Day 33-34: Antwerp(en), Belgium

Again, I apologize for the delay in writing this blog entry. This week has been pretty crazy between getting my computer fixed, planning trips and, oh yeah, class! But now I've had ample time to reflect on our long weekend trip to Belgium and will tell you all about it!

This was my first trip outside of the country since I  have come to the Netherlands, so I was super-excited to get out and explore a new place! Although it was kind of sad to leave the NL :(

Ashley and I set out on Wednesday, February 17 for Antwerp, Belgium. We had spent most of the day attempting to save my computer from the fiasco that had occurred the day before (see previous entry). We went to city centre and got a flash drive to put all of my infected documents on, and checked with the train station about trains to Belgium. We found out that all trains within Belgium north of Brussels were running, so our journey was on! We headed back to school, where Ashley parked herself in the Tilburg University Library to check out some details for our trip, while I headed to IT services to get a diagnosis for my computer. I spent over an hour at IT transferring my documents to my flashdrive and talking to the nice Dutch guy at the counter about my computer problems!

After realizing that it was going to take a large amount of time to do anything worthwhile to my computer, we decided to go ahead with our trip plans (as we already had our hostel booked and train tickets for that day). We took a late afternoon train from Tilburg West to Antwerpen. We had to stop over in Roosandaal (near the Belgium border) and switch trains to Antwerp(en) Centraal station. Once we finally got to the train station (only about an hour-and-a-half journey), Ashley and I were astounded by the magnificent architecture of the train station. She said that she had read about it before and it was supposed to be really great. It was!

We had written down walking and tram directions to our hostel, but stepping outside the train station, we realized that the dark, cold and rainy conditions were not really conducive to two girls laden with luggage walking around an unfamiliar place. We checked the trams, but could not figure them out (and the information desk was closed), so we decided to take a cab to our hostel. When the cab driver stopped in front of the hostel, we were both like, "Where is it?". They had just one tiny sign signaling the hostel. We got out and retrieved our things from the trunk before heading inside.

Inside Boomerang Hostel, we were both intrigued by the place. This was the cheapest hostel of the four we had booked for our trip, so I wasn't expecting much. The woman at the "receptionist's desk" (a large round table in the common room) checked us in by asking our names and getting our passport numbers. There was no computer system, she just wrote our names down on a piece of paper! She gave us our sheets and told us about checkout procedures and breakfast before showing us to our 12-bed all-female dorm. Ashley and I chose two lower-level bunks next to each other for the night and put our things away. I was thankful that Ashley (the wise traveler that she is) had thought to bring a bike lock and individual luggage locks so that we could lock our suitcases shut and to the bed. I felt like my things were safe :)

We were pretty hungry and wanted to get some dinner. However, we didn't want to venture out too far, as it was cold, dark and rainy, so we walked across the street to Dragon City, a small Chinese take-out restaurant. After realizing that the Chinese woman who was going to take our order knew no English (or French) and that there was no English menu, we concluded that we were going to have to order our Chinese dinner in Dutch! Ashley whipped out her French-Dutch dictionary that she had purchased in France before coming to the Netherlands, and we looked up a few pertinent words (rice, vegetables, water, etc.) before ordering. I (think I) ordered chicken and veggies mixed with rice. After our food was prepared (cooked right in front of us!), we headed back across the street to Boomerang to eat our supper. We joined the others (an interesting bunch) in the common room, and observed the hostel environment while we ate. We played cards for a bit after supper before calling it a night!

Thursday morning we got up (relatively early) and headed into town with our luggage on our backs. Once we got into the main area of town, we saw how nice Antwerp is. There is a lot of nice architecture and much shopping! We stopped in one little shoppe that specialized in lace. I bought a small lace souvenier. Its two small cats playing with a yarn ball, all made from lace. I also bought my first postcard of  the trip here. I had decided to buy a postcard in each city/major site that we visited to have a pictoral memory of my trip (and for the scrapbook!).

Next we went into a huge cathedral. I believe that the guide said it was the largest in all of Belgium. The Vrouwekathedraal, or "Cathedral of our Lady", houses four paintings of Rubens. It was a splendid blend of architecture and art. We paid a small fee to enter, but we were just in time for the free guided tour- in English! Ashley and I were the only ones on the tour, so it was really individualized and personal. The little old man that gave it was really sweet and super-exicted (especially when Ashley told him that she is studying Art History). We were very attentive and learned a lot from the tour, which ended up lasting about an hour and a half....like I said, it was a massive Cathedral! At the end, I purchased a nice postcard of the painting on the ceiling of a portion of the cathedral. The guide had told us that it was a competition between students to see who could create the best painting for the space. So the winning image is on my postcard!

After leaving the cathedral, we began heading back to the Antwerp Centraal Train Station. It was pretty chilly and windy outside, but we decided to walk, as navigating the public transportation seemed a bit confusing. We walked through a really nice shopping district (with like 10 H&Ms!) and stopped at an internet cafe to look up train times before eventually reaching the train station. We bought our tickets to Ghent Sint Pieters Station, the main station in Ghent and were on our way!