (the next movie after 'Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels') when they where in Anwerp after the diamond? Well I saw a bunch of Jewish guys that looked just like that.... ROTFL... if only I could access my camera quick enough!
Anyways.
First day - spent a few hours walking around town in full kit searching for this hostel mentioned in the Lonely Planet guide 'Boomerang' - it said "a laid back hostel", I am guessing they were sooo laid back that the authorities closed them down... the place was stone-motherless-empty when i arrived at the front door. That left the HI affiliated hostel in the south of the city... another 30-40 minutes walk... NO WAY - enter the tram. Ooooops, too many stops past my target, lets get another one back the other way.... finally arrived at about 14:50, but the place was locked until 15:00... perfect timing really i guess.
Spent the afternoon/evening in the city of Antwerp... just another big city with shops really except for all the DIAMONDS. Extended the Belgian beer count and got some Friten (French Fries) - which the Belgians swear they invented. Even went so bold as to have mayonaise and Belgian pickles on them.... YUM!!. Walked up the the river bank (OMG - bloody huge river, no wonder Antwerp is one of the 8 biggest ports in the world) and just sat there listening to Pearl Jam as the sun set..... heaven.
The next day I jumped ship, well jumped on a train a headed down to Leuven (the home of Stella Artios). After walking around town for an hour or so taking in the tranquilty I went to the brewery in hope of doing a tour. "Sorry we only do tours on Wednesday and you need to book on the Internet"....... DAMN IT!!
Ahh well, cest le vie - jumped back on the train and headed for Brussels, only like 20 minutes away. The capital city of Europe apparently (so I keep getting told). Brussels is a massive mix of the old and the new.... I have pictures of 700 year old buildings and not 3 minutes away - towering futuristic skyscapers that appear entirley reflective. I got hold of some classic belgian chocolate, strolled around the Grand Place (main square) and located the Mannekin Pis... the little boy statue taking a wee..... also stumbled upon a statue of Vincent Van Gogh, with a guy next to him dressed exactly the same... busker, but damn he was funny!
Ummm, not much else to report from Antwerp. Ohh, Phill - I bought a Canondale riding spray jacket with zip off arms, kinda cool and will do me as a rain coat as I am now in rainy country apparently and the plastic poncho doesn't really cut it!!
Left Antwerp Friday 23rd Sept for Amsterdam.... and I arrived. Pretty good on my behalf I reckon!!
Anyways.
First day - spent a few hours walking around town in full kit searching for this hostel mentioned in the Lonely Planet guide 'Boomerang' - it said "a laid back hostel", I am guessing they were sooo laid back that the authorities closed them down... the place was stone-motherless-empty when i arrived at the front door. That left the HI affiliated hostel in the south of the city... another 30-40 minutes walk... NO WAY - enter the tram. Ooooops, too many stops past my target, lets get another one back the other way.... finally arrived at about 14:50, but the place was locked until 15:00... perfect timing really i guess.
Spent the afternoon/evening in the city of Antwerp... just another big city with shops really except for all the DIAMONDS. Extended the Belgian beer count and got some Friten (French Fries) - which the Belgians swear they invented. Even went so bold as to have mayonaise and Belgian pickles on them.... YUM!!. Walked up the the river bank (OMG - bloody huge river, no wonder Antwerp is one of the 8 biggest ports in the world) and just sat there listening to Pearl Jam as the sun set..... heaven.
The next day I jumped ship, well jumped on a train a headed down to Leuven (the home of Stella Artios). After walking around town for an hour or so taking in the tranquilty I went to the brewery in hope of doing a tour. "Sorry we only do tours on Wednesday and you need to book on the Internet"....... DAMN IT!!
Ahh well, cest le vie - jumped back on the train and headed for Brussels, only like 20 minutes away. The capital city of Europe apparently (so I keep getting told). Brussels is a massive mix of the old and the new.... I have pictures of 700 year old buildings and not 3 minutes away - towering futuristic skyscapers that appear entirley reflective. I got hold of some classic belgian chocolate, strolled around the Grand Place (main square) and located the Mannekin Pis... the little boy statue taking a wee..... also stumbled upon a statue of Vincent Van Gogh, with a guy next to him dressed exactly the same... busker, but damn he was funny!
Ummm, not much else to report from Antwerp. Ohh, Phill - I bought a Canondale riding spray jacket with zip off arms, kinda cool and will do me as a rain coat as I am now in rainy country apparently and the plastic poncho doesn't really cut it!!
Left Antwerp Friday 23rd Sept for Amsterdam.... and I arrived. Pretty good on my behalf I reckon!!
posted by Yoda at 02:06
2 Comments:
Did the whole mussels met friten in Brugge... ohh it was great!!
Umm, travel plans:
Oct 11; fly Paris to London
Oct 31; fly London to New York
Nov 08; fly New York to Sydney
arrive Nov 10
Nov 13; fly Sydney to Hobart
Nov 14; supposed to be at work, might get there around 3pm i reckon!! haha
Cheers Rich
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