Day 26: A Day in Antwerp

On Tuesday 4th December, Niels' sister Soetkin acted as our tour guide for Antwerp (as she goes to uni there). She took her job very seriously and gave us a wonderful walking tour of the city. The day was very cold (freezing in the words of Sarah and I but Niels said it doesn't count as freezing unless it goes under zero degrees) and the wind was brutal.

 Antwerp Central Station (voted the 4th most beautiful in the world)

Soetkin's University

Soetkin showed us many of the historical buildings in Antwerp including the tallest building in Antwerp, the Cathedral of our Lady, which was supposed to have two spires of equal height, but the second one never got finished. We visited the main squares and the Statue of Barbos who, legend has it, cut of the hand of a giant and threw it into the river, as this is what the giant was doing to the towns people when they wouldn't pay a toll for crossing the river. We walked past Antwerp Castle and made our way to a 572m pedestrian tunnel that goes under the Scheldt River, connecting old Antwerp with new Antwerp.

Onze-Lieve-Vrouwekathedraal (Cathedral of our Lady)

Statue of Brabo and the giant's hand

 

 Carolus Borromeuske Church

Het Steen Castle (literally means 'The Stone')

 The pedestrian tunnel  under the Scheldt River

 The old wooden escalators that lead you underground so you can walk through the tunnel under the river.

As the light disappeared, we found ourselves in the main shopping strip and I paid a visit to the Disney store (we really need one of those in Perth!). We stopped for coffee at the  'best coffee shop in Antwerp', according to Soetkin. It's a slightly more interesting one, compared with all the run-of-the-mill coffee shops as you get lots more options, Belgian style. I had a hot chocolate with Toblerone which was essentially hot milk with a bar of Toblerone in it. Unfortunately, it melted before I had time to get a photo, but Sarah and Soetkin had latte's with crushed Maltesers on top (which I did have time to get one of).

 Coffee with Maltesers

Back home, Niels decided to make vol au vent and home made frites. Unfortunately, home made frites means hand-drying every single chip, something which was our designated job once Sarah, Soetkin and I returned from Antwerp. It is the kind of job that brings to mind the 'one Powerball and I'm out of here' advertisements.

 Soetkin and Sarah drying frites

 Vol au vent

After a delicious dinner, us three girls had some fun with our hats and my photobooth app and then watched The Cabin in the Woods.

 Photobooth fun :)

Attempting to swap each others hats before the next picture was taken. We could never quite do the 3rd one in time!

Day 22: Back 'Home' Again

On Friday, we packed up all our stuff and vacated the chalet. We then had a walk around Lesse, where we had been staying, because we still hadn't done that yet, as we had just driven through it each day.

Lesse

We then had another wander through Redu in hope of some of the stores being open, but unfortunately we had no luck. It was however lucky that we hadn't gone far from our accommodation because an hour after our checkout time, we got a call from the owner to ask us where the key was. We were supposed to leave it in the chalet door (which we knew) but without realising we had put the key in the car. So it was lucky that we had taken time to look around again because otherwise we would have had to drive back an hour in the wrong direction and give her the key.

  Redu Church

A house in Redu

 Fruit trees in Redu

Once the key was sorted, we were back on the road and the weather turned from sunshine to impending grey clouds.

Leaving Redu

The grey clouds are a-comin'

Once home in Lokeren, the rain had not set in yet so we decided to ride bikes to the neighbouring town. It is quite unusual to experience piercing cold wind against your face while the rest of you gets boiling hot in all your winter layers!

 On the road to Daknam

 Time for a break

Day 17: The Art of Procrastination

Sunday, day 17 of my trip. After our very late bedtime the previous night, we ended up not getting up until around midday. Which really, is how a Sunday should be anyway. But with the house in need of a clean up, there was no rest for the wicked. It took Sarah and I two hours to wash and dry the dishes used the night before as they don't have a dishwasher and I have to say, I have never seen my fingers look as pruney as they did that afternoon!

We hung around the house for the rest of the day, doing random stuff and then we tried to pack for our trip to the Ardennes the next day. It all seemed like too much effort so we ate leftover mousse cake and watched a movie called The Art of Getting By, which was good and had a great soundtrack.

Mousse cake and tea :)

Day 16: Reunion Time

On 24th November, Sarah and I caught the train into Brussels to meet up with my cousin Ruth and her friend Kerry. Kerry lives in Brussels so Ruth came from the UK for the weekend to stay with her and to catch up with me. I haven't seen Ruth since I was in the UK 5 years ago when I stayed with her and Kerry.

 Grand Place, Brussels

 

These apartments and shop fronts are built onto the side of a church (the limestone coloured brick on the left is the church).

We only had a couple of hours but we went to a cafe for a drink and then found a creperie where we had savoury and dessert crepes for lunch before Sarah and I caught the train back to Lokeren.

Tasty crepes with Ruth and Kerry

 Occupying ourselves on the train home

That night we had a dinner party as a late celebration for Sarah's birthday. There were 12 of us and Niels made an Indian curry feast and then chocolate mousse layer cake for dessert. Dinner parties here seem to go a lot later than back in Australia as we didn't end up going to bed until after 4am.

Ready for our feast

Day 15: While the sun was sleeping

Day 15. Friday 23rd November. 2:30am. Alarm goes off.

