[Jan 2008: I'm transferring some posts from a discontinued blog. Since I wrote this, I've discovered the Leonidas shop in Eindhoven (even the locals don't know where it is).]
Due to Thursday being a public holiday and Friday being a forced day off for the university, I decided to take the opportunity to travel somewhere for two days. I thought I might head down to Belgium and have a look around Antwerp.
Antwerp isn’t that far from Eindhoven (straight line distance is 77kms), however the train line is not direct. Firstly you have to head to the west and then connect with an Amsterdam-Brussels service at Dordrecht or Roosendaal. It takes 2 hours at a minimum.
After I arrived at Antwerp station, I went nextdoor to the zoo. I’m positive there was a kangaroo shape on the signposts — I followed the signposts for a while and just ended up going in circles. (I’ve since discovered there is a sister zoo elsewhere where there are kangaroos. Still doesn’t explain what the kangaroo shape was for.) It was one of the more expensive activities I’ve done on my travels (excluding going to the football) but it was a handy way of killing a few hours before I could check in to my hotel.
Later on Friday, I went down to the diamond district. This was disappointing — a bit dingy.
I booked my hotel through hotels.nl. I thought it would be OK, which it was. However I got a room at the very back of the hotel and it was appallingly noisy outside the entire night. I was in bed for 12 hours and I think I only got 6 hours’ sleep. So Saturday I was fairly sleepy. I’ve found a couple of other hotels I might try next time.
On Saturday I wandered around the old part of the city. I followed a city walk and saw lots of old houses. In the afternoon I went to the Plantin-Moretus Museum. It is an original printing factory that was one of the printing centres of Europe in the 16th century. They kept very good archives, so there are copies of books they printed, the original printing pressses, and cabinets full of type. I was planning to go to the Fashion Museum (as Antwerp is apparently a fashion capital) but I think this was a better choice.
Belgium is supposed to be famous for its food. On Friday night I had the best lasagne — it even had ham and mushrooms. On Saturday I had a capricciosa pizza, which was nice enough, but I was too tired to finish it. Both meals (with a Coke) cost me around €11.
I also brought back some chocolates: 100g of mixed pralines from G. Bastin, an Antwerp chocolatier, and a 200g bag of mixed pralines from Leonidas, a Belgian chain. The Bastin ones were very, very good.
I found Belgium slightly strange. It’s the first time I’ve been to a country that has the same currency and language (to an extent) as another country I’ve been to. The only clue that I’d crossed a border was that signs are duplicated in French and flags had changed colour. There’s still plenty more to do in Antwerp — I didn’t go inside the cathedral for one and the art museums in ‘t Zuid are supposed to be good.
