OK I can sum up our Belgian trip in a short paragraph ... it was like visiting a magical fairyland steeped in history with the best beer and chocolate in the world.
In short: Not bad.
Plus they have the most rational (they don't own guns for starters) and genuinely kind people - willing to give you (literally in some cases) the shirt off their backs. Everyone is multi-lingual with stellar educations. There's plenty of public transportation in the country and accessing European gems like Paris or (the blissful city of anything goes) Amsterdam one high speed rail ride away.
How is this possible?
And more importantly HOW is it that everyone in America every thinking liberal minded person in America has yet to defect to Belgium? I'm in the process of myself. Kidding ... well sorta.
The entire time I was there ... it was like
Be jealous, America.
After I arrived, I understood why my unfortunate accident befell me just a day before I left. Fate had to balance out the fabulousness I was about to experience with a random bit of slice and dice. And I'm cool with that. Totally worth it.
BUT I digress.
So we arrived in le promised land around 8:30 a.m. in Brussels (they are six hours ahead of Eastern time). Ineke and Tijl were waiting for us at the airport. Random but true: They somehow they seemed MUCH taller than the did in the Dominican. Ridiculous, I know. We look like hobbits compared to them. Maybe it was because we were always in the pool? I dunno.
We packed up their car and headed to Antwerp (roughly 30 minutes or so). We went to their apartment and I was greeted by streamers and a big Happy Birthday sign. In our room, we had three colorful boxes full of treats, candy and liquor. I mean, seriously, does it get any better than that?
And now you know why we're friends.
And now you know why we're friends.
It really set the tone for the entire trip. They just kept going above and beyond for us - like every day they did something to make us feel extra special. *sniffle*
Once we settled in, it was off to explore Antwerp. And everywhere we went, we were like this.
Beauty. Beer. History. Beer. Chocolate. Beer.
First stop, their bad ass train station. It played a major role in our trip, every time we took a train (which was basically every day) we left from here. It's known as one of the most beautiful stations in the world (Newsweek ranked it as the fourth greatest station in the world in 2009, not sure who beat it) and it's easy to see why.
It has been reworked with modern twists but the original pieces (built between 1895 and 1905) are still a big part of the structure. And it's absolutely breathtaking.
From there, we went to the shores of the Scheldt where they served us champagne (seriously ... I'm not making this up - how effin awesome are they?!?)
Then it was out to the city. Again breathtaking. (Clearly, I'm going to have to get out a thesaurus because you'll be seeing it and similar words - awesome, amazing, breathtaking - frequently in these Eurotrip posts).
People have been living here for centuries upon centuries and you can FEEL the history. The city and its name dates back to the Germanic Franks in the 4th century and was later a part of the Roman Empire.
In the picture above, Josh and I are standing by the statue of Brabo. This guy is a big deal there. It's part of the folklore surrounding the establishment of the city. Story goes that Brabo cut off the hand of a giant named Antigoon who lived near the Scheldt river. He (the giant) forced those crossing the river to pay a toll which didn't go over well with the residents. Of course, if you refused he cut off your hand ... so it's safe to assume, Antigoon got paid.
Enter Brabo. He confronted and killed the giant then, for ironic twist of "Boom Bitchery," cut off his hand and flung it into he river. The name Antwerp (Antwerpen) comes from the Dutch for hand werpen – akin to Old English hand and wearpan (to throw), which has changed to today's warp.
*Yes. Wiki helped me with that but I knew the basics
But the hand is still really prevalent today. You see it everywhere - on beer glasses, art and statues, there's even a big hand for children to play on in the shopping district.
So yes, history is very much alive here. We spent some time taking all of this in ...
This was one of the few days I didn't have to wear shorts. It got so hot there.
Then we took a look at the Cathedral of Our Lady which was built in the 1300s. My photos don't do it justice. It's HUGE. And inside it has several paintings by famed artist (and Antwerp resident) Peter Paul Rubens.
An example of the painting (I didn't take this picture but I wanted to show it).
We left the church and went to seek out some of the most popular Belgian commodities - beer, cheese and chocolate. The chocolate store was housed in a former palace, which was incredible.
They could make ANYTHING with chocolate. And there were SO many to choose from ... they even had some made with bacon, hemp or chili peppers.
Next up - the cheese store. SO hard to make decisions here.
After that, we went to the zoo which basically sits in I and T's backyard. You can even see the giraffe exhibit from their den window.
And this is the view - Fo realz.
An interesting pic of tigers I got.
It was also the anniversary of the zoo ... so free Duvel for everyone!
Magic fairyland. I'm telling you.
Plus everyone was dressed up in throw back clothes (like from the 1800s) for the big 150 year anniversary.
On our way back to the apartment, I discovered a lesser known Euro practice - the pay-to-pee toilets. This is only for public bathrooms and if you're a patron somewhere - like a restaurant - you don't have to do it. I was just surprised. But I guess it makes sense. Who is going to pay for a bathroom then go vandalize it? Pretty smart.
By this time, we were all beat. We decided to head to the casa for food, drinks, cheese and chocolate. It was also about this time that I and T watched Josh pour a beer for the first time ... then try to kill the phone with his finger.
They were like
The whole week Ineke was trying to school him on how to properly pour a beer and the importance of foam in beer.
The hand I was telling you about.
So that was day 1. Pretty amazing but it just kept getting better and better. My heart was doing this dance all week
True. Story.
True. Story.
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