If you didn’t know we were leaving, you’re forgiven. We hardly knew ourselves.
We just returned late last night from a 10 day trip to the continent. Because we moved (we moved!) and Chris’ birthday happened, we were so busy we booked our trip quite last minute. But we went to Amsterdam, Antwerp, Bruges, and Brussels. [EDIT: I started writing this the day after we got back. It’s taken me ages to finish. We returned on Sunday February 23rd!)
So let’s start at the beginning. On Friday the 14th of February, we were to depart London via Eurostar at Kings Cross St. Pancras station. We booked our Eurostar train (that goes through the chunnel!) for 6 pm so Chris could come straight from work. St. Pancras is only about 20 minutes on one bus from our new flat, and we decided to meet at the station at 5:15. I left really early because of rush hour, made good time and so sat in the station for awhile waiting for Chris. It wasn’t until 5:15 approached and I got up to go to the check in counter that I realized the worst: I’d forgotten my passport. The train threw me off, since it’s practically impossible to take the train over the border from Canada to the US (unless you’re a millionaire). So I panicked, ran outside to jump in a taxi. Unbelievably, I made it to the flat to get my passport and back to the station with 10 minutes to spare. BUT the staff wouldn’t let us on; they said the doors were already closed and locked. Our tickets were non-flexible and non-refundable. And this is the point at which I began to cry, a lot. I think my blubbering may have contributed to the fact that the Eurostar employee who’d been trying to help us wrote us a note saying we could exchange our tickets free of charge. So we went to the ticket office and got new Eurostar tickets, but the next Eurostar train wouldn’t get to Brussels in time for us to make our connecting train, for which we also had non-flexible and non-refundable tickets with a different railway line. The connection we were supposed to make was also the last one for the day. So we had to decide if we wanted to go to Brussels and spend the night somewhere, and get an early train to Amsterdam the next day, or go back to our flat and start all over from the beginning the next morning.
This decision was pretty well made for us, since that same afternoon Chris’ friend Akos who’s living and studying in Budapest arrived at our flat in London. He was going to be in London for the weekend and was planning on staying at our flat while we were gone. So, we decided to catch the next train to Brussels. While we waited to board that train, we made a hotel reservation in Brussels for the night and tried to cancel our hotel reservation in Amsterdam (with no luck). We did, however, get to ride first class. We had tons of room, a full (quite delicious) meal, and all the beer and wine we wanted, at no extra charge. We were pleasantly surprised.
Once we arrived in Brussels, it was late and all the ticket agents were closed, except one. We spoke to the ticket agent and for some inexplicable reason, he stamped our train tickets to indicate that we could take any train we wanted to Amsterdam the next day. I’ve never felt so lucky.
We set off for the hotel, which we arrived at at midnight (Brussels being one hour ahead of London).
Saturday February 15th: We slept, got up early (we didn’t really see the sun at all in Brussels) and went off to the train station to board our Thalys, a high-speed train that runs between Belgium, the Netherlands, France, and Germany. Again we found ourselves with first-class tickets which was incredible. Our train stopped for a few minutes at the border between Belgium and the Netherlands, and we were informed that the winds in the Netherlands were such that the train going forward would be operating at 160 km/h instead of the usual 300 km/h. So we arrived a bit later in Amsterdam but no big deal. Just seemed a little weird that the winds got so much worse right at the border.
Once we were finally in Amsterdam, we got a tram to our hotel, dropped off our things and then braved the winds and headed to Anne Frank Huis. Anne Frank Huis is sobering but really interesting. Once we went through Anne Frank Huis, we walked to Paleis op de Dam and Magna Plaza Shopping Centre. We then took a walk around the Red Light district and then got dinner at a cafe including a Dutch specialty, frikandels. Basically battered breakfast sausages.
Anne Frank Huis:
Magna Plaza Shopping Centre:
Sunday February 16th: The next morning, we walked to Oslo cafe for breakfast (where we couldn’t resist ordering eggs benedict just for the hollandaise), and then we walked through Vondel Park which is a beautiful big green space that bridged the gap between where our hotel was and the centre of town. We then headed to the Rijksmuseum, which was so cool. I really loved it there. It’s probably best known for it’s collection of Rembrandt, including The Night Watch. We spent most of the day there, but once it closed we walked through the shopping district, and then we took a tram to Jordaan at the recommendation of a classmate. Jordaan is an area of Amsterdam where a lot of locals live, so it’s very villagey. We stopped to eat dinner in Jordaan and had one of the best meals of the trip.
