Antwerp

Day 4: Antwerp.  Antwerp wasn't on our original itinerary but for two reasons that changed.  It was a stop on the way to The Hague, and in a train discussion with a local, she mentioned it was her second favourite city after Ghent.  After feeling we wondered aimlessly in Brugge, we decided to hire a guide from the WithLocals website.  Étienne was a retired professional that had countless Antwerp stories for us.  5☆  For those who plan to come to Antwerp certainly look him up.  Otherwise, I'll summarize some of his stories which summarizes our day in Antwerp.

- The oldest building in Antwerp is the Het Steen (Stone Castle)  but is now under construction to become a cruise terminal.

- Lagen Wapper statue.  A man who could morph between being a giant and a baby.  As a giant, he controlled the drunken sailors, as a baby, I'll tell you over a Belgium beer some day.

- Fable of Braboke, the Giant and the cut off hands. Sculptor was a short sickly man who was a hit with the ladies due to his fame.

- Guild (Union) houses are plenty around the old square. In days of old they were occupied by the  blacksmith, the shoemaker, the clothes makers.  The richest Guild was near the stone castle and belong to the  butchers.

- Houses identified not by number but by symbols. "House of the Ram on Central Square."  House symbols are still there.

- The eleventh commandment pub.(Elfde Gebod) where they collect religious statues.

- Nello and Patrasche - from the supposedly so popular "A Flanders Dog" in Japan.  Japanese flock to come see this statue. (Flanders=Flemish which is the northern Dutch part of Belgium.  They speak basically Dutch but don't want to identify with the Dutch.)

- The underground canals - tours available in rubber suits to wonder around with the rats and crud.  We passed 

- The "unfinished" cathedral towers as the catholics ran out of money.

- The diamond trade in Antwerp, originally the Jews, now the Indians and Pakistanis.  One company dominates the market:DeBeers.

- Diamond shops are controlled by Georgian mafia. Government is taking steps to change that. Its not uncommon to think you're buying diamonds and end up with cut glass.

- The're is a 7 kilometres by 1.5 meter high wall to protect the old city from flooding.

- Madonnas are on many street corners to show the then Spanish rulers they were in line with their rule as opposed to the Dutch protestant influence.  The alternative was to suffer the fate of the violent Spanish "police" sent  to kill the non-catholics.

- Camino trail passes in Antwerp and shell symbols on the ground indicate the way.

- Grandiose Antwerp train station built by the King Leopold the Second .

- Sir Anthony Van Dijck restaurant who gave up his 3 Micheline stars to make his restaurant affordable to more people.  No time to indulge here this time...

- Asian influence onion-shape architecture as it was trendy in that period.

Brugge and Ghent

Day 3:  Ghent and Brugge.  Our hub for our time in Belgium was Ghent.  Its 30 minutes by train from both Brussels and Brugge.  We arrived after our full day in Brussels in the dark and started taking pictures right away.  The high roof houses and the canals were inviting our smartphone snaps.  

We tried several restaurants in Brugge: a Thai one (Nam Jai), a pizza one (Otomat), a breakfast place (for some famous Belgium waffles!) Our favourite was the SoupLounge because it was an extremely  chilly day. This is a great concept for anyone wanting to start a little franchise in a chilly place.  4 daily choices of soup - this day it was tomato, mushroom, pumpkin and chicory.  Your choice of trimmings  - either or all of croutons, grated cheese, pork mini meatballs and parsley.  Served with two fresh buns and an orange (?!)

On Sunday we took a weekend return ticket to Brugge. Once there  we made our way to the main square by bus and found it very busy and crowded.  We grabbed some of our favourite chocolate to go with coffee and ventured to find a coffee shop in the sun to warm up.   Next thing you know we find the warmth in 2be brasserie (pub) and decided to try out a couple of their many beers instead.  It's ok, it was 5 o'clock somewhere!

We came back to Ghent to get out of the more crowded Brugge and gravitated to the Gravensteen Castle.  It was built as a show of power back in the 12th century by the Flanders ruler and still sends that message today as it stands as a major landmark in the city.  The tour was a good one and had a theme of torturing the enemy.  Our favourite rooms were the weapon room, the dungeon and the horse stables.

This is really a quick taste of Belgium and Netherlands.  We already know we will be back.

Brussels

DAY 2: Brussels - We arrived in Brussels at about noon ready to tackle the list of things to do provided by our Brussels acquaintance Loulia.  @loulushka.  It was a long list that could occupy us for days but we chose highlights to fit in 1 day.

Belgium is home to both Tintin and the Smurfs.  It is also know for its clash between the Flemish (variant of Dutch) and French languages.  That being said,  we found Brussels to be predominantly French.   

Top of the list: CHOCOLAT!! Our first stop was Place Du Sablon, a part of town with countless chocolate shops and to a smaller extent many antique shops/markets.  The companies that appeared most popular were Pierre Marcolini (with a Victoria Beckham collection), Neuhaus and Frederic Blondeel (Chocolatier of the Year!) Keri's new favorite is any Chocolat with raspberries.  Also, note about chewing into the ones with the Kirch and Cherry inside...they explode. The architecture was very much European but the high peak of several storefronts seem to be a common feature.  There were several big churches around some dating back to the 14th century.

Before this trip I would have thought the Atomium (which we only saw from a distance from the train) was the most popular Belgium site but I stand corrected: The Manneken Pis is their "National Symbol" and people swarm to go see it on an unexpecting street corner.  Such a small statue for something so popular?!?

We continued our walk to La Grande Place, a large square filled with tourists surrounded by many gold-trimmed buildings.  We did notice that one of them was the Beer Museum.  We quickly moved on to find warmth and did just that at "La Moule d'Or".  We ordered the famous Mussels, Frites with a side a mayo (and ketchup) and a local beer.

We finished our tour of Brussels with a "green" break to Bois de Cambre, a beautiful inner city park only a short Uber ride away.  We made friends with a few geese and enjoyed more heat a Chalet Robinson.

Breda

DAY 1 BREDA:  We met at Amsterdam airport...Our flights arrived early morning within an hour of each other from Dammam and from Calgary.  We took the train to Breda where Keri's heritage dates back to the 1500's.We intend to travel this whole trip by train and by foot.

Lesser know fact: Belgium has the most castles per square kilometre than any other country. The picture of the building with the boat is the Breda Castle.

The most prominent and dominant landmark in Breda is the Grote Kerk Curch. (Our Dear Mother Church) Its 3 attractions inside are 1) The Organ 2) the tombs of 12 members of the royal family and 3) a replica of a weird but popular painting by a Dutch artist, Hieronymus Bosch, entitled The Garden of Earthly Delights.

About the Dutch Royal Family - they descend from a French family called Orange (hence the fascination of this colour by the Dutch) and a German family, Nassau.

Staying at a nice boutique in the heart of town called Bliss. We found there are many young people here due to the fact there are 2 universities in a relatively small city. The streets, pubs (braserie) and restaurants are bustling with the youthful energy in anticipation of Friday night party time.

We went to go eat at a Spanish Tapa place but it was booked. The waiter pointed us a Dutch Tapa Place instead. It was called 't Zusje (sisters), a new popular franchise all over Holland. 28.8€ (can$43) for all you can eat from a menu of 70 items. Unlike North America where they want you in and out of a buffet place. They explain that this is a whole evening experience and should take at least 2 1/2 hours. To avoid waste they only allow you to order 2 items each at a time. It was terrific 5☆ and hope to come back with some kids in the near future.