Antwerp

Tickets within Belgium to take the train feel extremely cheap. To go from Brussels to Ghent was 7.5Euro and Ghent to Antwerp about the same. Realizing that they pack the trains as full as possible would have been good to know before hand though. I ended up standing packed into the space between cars with at least 10 other people with my luggage and theirs. It does not help that the heat waves were continuing. Luckily on the way to Antwerp the train was mostly empty and I had a proper seat.

Antwerp is like a test of will power. As soon as up go up onto the main floor of the Central rail station you are met with Diamond store upon diamond store. If you think that exiting the terminal will help you would be incorrect. It only gets worse from there. Along the streets surrounding is the Antwerp Diamond Market and there has to be at least 50 if not more Diamond jewelery stores. And of course because it is summer sales season in all of Belgium, the same goes for the jewelers. Everything advertised at 40-60% less than marked.

The gems were incredible. I have never seen such big stones and in such quantity in my life. However it becomes less of a temptation when that gorgeous necklace you see ends up starting at 10 000Euro. At 50% off though I mean it would have been a steal.

I am not sure where my luck in timing has come from but the only day I was in the city was the first day of the Tall Ships races at the harbour. I did not realize this until, after walking around for a couple of hours seeing some of the old architecture and buildings to note, I walked up to the harbour and it was full of beautiful sail ships.

I have never gone to see the Tall Ships when they have been in the Vancouver area so it was neat to walk around and observe the whole spectacle.

Antwerp feels like a small and confused city. There is an odd blend of architecture with ancient buildings side by side with modern offices. And the statues, the are everywhere. I think on almost every single corner they have a statue to something, the most famous one being in the Markt where there is a man throwing a severed hand. Is this a warning of some kind?

The day was a sweltering 37 Celsius and it left me pretty exhausted so I went back to the hostel in the early evening and passed the time playing pingpong with a fellow from Belgium that was volunteering at the festival. Overall a good day in the city of Antwerp. Definitely worth the stop over on anyone's trip!

Pictures: Antwerp