Vondel Park:
The beautiful Rijksmuseum:
The Master's Museum (I think?):
Van Gogh Museum:
Chess pieces as lights:
Monday February 17th: We got up early and checked out of the hotel and headed to Amsterdam Centraal station to rent a luggage locker. Then we set out to Nieuwmarkt where a flea market was being set up, and then we went to the museum of bags and purses. And before you give me or Chris grief for that, it was really interesting! It started with bags in the middle ages (almost exclusively for men) and followed them up through to the latest fashions today. We then headed to the bloemenmarkt. It’s a flower market that is floating on one of the canals. Because we were there in February there weren’t tons of flower in bloom but lots of garden stuff.
Rembrandt Huis:
The Museum of Bags and Purses:
The Flower Market:
Then we walked back to the train station to catch our Thalys to Antwerp. Our hotel was right across the street from the station, so we checked in and rested for awhile. Perhaps feeling a little “homesick” for London, we located a Wagamama restaurant for dinner. The night was young so we set off in search of a pub. A little sadly, the best we found was Kelly’s Irish Pub. Nothing wrong with that, just wasn’t exactly the Belgian pub we were looking for. But, it was a Monday night.
Antwerpen Centraal is stunning. This is what greets you as you come up off your train. Trains come in to the station on four different levels/floors:
Tuesday February 18th: Our hotel was situated in the heart of the Diamantkwartier, so we took a walk around that. 84% of the world’s diamonds go through Antwerp. So it’s home to some of the best and brightest in the world. We then walked through the shopping district and the Stadsfeestzaal. Stadsfeestzaal is a shopping centre in the middle of the shopping district in Antwerp, and it’s beautiful. I’d have a reallllly hard time deciding which one is more impressive: Magna Plaza or Stadsfeestzaal. In 2000, Stadsfeestzaal caught fire and most of the building was destroyed. Being a heritage building, it was rebuilt almost exactly as it was before, but with some upgrades. And, during the reconstruction, the remains of a whale were discovered!
Stadsfeestzal:
After that, we saw Europe’s first sky scraper (originally 87.5 metres high), Boerentoren. Then we checked out the Cathedral of Our Lady. What was very interesting about the Cathedral of Our Lady is that it was built to be more of a general meeting place than a religious setting. It housed art by various artists, perhaps most notably Rubens, an artist who spent most of his life in Antwerp. The artwork was removed and sent to the US, but have just recently made their way back to the Cathedral. It’s the tallest structure in Antwerp.
Boerentoren:
Cathedral of Our Lady:
Behind the Cathedral is the Grote Markt and Stadhuis (the city hall and grand square). And behind that is the Port of Antwerp and Het Steen, a little castle on the water. On the castle is a thank-you to the Canadians who liberated the Port of Antwerp in WWII.
Grote Markt:
Stadhuis:
Statue in the Port of Antwerp (the water was just behind):
Het Steen:
"As a tribute to all who have resisted and fought for the liberation of Antwerp."
"This plaque is dedicated to the heroism of the 1st Canadian Army which, with British and Polish units, liberated the Scheldt Estuary in the autumn of 1944 after bitter fighting, thus opening the port of Antwerp."
We had Belgian waffles for lunch and then headed to the Plantin Moretus Museum. The Plantin Moretus Museum was a definite highlight of the trip. It’s a UNESCO World Heritage site, which displays the residence and the workshop of Christoffel Plantin and his descendants, the Moretuses. Plantin, the most important printer-publisher of humanism and the sciences in the second half of the 16th century and the first industrial printer in history, owned and operated Officina Plantiniana. It houses several printing presses, including the two oldest operational ones left on the planet. The family and company archives held within the building, along with the residence and printing house, are what qualified Officina Plantiniana for UNESCO World Heritage status.
