going to bene without the lux: antwerp
speed blogging is seriously tiring.
after rotterdam, we met bob at antwerpen central station and it was another amazing train station. quoting sam 'it ranks next after berlin hauptbahnhof' because it has amazing classical architecture, and a nice sunroof to let the sunlight through. btw, i havent really mentioned that God was really great to give us blue skies and sunshine all throughout our trip, which is pretty unusual for autumn. just imagine summer weather with autumn brown. aww shucks. im getting dreamy again.
and we werent used to the extreme niceness that the antwerpens were showering on us man. from the man at the tourist info gave us a free map (contrast to that lousy map in amsterdam that we were blatantly tricked to pay 2 EUROS for) and told us what to see and do, to the random strangers that held doors for us as we tried to find toilets to the nice lady at the newsstand that let me break down my euro notes with her, we were floored by belgian hospitality. we met bob, then headed off to our hostel which was a little difficult to find. but i do recommend it www.abhostel.com coz its cosy, clean, funky interior and bridget, the owner is a darling. she gave us free maps (the use-it one was a gem) and some heads up on things to do. plus we met pretty cool hostel mates.
anyway, belgium. very easily, you'll think of the goodness of belgian chocolate, fresh waffles, steaming hot mussels and pommes frites. been there, DONE THAT! we had our first bite of belgian waffles at the belguafra waffle chain and fresh waffles are unbeatable. like really. we headed down the pedestrain street (past more tempting shops) to the grote markt and basically explored antwerp on foot. very walkable city. essentially, covering a typical european city looks like this. find central station. main shopping pedestrain street will link central station to big square with quintessential statutes of founders/famouspeople/famous happenings then turn either left or right to find cathedral. its almost the same everywhere!
but before u categorise antwerp into the ranks of 'another european city', i need to say that its easy to fall in love with antwerp. the atmosphere resembles that of a big town, streets are cobbled and they've got neat antique shops, bookshops, children´s toyshops and little family owned restaurants with creepers growing all over the bricks, turning the shades of autumn. its very easy to explore and get lost, but you want to get lost in the alleyways of antwerp. there are small alleways, but at the same time its a spacious city you can breathe in and not feel claustrophobic.
bob brought us to the promenade overlooking at the schelder (hopefully thats how you spell it) river and it was good to walk along the boardwalk on a beautifully sunny day :) thanks to our belgian tour guide, with the lonely planet in one hand and map on the other, we headed through a few decades old pedestrain tunnel which had wooden escalators (!) to the other side of the river. we found park of sorts and just sat with our legs hanging over the edge over the river, chilling and enjoying the weather. cant do that in copenhagen or singapore. antwerp is good for chilling.
for tea we made stop by cafe troubador in front of a chapel for a sit down, and that lead to us downing chocolacinnos and waffles with icecream (and bananas) to the sound of clanging unharmonious and unmelodious chimes. but when u're eating waffles and icecream, with bananas, you pretty much just concentrate on your food. we managed to explore the south of antwerp where the museums were located and hit the promenade again by twilight, so you can imagine alot of sunset pictures that's being hoarded in my laptop. stuuunnnninnnggggg.
and on to dinner. i know it seems like there's more food than sightseeing stuff, and we seem to live for mealtimes, but really, when you're in belgium just eat lah. plus we walked so much, so i need to emphasise that eating alot is justified. in any case, for me. again, thanks to God's grace, dinner didnt disappoint, even though we didnt have any recommendations to anywhere and didnt want to fall into yucky tourist traps. in fact, dinner far far far far (times infinity and beyond) exceeded our wildest expectations. it was a 20 euro dinner, but it was worth every single minute we were there. you know how you never really believe restaurants when they say they have the best mussels in town? this place which we accidentally found tells the honest truth. i forgot the name, but if you go to belgium, bob will take you there (right bob?).its run by the owner and her helper, so its very intimate and cozy with like 6 tables. it has an antique interior and warm lighting. the exterior walls are covered in creepers. now you just imagine that. imagine it and drool. and i havent gotten to the food.
each of us ordered a pot of mussels each and they came with chips. those steaming pot of fresh mussels are a work of art. i had mine just plain steamed with big onions and carrots and it was supercalifragilisticexpiolidociously (for the lack of a better word to describe gastronomic fantasy)delicious. the juice (czap in hokkien) was amazing man. next time im going to cook seafood with onions. it brings out the flavour! sam had his with tomato sauce and prawns and bob's was steamed with white wine. for the most part, we were just silently tackling and easing the mussels out of their shells, trying to get each and every tiny morsel out. and at the end of the dinner, we each conquered an average of 60 mussels per head. yup, we counted. it was very difficult to move after that, and unfortunately had to pass on the dessert. damn. glorious photos of mussels will be up i promise. you guys need to get your asses down to antwerp!