Today we flew back to Belgium. Our 80 minute bus ride to the airport left Stockholm at 3:30am so it turned out to be a very long day.

 Sunrise

Once back in Belgium, Niels picked us up (bringing croissants) around 9am and then we had the 1.5 hour drive back to Lokeren. The question is, are the cheap flights worth all the extra travelling time to the small airports?

Anyway, we spent the rest of the day not doing much. We did washing and sorted through our souvenirs and I caught up on a couple of blog posts since at this point I was behind by six days. We then hung out on the couch for a while before bed, too tired to really do anything.

Day 6: Market Day

On Wednesday 14th, Sarah and Niels took me to the Lokeren Markets. These markets are held in different towns throughout the week and Wednesday is Lokeren's day. There are stands with fruit and vegetables, cheese, bread, seafood, butchers and many, many (bad) clothing stores. There are multiples of each and it is quite a production, not your average market stall. 

Central Lokeren with the markets off to the left

Lokeren Bunnies

Lokeren

 Walking home from the markets

The markets were our main event of the day because Sarah and I spent the rest of the day attempting to organise stuff for our Budapest and Stockholm trips while Niels worked. For dinner, Niels made an amazing pumpkin and coconut soup, as well as some traditional Belgium dishes. I have to say, the Belgium concoctions were...interesting.

Day 2: Rain, Rain, Go Away

Saturday the 10th was all about rain. So we were all about staying in. Our original plan had been to spend the day exploring Antwerp but with heavy rain forecast (for Saturday only and sun the rest of the week) and me still jetlagged and sick, we decided to take a day to hang around at home, watching dvd's and catching up on the last year and a half.

Sarah's Homemade Plum Jam

Sarah and I did duck out to the bakery to get bread for lunch. This was funny as Sarah had said it was a bit further than the fruit market from the previous day but not too far. I took this to mean it was a couple of blocks away. Turns out it was three shops up lol. Apparently, bakeries close for lunch (lunch is very important here) so in order for people to still be able to get bread during the hour it is closed, there is a bread vending machine out the front! We got there before it closed, but I got a photo of the vending machine, and Sarah rattled off some Dutch as she asked for the bread, which highly impressed me.

 

The bread vending machine

Niels prepared a massive feast for lunch. He does all the cooking which suits Sarah and I fine. We contribute by washing all the dishes which pile up. I think if chefs had to wash all their own dishes there would never be quite so many!

The afternoon was spent with Niels' sister Soetkin, hanging out and watching Buffy (which Sarah is working through - so proud of her!).Cedric, Niels' friend, and Soetkin stayed for dinner, which of course Niels made, and then the boys went out while the girls stayed in.

Today is a public holiday so lots of places are closed but the sun is shining so we are going to attempt a little tourist adventure that involves a forest or something. Belgium tourist photos to follow!

Day 1: Long Time, No See

Thursday night marked the end of a year and a half wait to see my oldest friend. For those of you who weren't playing along when I started this for my America trip, this is my online travel diary. It may seem alot of effort to you for me to blog everyday that I am away. To be honest, sometimes it is. But it also means I have a record of everything I do and is a convenient way for me to tell everyone what I am up to rather than individual messages.

So Thursday night (Aussie time) I set off on an 11.5hr flight to Doha. Because the aeroplane fairies love me, I got three seats all to myself so I could lie down for most of the flight. I didn't get much sleep because I struggle with sleeping on planes, but it was nice to be able to stretch out. I arrived in Doha around 5am just in time for sunrise. I hadn't been to Doha Airport before. I didn't think to take any photos (I blame it on the jetlag) but the skyline was really interesting, although smoggy/dusty, with lots of tall, strangly shaped buildings. When you disembark, they shuttle you to a terminal on buses so we got quite a long tour of the airport grounds; lots of barbed wire and limestone is what stood out.

Sunrise at Doha

After a 3 hour wait, I boarded my six hour flight to Brussels, with an empty seat next to me. This went quite quickly and before I knew it we were at Brussels Airport. Walking off the plane before heading into the airport, I remembered why I love Europe so much. Fresh, freezing cold air greeted me briefly before being ushered into the airport. I had a massive grin and was almost giggling to myself. Man I love winter. There was a mini altercation when I was waiting in the passport line, in which an argument broke out between Airport police and someone in the middle of the line. It slowed the customs process a little bit and had me slightly concerned since the whole argument was in Dutch or French, but, half an hour after landing I walked through arrivals to see Niels and a slightly teary Sarah, who I havent seen since July 2011.

Driving 'home' from the airport, I got to see lots of greenery and autumn leaves (my favourite). The towns here are so cute and I can't wait to go and explore around. Awaiting my arrival at their home in Lokeren, was a 'Welkom Jess' cake! 

 My welcome cake :)

We made a trip to the local fruit and vegie market a few doors up and then went to Colruyt which is kind of like a massive warehouse where you can buy stuff. I found certain parts of it quite amusing, particularily the many variations of mayonnaise and the copious amounts of cheese and chocolate available. They also have a huge cold storage area that was bigger than my house.

 

Lots and lots and lots of mayonnaise!

 

Chocolate Philadelphia

 

Niels made us dinner and then his friend Stijn came over for a drink, although I wasn't very good company because at this stage I was going on about 3 broken hours of sleep in 48hours. The boys then went out for more beers and Sarah and I went to bed.