These beautiful fireplaces dot the residence:
A bookshop was operated out of the front of the press:
All the residence rooms were "wallpapered" with gilded leather:
Packages upon packages of used and unused type:
Along the right side are five Blaue printing presses, still working. Along the left are tables full of type:
These are the two oldest working printing presses left on Earth:
The Gutenberg Room. The 36 line Bible belonged to Johannes Gutenberg who invented moveable type around 1440. The Bible was printed before 1461. Only 14 copies still remain in the world:
First atlas:
Following the Plantin Moretus Museum, we checked out Vlaeykensgang. It’s a secret street hidden in “downtown” Antwerp. Behind an inconspicuous door lies this street that seems like it’s from another world. There isn’t much on it besides apartments and three restaurants, but it’s beautiful.
We then went back to Stadsfeestzal to enjoy a drink at the restaurant in the centre of the mall, and then we called it a day.
Wednesday February 19th we walked across the street to the train station to buy the tickets for the next leg of our journey. As we had an hour before our train, we went to the nearby Antwerp Zoo. It’s the oldest zoo in Belgium and one of the oldest in the world; it was established in 1843. Historically it’s been known for its encouragement of zoology and botany.
Then we hopped on a train to Bruges (or Brugge as it is more commonly known in the area, where Flemish is the predominant language). We checked into our hotel, then had dinner at Brasserie De Hanze. There are many squares in Bruges, but the square in which this restaurant sits is lined with restaurants that have streetside patios or streetside sunrooms. So we got to sit in the sunroom and watch the world go by as we ate. Then we walked through the city and back to the hotel.
We had to cross this bridge to get into our out of the city centre:
Bruges Museum:
Belfry at night:
On Thursday February 20th we stopped at St. Salvator cafe for some breakfast. Then we walked to Museum Bruges and the Basilica of the Holy Blood, which houses the blood of Christ. We went into the 13th century Church of Our Lady and then we went to the belfry. We walked and climbed and walked and climbed to the top of the belfry. It provided a magnificent view of Bruges as well as a good workout. The belfry is home to some pretty impressive bells that sound every 15 minutes, bells that regulated the lives of the people of Bruges for centuries. It was built in 1240. I could go on and on about the belfry. It features predominantly in the film In Bruges.
Basilica of the Holy Blood:
Bruges Museum:
Church of Our Lady:
View from the top of the belfry:
Then we walked by the diamond museum and had lunch at Frituur Flemish Stewhouse. This is where we had our first experience with real Belgian frites (the French claim they invented French fries, and the Belgians claim the same), and they were incredible. We might have to try to find something comparable here in London. We popped into Pralinique to stock up on Belgian chocolate, then we walked for MILES in the pouring rain to see Gentpoort (the bridge which leads to Ghent, it was designed for defence as well as for a passageway for produce and merchandise) and the traditional windmills in the north east corner of the city.
The begijnenhuisje is a walled community where religious women live devoted lives in silence:
Gentpoort:
Kantcentrum, an area of the city built for retired female lace makers. Everything is miniature sized:
Friday February 21st was a very memorable day. At 8:45 am we were picked up by Nathan (our tour guide) and van for an adventure. With us was a British couple from London (Rachel, the lovely woman, happens to work at HarperCollins here in London and was kind enough to give me her contact information. Small world). Nathan drove us all over Belgium, it seemed like. First we drove past Ypres to a WWI German cemetery (Langemark) that paid particular homage to prison guards and children who were killed during the battle of Langemark, and that marks the spot of 44,000 German soldiers. From there we went to Vancouver Corner and the brooding soldier, a memorial built in honour of the Canadians who died during the first gas attacks. The memorial features trees and shrubbery that are indigenous to Canada. From there we stopped by the home of a collector; in his garage he had full guns and shells he’d collected from the fields. As Nathan said, “Collecting is a national sport in Belgium.” The fields are still strewn with empty shells, unexploded shells and grenades, bullets, etc. From there we went to Tyne Cot Cemetery, the largest British cemetery on the continent. Then on to the Passchendaele Museum. After the museum we went on a little drive while Nathan pointed out bunkers, pig tails, and the like. Then it was on to Ypres for lunch and the In Flanders Field Museum. Then we visited Menin Gate. We drove through Centre Loi where we saw a building that had had a shell hit it and buildings still showing bullet holes. We drove through the countryside on the way to Hill 60, and along the way we stopped to see shell craters, one 50 feet deep. The particular area we were in at this point was where the Irish 16th and South African regiments mounted a shell attack. They had 26 shells ready, only 19 detonated. One was hit by lightning in 1955, the Germans found one, and the rest remain undetonated beneath farmland. The craters are now full of water, and some farmers have added fish to them. We stopped at Hill 60, and then we headed back to Bruges.
