Antwerpen deel twee

I am sure you are all anxiously awaiting Antwerp Part 2 (Sunday).... Saturday night ended like this...

Belgian beer at the Irish Pub. Sunday was much less eventful, but still very fun.

So Sunday morning we decided to take it easy and sleep in. Our legs were so tired after the laps we made around the city and we reeked of smoke! I am so much more thankful for the American smoking ban in public places because people here smoke like chimneys....everywhere, all hours of the day. We started the day off with a true European breakfast of meats (similar to lunch meats), cheeses and bread. Then, it was off to church! Amelia was so gracious to attend Sunday mass with me.

As we were walking through town on our hike to church, the church bells rang out inviting all to attend. It was so neat that you could hear them from anywhere in the city. I posted a video below so you could hear. (And yes I realized AFTER that the camera orientation was wrong).

Our Lady of Antwerp had a noon service where they played their famous organ and it was beautiful. (I have a video that I will post tomorrow). The mass was in Dutch, but like most Churches, Catholics have the same layout in any language, so I could follow long just not quite understand. I love experiencing mass in different places and languages. I have now been to mass in Belgium, France and Italy...so neat! I hope to be able to continue to add to my list. And that Belgian priest was speedy! We were out of church by 12:45, just in time to enjoy a wonderful lunch on the square.

Antwerp

View from the Grote Markt, City Center and Our Lady of Antwerp in the background

The Stations of the Cross were painted as beautiful paintings on the wall.

The row of hand carved wooden confessionals.

The very old but still amazing organ. It was massive!

Altar. And although you cant tell from the picture, those silver candle sticks were GIGANTIC! I could defiantly find a place to put those beauties in my house. And no, I didnt steal them from a Church. (The wouldnt have fit under my jacket...just kidding.)

A model of the Church


We both decided that before we left, we had to try just one more thing Belgium was famous for shellfish! Again playing restaurant roulette, we stopped in at a restaurant in the Grote for lunch. And again, we were big winners! Our waiter and another customer were so nice to ask us about our time in Belgium and give us travel advice. At the end our of meal, our waiter even bought us shots of this cantaloupe liquor. I deferred my drink to Amelia, since Im not a melon fan, but very much appreciated the shots to the typical after dinner mints :)

My lunch: scampis (shrimp) in garlic cream sauce. And yes it was as delicious as it looks in the picture! Did I mention that in Belgium, as in the Netherlands, they dress their salads with this mayo like dressing? Its interesting...and makes me miss ranch :) Amelia had a pot of steamed mussels that are famous and popular here...also very good.

And for dessert we just could pass up....

A Belgian waffle! AMAZING!

After lunch, we made our way across the city to Central Station and the diamond district!

Beautiful Central Station! All of the train stations here are in such amazing old buildings. And I caught of glimpse of it lit up at night at it is breathtaking!

I realized, when starting to blog, that I didnt take any pictures of the diamond district! You could only imagine how distracted I was by all of the beautiful things in the windows! We first took a tour of the diamond museum, which had such an interesting layout and set up. I did learn that 80% of the worlds diamonds pass through Antwerp atleast one during their lifetime and 50% will end up being in Antwerp to be sold, cut or set. Antwerp is truly the diamond capital of the world with the diamond regulatory bodies and hundreds of shops, brokers, cutters and jewelry designers.

The diamond district is a square mile and contains more diamonds than any other square mile in the entire world. Now that is my kind of mile! It is located right across from the train station, since diamond buyers would want to go the shortest distance possible once getting off the train. We walked up and down the street looking in all the amazing windows and visiting some shops.

You would not believe how many different settings, necklaces, earrings, rings....diamond anything of all shapes and sizes you will find here. It was awesome! Amelia bought a beautiful pair of earrings and a ring....now that is a souvenir! And I have my eye on a few things :) We spent HOURS here, just seeing it all. If anyone has ever been to Florence and the famous Ponte Vecchio (Bridge of Gold)...well think of that same thing but diamonds in Antwerp! A little piece of EXPENSIVE heaven on earth!! If you havent been to either, I highly reccomended seeing both :)

Finally around 7:30pm, we had some fried shrimp and a burger at a restaurant and started our journey home. I was exhausted after the wonderful weekend! Thank you Antwerp for your great food, beer, beauty and friendly people, I had a WONDERFUL time! Only 3 working days stand between me and Paris! :):)

And thank you all for reading! The video of the church bells is posted below for your to enjoy! :) Happy Tuesday!

al mijn liefde