Antwerp Central Station, looking up to the third/ground level from the second level. I have heard that it's referred to as the cathedral, and I can see why.
We boarded the train for Antwerp at Schipol Airport in Amsterdam. The ride was about 2 hours long, and we couldn't see much because it was gray and rainy. But the ride was helped along by a lovely young couple from Belgium who were just coming back home after spending 8 months traveling and working abroad. They helped us a lot, giving us names of good beer (yay!), when to get off the train (even more yay!), and just general information about everything from Australia and Asia to what to see in Belgium. Very friendly, and bilingual at the very least--their native language is Flemish (a language I don't think I've ever heard before), their English was excellent (they spent 6 months working in Australia), and given that they spent over a month in Thailand and a bit of time in China, who knows what other languages. What a wonderful thing to do at their age!
The Antwerp Central Station is widely acknowledged as one of the nicest in Europe. It really is lovely, and well-organized. There are many shops inside, from frites to a small market to diamonds.
Belgium takes its frites (what we'd call french fries) very seriously. They are crispy on the outside, melty-soft on ths inside, the fry oil is always fresh, they taste like actual potatoes, and a little fork accompanies them so that you don't get your fingers dirty. They are fabulous!
Even though Antwerp is a world-renowned center for diamonds, we elected not to pick up a dozen or so at one of the several shops in the station. Our luggage was already heavy enough, dontcha know.
The station is huge. This is the front, once you go in the outer doors. Just wonderful. It was a good place to stay out of the rain.
We took a taxi to our hotel, an adventure on the cobblestone streets in rush hour and the rain. After we got situated in our room, we headed out to find beer and food, and ended up in a little neighborhood place that suited us perfectly. The beer was good, there was a frites place next door, and we had a type of lasagna I've never eaten before. I'm not a fan of lasagna; it's usually got too many noodles and the sauce is boring and over-flavored. This lasagna was not tightly-packed with meat and noodles, and there was a sort of cream sauce on it. It was wonderful, just right after a long day of traveling.
We made plans for what to do the next day, then headed back to the hotel for the first real sleep we'd had in over a day.
No comments:
Post a Comment