Map of Belgium and eastern France engraved on a wall as you walk into the Langemark German cemetery. Lille is in the wrong place, so Nathan said it must've been created by a German:
15%, or 3000 people, killed at the battle of Langemark were German school children; here are walls full of their names:
Representing army, navy, air force, and medics:
Vancouver Corner:
"This column marks the battlefield where 18,000 Canadians on the British left withstood the first German gas attacks. The 22-24 April 1915. 2000 fell and lie buried nearby."
Guns, shells, grenades...:
Tyne Cot Cemetery:
In the little museum attached to Tyne Cot Cemetery:
In the Passchendaele Museum:
Bunkers and trenches:
Really hard to see, but there are a series of bunkers on this property that served as a makeshift hospital:
There used to be a castle on this site. Belgium had over 30 but they were all destroyed during WWI. The owners used the leftover stones to create a pathway. It is very common to see Belgians repurposing leftover materials from the war, like stones and bunkers:
The yard contains trenches and bunkers that switched hands from the Allies to the Germans and back again several times:
The bunkers are sinking and the mud is rising so they're becoming increasingly difficult to get into:
In Flanders Fields Museum in Ypres:
Inside the museum, talking about a soldier from Woodstock, ON:
This tree survived both world wars, and you can see when they were by the two dark spots in the rings:
Menin Gate, donated by the British. It was damaged during WWII but repaired:
50 feet deep shell crater:
Exploded and unexploded shells on the side of the road:
Reeeally tough to see, but the two pyramid-looking things waaay off in the distance towards the right side is Arras:
And where it's raining is Vimy Ridge:
Hill 60. It's so bumpy from being bombarded with shells:
After Nathan dropped us off at the train station in Bruges, we caught our train to Brussels. We went to the hotel and then got dinner near the hotel in this area where you can buy frites and take them into any of the restaurants to get a drink and eat.
Saturday February 22nd we walked around Brussels. We saw the former Palais Royal and Grand Place, and so, so many other buildings. We had dinner in an area of the old city that’s strewn with restaurants. You walk up and down three or four streets and you can’t see the sky because there are so many restaurants with canopies over the street.
Library of Brussels on the left and the spire of city hall in the centre:
Museums filled the square:
Back of the Palais Royal:
Palais Royal:
From inside:
Market near the Grote Markt:
The start of the restaurant streets covered by canopies:
City Hall, in Grand Place:
Spotted in Brussels:
Our hotel was in the centre of the UN/European Commission buildings:
Sunday February 23rd held another highlight. We checked out of the hotel and headed to Fat Boy’s, a pub nearby that was showing the men’s hockey gold medal game in Sochi. We watched the game with about 100 other Canadians (and some Belgians, and one poor Swedish gal). The atmosphere was so cool and we had a blast. Afterwards we went to the train station to get a luggage locker, and we walked to the Palais de Justice. Then it was time to catch our Eurostar back to London. This time, all passports were remembered.
The elevator shaft up:
Palais de Justice:
These were all over Belgium, and not just for clothing stores. Where the store name is literally what the store sells:
Other miscellaneous things: Chris’ friend Travis and Travis’ fiancee Elisha surprised Chris the day after his birthday. Travis and Elisha live in Vancouver, but they came to London for a week and one afternoon the three of us surprised Chris at his office. It was lovely to see them and I hope they enjoyed their time in Paris before they headed back to Vancouver.
We have a new flat! We love it. It’s sort of a studio/one bedroom. We don’t have any roommates (OMG right?!) and our kitchen isn’t in the bedroom! Extra bonus.
The view from our "rooftop patio":
Chris’ office is moving tomorrow so it’ll be even easier for him to get to work from the new place now. I have three more weeks left of classes, and then I jump into my internship at HarperCollins! And then in late June I’m interning with Penguin! Exciting things.
Lots of school work to do between now and the end of placement, so I better get back at it! I hope everyone is keeping well. Miss yous!
Meg
P.S. Remember you can click on photos to make ’em bigger.
Bags of Milk 