Wednesday, April 25, 2012

Day 29: Antwerp

Our last train station!

Sorry I haven't posted these last two posts of the trip yet.  I was waiting for something but nevermind about it.  I'll just get on with the posts hah.  We arrived in Antwerp and saw Hilde (the mother) and Caroline (her daughter) on the platform--they're Brendan's family friends.  It was a great welcome!  We have been doing so much traveling and were so exhausted, it was nice to see some friendly faces.  They took us to their car (which they brought from the US after they moved here from Bedord ~14 (I think) years ago!) where Mark, the father, was waiting for us.  We spent the day walking around Antwerp and got to visit a really nice Cathedral and the Ruben Haus (the former house of the famous painter).  Our last stop in Antwerp was the top of the contemporary art museum for a view of the city.  It was so much fun!  Mark told us a bit about Antwerp and Belgian history too, he was very knowledgeable.  We then set off for their home in Diest.  We toured around Diest a little too--it's a really nice little town with an old Beguinage!  Unfortunately it was raining on and off a lot but then it really picked up so we headed back to their house for dinner.  Christophe (the son) made a really wonderful meal (pumpkin soup, pasta with shrimp, belgian waffles, and chocolate mousse!).  By midnight we were ready for bed!  Brendan's family friends were great--it was so nice of them to welcome us into their home!

I guess that Kony 2012 day happened in Amsterdam.  Didn't see much of it anywhere else (left).  Brendan and I in Antwerp (right).

If I remember correctly, that is a "butcher's house" (left) and the town hall of sorts (right).

The inside (left) of that pretty church (right)!

 Caroline took some really nice photos (this is at the Ruben House).

The garden at the Ruben House.

They had their car from America shipped over!  This is the only car in Europe that I've spent more than 20 minutes in.

The contemporary art museum.

Antwerp is a port city.

The view from the top of the museum.

The wavy windows were really cool.

Diest had some really old architecture!  We also went through a Beguinage which we walked through.

The streets of Diest.

Atop one of the hills there was the old foundation of a castle.

It rained a lot hah.

No comments:

Post a Comment