Antwerp

The first city of my Belgium adventure with my brother started in Antwerp. Here are some thoughts:
- Antwerp has, by far, the best train station of any of the other train stations we visited in Belgium. It is old, but not run-down and they have done a great job of mixing the modern restaurants and such with the old architecture.
- Before I went on this trip I told people I was going to Antwerp and they didn’t understand why. After having been there, I don’t understand why people wouldn’t go there! I thought it was a great city. Small enough to walk around and see everything, but big enough to have a huge Cathedral with some very well-known paintings and their own little fortress on the river.
- It was a spectacular day while we were there and we arrived on a Sunday night. Where I live in Europe Sunday nights are pretty boring. In Antwerp there were people out and about: enjoying the beer festival that was taking place in the middle of the town and dining at some of the many restaurants.
- There was one man who had had a little too much to drink I think that really killed the image of Santa Claus for lots of people. We saw him initially and he was yelling random things at people that passed by. Later while we were eating we sat across from a bar that had the World Cup game on. Santa came and started joining in when the fans were yelling at the tv. Then some girl bought him a beer (much to the chagrin of the multitudes), so he sat down and started talking to people who were totally uninterested in him. He pulled a turtle and a LIVE pigeon out of his backpack to show everyone. Bizarre and disconcerting all at the same time.
- Our first night in Belgium we had Italian. I have determined after this trip that on vacation my brother and I eat Italian about 4 times more than we eat any other food genre.
- I took a picture oh of a model of the Cathedral that was inside the building. Aside from most major buildings having models, this model said how much the model cost to build: 168,480 euros. That struck me as downright absurd. I’m just sayin.
- We stayed in a 3-star hotel that was the same price as a hostel. Sometimes it just takes a little searching to find the good deals.