after rotterdam, we met bob at antwerpen central station and it was another amazing train station. quoting sam 'it ranks next after berlin hauptbahnhof' because it has amazing classical architecture, and a nice sunroof to let the sunlight through. btw, i havent really mentioned that God was really great to give us blue skies and sunshine all throughout our trip, which is pretty unusual for autumn. just imagine summer weather with autumn brown. aww shucks. im getting dreamy again.
and we werent used to the extreme niceness that the antwerpens were showering on us man. from the man at the tourist info gave us a free map (contrast to that lousy map in amsterdam that we were blatantly tricked to pay 2 EUROS for) and told us what to see and do, to the random strangers that held doors for us as we tried to find toilets to the nice lady at the newsstand that let me break down my euro notes with her, we were floored by belgian hospitality. we met bob, then headed off to our hostel which was a little difficult to find. but i do recommend it www.abhostel.com coz its cosy, clean, funky interior and bridget, the owner is a darling. she gave us free maps (the use-it one was a gem) and some heads up on things to do. plus we met pretty cool hostel mates.
anyway, belgium. very easily, you'll think of the goodness of belgian chocolate, fresh waffles, steaming hot mussels and pommes frites. been there, DONE THAT! we had our first bite of belgian waffles at the belguafra waffle chain and fresh waffles are unbeatable. like really. we headed down the pedestrain street (past more tempting shops) to the grote markt and basically explored antwerp on foot. very walkable city. essentially, covering a typical european city looks like this. find central station. main shopping pedestrain street will link central station to big square with quintessential statutes of founders/famouspeople/famous happenings then turn either left or right to find cathedral. its almost the same everywhere!
but before u categorise antwerp into the ranks of 'another european city', i need to say that its easy to fall in love with antwerp. the atmosphere resembles that of a big town, streets are cobbled and they've got neat antique shops, bookshops, children´s toyshops and little family owned restaurants with creepers growing all over the bricks, turning the shades of autumn. its very easy to explore and get lost, but you want to get lost in the alleyways of antwerp. there are small alleways, but at the same time its a spacious city you can breathe in and not feel claustrophobic.
bob brought us to the promenade overlooking at the schelder (hopefully thats how you spell it) river and it was good to walk along the boardwalk on a beautifully sunny day :) thanks to our belgian tour guide, with the lonely planet in one hand and map on the other, we headed through a few decades old pedestrain tunnel which had wooden escalators (!) to the other side of the river. we found park of sorts and just sat with our legs hanging over the edge over the river, chilling and enjoying the weather. cant do that in copenhagen or singapore. antwerp is good for chilling.
for tea we made stop by cafe troubador in front of a chapel for a sit down, and that lead to us downing chocolacinnos and waffles with icecream (and bananas) to the sound of clanging unharmonious and unmelodious chimes. but when u're eating waffles and icecream, with bananas, you pretty much just concentrate on your food. we managed to explore the south of antwerp where the museums were located and hit the promenade again by twilight, so you can imagine alot of sunset pictures that's being hoarded in my laptop. stuuunnnninnnggggg.
and on to dinner. i know it seems like there's more food than sightseeing stuff, and we seem to live for mealtimes, but really, when you're in belgium just eat lah. plus we walked so much, so i need to emphasise that eating alot is justified. in any case, for me. again, thanks to God's grace, dinner didnt disappoint, even though we didnt have any recommendations to anywhere and didnt want to fall into yucky tourist traps. in fact, dinner far far far far (times infinity and beyond) exceeded our wildest expectations. it was a 20 euro dinner, but it was worth every single minute we were there. you know how you never really believe restaurants when they say they have the best mussels in town? this place which we accidentally found tells the honest truth. i forgot the name, but if you go to belgium, bob will take you there (right bob?).its run by the owner and her helper, so its very intimate and cozy with like 6 tables. it has an antique interior and warm lighting. the exterior walls are covered in creepers. now you just imagine that. imagine it and drool. and i havent gotten to the food.
each of us ordered a pot of mussels each and they came with chips. those steaming pot of fresh mussels are a work of art. i had mine just plain steamed with big onions and carrots and it was supercalifragilisticexpiolidociously (for the lack of a better word to describe gastronomic fantasy)delicious. the juice (czap in hokkien) was amazing man. next time im going to cook seafood with onions. it brings out the flavour! sam had his with tomato sauce and prawns and bob's was steamed with white wine. for the most part, we were just silently tackling and easing the mussels out of their shells, trying to get each and every tiny morsel out. and at the end of the dinner, we each conquered an average of 60 mussels per head. yup, we counted. it was very difficult to move after that, and unfortunately had to pass on the dessert. damn. glorious photos of mussels will be up i promise. you guys need to get your asses down to antwerp!
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