Day 2... 3 Days Late, and Another Day Late, +1

Thursday, May 24, 21:45ish

So first off, this should have been up late night, but I left my charger in the classroom last night on accident, and only had about a 10 minute charge on my computer when I made it home. But here it is now, and this will be an update of the first full day spent in Europe.

So fell asleep around 10pm Saturday. Slept soundly until 11am Sunday morning. Henry and I are both up now, head downstairs, and just generally wake ourselves up for the day. Bill says he's taking us to Antwerp, so we go get dressed and grab a few little things. Left by noon for a short trip out of Brussels toward Antwerp. Now the gps got us a bit backwards once we got inside the city, turning us a couple wrong ways and even down a pedestrian street, but we manage to park in a garage and make it down to the street all before 1pm.

Bill points us in the direction of the waterfront, so we head off in that direction without much of any destination in mind. There's a big cathedral near the center, and after a few blocks that's where we end up.
The cathedral is just huge, from outside and in. And it's as beautiful as it is large. You have to pay to walk in and view the entire church, but there is a portion at the front you can view for free, and you don't miss more than some small items on display. The only downside was that there were renovations being done on the building, so the altar was blocked by scaffolding.







So afterwards we make our way the rest of the way to the waterfront. Before going to look out across the water, Bill tells us about a fun little bar he's been to, so we go looking for the bar. It's only about a block away so we get there quickly. We sit down at the bar, which is empty because it had literally just opened, but before we each order a beer, Bill hands Henry a one-euro coin and points to a box. Henry drops the coin in the slot on the side...

...and from the wall erupts a band of music!

Now of course we noticed all of this as we walked in, but I thought maybe the owner or the bar itself turned 75. The organ turned 75 just three days before, but still plays quite well. Then we sat down for a couple drinks before exploring some more. In continuing of documenting my beverages for Bill, I enjoyed both-- 

a De Koninck: made in Antwerp, Belgium; 5% abv; light and slightly sweet, pretty refreshing.

and a Vedett (sorry no beer in the photo): made in Breendonk, Belgium (between Brussels and Antwerp); 5.2% abv; lager style similar to standard American beers, nothing special to me, but I could see myself having a few after a day of work.

--and both of these were served flawlessly from our kind bartender. Like most Belgians, she spoke English quite well, and it was fun to have a conversation about being Americans in Belgium. She lives in and loves Antwerp (and was trying pretty hard to convince us it's 10x better than Brussels). And we enjoyed being there so much, Henry and I intend to bring as much of our study abroad group there for a beer and a wall of music.

The water is only about a stone's throw from the front of the pub so we walk across the street and down the sidewalk until we find the pier entrance. There was a huge cruise ship docked along the waterfront blocking much of the view, but a little farther down we found a spot to look over.

These are the views looking out over the water and further down the water front. We heard music coming from that direction, so shortly thereafter we headed that way down along the water.

What we found was a fairly large crowd surrounding an interesting little polka band. They set up underneath the turret of a small, castle-esque building. It was another gorgeous day out, people were picnicing nearby, and little children were playing in little inflatable pools. The atmosphere was nice, so we stayed and listened to them play about a 12 minute song. But it was headed into mid to late afternoon, and none of us had eaten anything in awhile, so Bill tells us about a place back by the cathedral.

We take a wide arc back in the direction of the cathedral just to look around. Most of the buildings in that area of the city seem to date back a century or more. Roads are mostly hand-laid brick or stone. It just feels like a good place to be. 

                    

 

We walk back by the town hall, complete with a statue of a man throwing a giant's hand, the front of the cathedral, and down along an alleyway to a small corner cafe. We grab a seat outside, and after we order lunch Bill tells us about this place-- Elfde Gebod--The Eleventh Commandment.

Interesting name for any bar/café/restaurant I thought, and it makes sense sitting in the shadow of this cathedral. Then we're told to go find the bathroom upstairs to "wash up." 

This is just the bar. The entire restaurant, bottom and first floor up, are covered with religious statues. Any and every bit of space, windows, shelves, counters, railways, and even some tables. It was a very nice restaurant as well, and we stayed for an hour or so. 

We spent another hour or two wandering around the city. We walked around the more metropolitan areas, but most things were closed on Sunday. We walked past the Peter Paul Rubens museum but didn't go in. And our last stop before heading back was finding the Central Station.

The rest of the day was returning home and relaxing. With our late lunch, Brenda didn't need to cook dinner, so Bill, Henry, and I shared a few frozen pizzas (way better than frozen pizzas in the US). And with our early meeting to tour Brussels on Monday, we crashed fairly early again. 

I'll try to update soon to cover this whole week. There are a lot of things planned this weekend, so there should be a bit more to add by Monday or Tuesday. Hopefully when I get caught up these won't have to be so long. Just keep your eyes and ears open!

"And may sunshine and happiness surround you when you're far from home" - Rod Stewart