Tag Archives: Diamond District

Antwerp, Belgium

Belgium, Travel, , ,

Oct 10 – We got on the bus this morning and rode for 23 stops to the town of Hasselt, Belgium. Once there, we hopped on a train that took us right to Antwerp.

I’ve always wanted to visit Belgium, home of the painter Peter Paul Rubens, ten different kinds of waffles, and hundreds of brands of beer. According to the Belgians, French fries were actually invented here, and their fries are better than anywhere in the world. And yes, they are served with mayonnaise, not ketchup.

They have three languages here, with 60% of folks in the north (Flanders) speaking a Flemish kind of Dutch, 40% in the south (Wallonia) speaking a Walloonish kind of French, and less than 1% in the west speaking German. We are in the north. This city is called Antwerpen here, and Anvers in the south.

We got off the train to find we were in the world’s most famous train station. It was pretty cool.

The train station is huge, and very ornate
The station exterior, built circa 1905.
The train station is next to The View Ferris wheel
There is no shortage of rental bikes and scooters here, and a tram runs down the main street.
The train station is in the Diamond district, with blocks of glittery jewelry stores right next to one another.

We have a lovely apartment right in the heart of the action, in the center of a block of restaurants. It smells good here!

Our apartment is above the doner shop. The instruction from our host was to “look for the door with the big Shawarma”. Couldn’t miss it!

We took a walk around our local area. It was pretty amazing!

I love statues with birds on their heads
Isn’t the architecture fabulous?
There is a piano on the Main Street, for anyone who wants to sit down and play
A statue of Van Dyke – see his trademark beard?

Can’t wait to explore!