I'm a mormon.

Sunday, May 22, 2011

Day trip #1: Antwerpen

Sorry for the temporary blog delay, but it has been a busy weekend with three different cities in two countries in three days! So much fun though.

Our first stop was Antwerp, an old seaport and diamond city in western Belgium. I wasn't expecting too much (since who has heard of Antwerp?) but it was awesome! The city had the same mixture of city life and cafe spots as Paris, with the feel of Florence with it's charming orange rooftops...all with a Belgian touch of course! It was just very clean and safe and had lots of fun things to do.

We started the day at the zoo! It's one of the oldest in the world and was only 17 euros to get in so we couldn't turn it down. They had the traditional tigers, elephants, penguins, etc., but they also had some different animals too which was fun to see. I couldn't tell you what kind of reptiles they had because as usual I avoided that section at all costs! Made the mistake of wandering into the rainforest area and didn't figure it out until I turned to my right and came face-to-face with an IGUANA. Needless to say I jumped back about 10 feet and ran for the nearest exit leaving Emily behind to find her way. Other than that, the zoo was a success and well worth it!

After the zoo we were famished and decided to make a bold eating move and try some food that we could never have at home-pizza! I know I know it's boring, but the pizza here is so delicious and this place was outside on a cute street and had a lot of locals so we knew it would be good. We followed up our pizza with a big dose of diamonds! Antwerp is known for its diamonds and was a big trader and cutter of diamonds during the city's golden age, and they put together an awesome museum that tells you all about it. We skipped over the chemical makeup/cutting stuff and learned everything we could about the celebrities and royals that used the diamonds! They have a crown that Queen Elizabeth uses with a honking diamond in the middle and all kinds of other diamonds used by royalty. Very neat.

The rest of our day included two other museums about the history and seafaring ways of Antwerp, some shopping, and a visit to the local castle (only in Europe). We walked no joke probably five miles to and from the train station, and had to stop at a cafe on the way back to rest up for a bit. Only thing is, in Europe you don't just rest up for a little bit. Every time you sit down at a café or restaurant it takes at least an hour. You sit down wherever you want, and then 20 min later your waiter brings you your menu. Then after another 20 min he'll come and take your order. You'll get your food after another 20, and then good luck finding him to get your check! I get the whole relaxing thing, but the American in me just sees too much wasted time and I get antsy sitting and waiting for so long. We still haven't really determined if we are supposed to go up and find him to pay, or call him over; we've seen both and can't decide. We always call them over and ask for the check and are probably really offending them but oh well we tried. One cool thing about Belgians though is they don't tip! It is offensive to them if you tip them which is a-ok with me! MAYBE that makes up for the no free refills. Maybe.

So, all in all we had a wonderful time in Antwerp! Seems to be the theme of the trip: great times! I'll leave you with some pictures from the day...

Emily and I at our lovely Italian feast in Antwerp!

Grote Markt! I seemed to love taking awkward pictures by myself this trip-I promise I have friends!

Look it's a castle! See what I mean about the awkward pics by myself? I'll be better I promise

View of the city from the top of the MAS museum! So pretty and such a lovely day :)

Tot ziens!

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