One of the downsides of LC being a teacher is that our ability to take holidays is constrained by term-times. Most years, this therefore means taking our summer holidays at the same times as everyone else, and paying a premium for flights as a result. With LC being on leave this year, we took advantage of the freedom that that gave us to delay our holiday until September, and thus avoid the crowds.
Strange as it may seem, Belgium has been on my list of places to visit for some time - until last week it was the closest country I was yet to visit. And so the time had come to pack a bag and go!
We travelled out on the Monday and came back on the Thursday. However, due to the nature of the flights, this actually meant we only had two days in Antwerp itself - Ryanair fly to Charleroi airport, this is twenty minutes outside of Brussels, or ninety minutes from Antwerp. This meant taking a taxi and then a train to Antwerp, and taking a train and then a shuttle bus back on Thursday, and that meant that four days became two - that was probably a weakness in the planning. (I'll also note that I really don't recommend Ryanair. Yes, the headline figure for tickets is very low, but that comes at a significant cost - you have to work very hard to avoid additional charges, and where you can't avoid them they are very high (we needed a checked bag, which was extortionate), they've crammed extra seats into the planes so you barely have room to breathe, and when you do arrive it's generally to an inaccessible out-of-town location. All in all, that was not a cheap or pleasant experience. But it was the option for getting to our destination, so not exactly a choice.)
In sharp contrast to the flights, our hotel was excellent - the best we've ever used. It was very small, in that it had only four apartments, but each of these was fully-featured - there was a large living area, toilet, shower-room, and a large bedroom, plus a full kitchen if we had been inclined to cook. So, yeah, I was well pleased with that!
Antwerp itself was great - a very friendly city with a nicely relaxed atmosphere. Everyone we met was friendly and welcoming, and thoroughly charmed by Funsize. It also, conveniently, seems to be split quite neatly into sections, with most of the shopping gathered in one area, a historical town centre in another, and then the rest of the city. And although there were buses and trams, everything was within walking easy distance, even with a stroller and luggage.
Our first visit, on the Tuesday, was to the MAS. We spent the better part of the morning going through this floor by floor, each with a different theme. Personally, I found the "Celebration!" exhibit the most interesting, although the floors dealing with trade and also the feeding of the city (past, present, and future) were both interesting. And then we went to the roof, and the panoramic view. This was what we'd really come for, and was worth the climb.
After the MAS, we decided against the Ruien - a tour of the sewers under the city. I think that if FS had not been with us, we might well have gone ahead with this visit, which did look quite interesting, but it seemed not to be the sort of thing to expose a tiny child to. Instead, we went for lunch at Friteur No 1. Blegian fries are regarded as the best in the world, and Antwerp claims the best fries in Belgium. As the name implies, Friteur No 1 then claims the best fries in Antwerp, which (if true) would put them at the very pinnacle of all fries. They were certainly very good.
That afternoon we went to the Rubenshaus. As the name implies, this is a reconstruction of the house where Rubens did a lot of his work (and, in particular, taught a lot of his students). Again, this was very interesting. Between this and the MAS, that was the history/culture component of our trip fulfilled. Or so we thought...
While purchasing an item in the shop at the end of our visit, we were given the recommendation that we really should visit St Paul's church, which was the site of the founding of the Dominican order. So we duly retraced our steps back towards the MAS, to see this church. And it was certainly worth it, with a garden of statues in a courtyard and then a sequence of paintings by great masters inside. This is highly recommended.
Wednesday saw both the highlight and low point of the trip. In the morning we went to the zoo, where FS enjoyed seeing the animals. She particularly liked the sealions, but her absolute favourite were the seals (which were more playful). Plus, it was amusing seeing her reaction when she realised what LC and I were pointing at and saw the elephants.
The low point came when we went to "Comics Station", which we had mistakenly thought was a comics museum. But no, it was a comics-themed amusement park for 3 to 12 year olds, where every single thing was too old for FS and far too young for LC and I. There were some few games we could have played, but the instructions were all in Dutch and the controls opaque. So that was a very expensive waste of time (fortunately, not too much time - we quickly cut our losses and left).
And then we went for waffles. Yum!
By the end of the second full day, I did feel that we'd actually done enough. There was more to see, but I didn't feel that we were missing out for not doing so. It was just the right length of time to be there. (Also of note: most things seemed to close at 5:30 in the evening, which limited what you could do in a day. Antwerp is a place to get up early and get on with things, in order to get the full experience.)
And that's that.
It's been quite a year for travelling, what with the trips to London, America, and now Belgium. That being the case, I'm not planning to add any more trips away for a good long time. Perhaps towards the end of next year we'll consider something... but perhaps not. Maybe 2019 is a year to stick to countries we've already seen. We'll see...
#43: "The Spy Who Came in from the Cold", by John le Carré
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