the rest of antwerp was a good time. outside the huge mall area there are beautiful plazas (including the plaza of brabo and the town hall), an impressive church (directly across from our hostel), a port and riverwalk, and some good antique shops. and we happened to be there on the last wednesday of the month, which meant that rubenshaus (where Rubens used to live, now an art museum) was free. the house itself was really cool, and the museum was great as well. i recommend it you are ever in antwerp (especially if its the last wednesday of the month). we also stopped in a few times at a bar called veurleste, where the bartender, Ivan Stuzts, was in the middle of "The Longest Bartending Marathon". He already held the guinness world record for longest bartending (84 straight hours in 2008) and now he was attempting to set a new record of 90 hours. we stopped in numerous times to show our support (http://www.veurleste.be/fotoboek.php?id=8655&winscroll=0), but the marathon didnt end until we had left antwerp.
we had been undecided about going to gent, but after numerous recommendations from antwerp locals, we decided to stop there for the day on our way to brugge. it was a really cute little city, without the crowds of people that were in antwerp (and we knew would be in brugge and brussels). we visited some churches, and scammed our way into the gravensteen castle for free (22 years old is close enough to 17 and 18, right?). it was really interesting and had different rooms explaining prison life, torture, weapons, and the middle ages in general...
we also had lunch at a place called Tasty, the best "quick-bite" restaurant ever! it was a little "resto"that sold veggie burgers and freshly blended smoothies!! we were in heaven (hannah is also a vegetarian)! i had never had so many different options of veggie burgers (spicy, texas, soy, schnitzel, garden, etc...) and they were delicious!
then we had some REALLY delicious belgian beers at Chat Noir, a bar in one of the plazas. we talked to the bartender for a while, who gave us free t-shirts for each of our respective beers, and we tried not to laugh as the old man a few tables down from us had a conversation with someone who was not there (seriously, the chair was empty and he was alone. but his "friend" did have a glass of beer and the man made sure to toast him each time he took a sip).
all in all, gent was small but pleasant - stopping for the day ended up being a really good decision.
Thursday, August 6, 2009
Wednesday, August 5, 2009
continued
july 27th:
- wandered through a huge market
- hannah went to the anne frank museum while i got some coffee and sent emails
- at night we went out to a bar and met some nice dutch people. we tried our first shot of jenever (the "real" gin) and some good dutch beers, recommended by our new friends. we also learned about the unique christmas traditions in amsterdam and "life as the locals live it". then jeffrey came back to hang out at the hotel for a while
july 28th:
- after an unsuccessful attempt to purchase the PERFECT amsterdam mask to add to my collection (they were adamant that the alien mascot mask was not for sale), hannah and i made our way to the train station and caught a train to antwerp.
- upon walking out of the [beautiful] train station in antwerp, i remarked that i had not expected antwerp to be so urban. it is the second biggest city in belgium, but i had heard very little about it... we walked through the main city area and quickly understood why antwerp is known as a fashion capital (right after paris and milan, the biggest fashion center in europe). it reminded me of a giant outdoor mall. at first i really liked that it was so lively, but i quickly realized that the only for me to really enjoy the city would be to get out of the (huge) shopping center. that night we enjoyed a drink on a beautiful terrace, wandered around the city, found some good pizza for dinner (cheap with a student discount)and had our first taste of belgian chocolate! yumm.
- wandered through a huge market
- hannah went to the anne frank museum while i got some coffee and sent emails
- at night we went out to a bar and met some nice dutch people. we tried our first shot of jenever (the "real" gin) and some good dutch beers, recommended by our new friends. we also learned about the unique christmas traditions in amsterdam and "life as the locals live it". then jeffrey came back to hang out at the hotel for a while
july 28th:
- after an unsuccessful attempt to purchase the PERFECT amsterdam mask to add to my collection (they were adamant that the alien mascot mask was not for sale), hannah and i made our way to the train station and caught a train to antwerp.
- upon walking out of the [beautiful] train station in antwerp, i remarked that i had not expected antwerp to be so urban. it is the second biggest city in belgium, but i had heard very little about it... we walked through the main city area and quickly understood why antwerp is known as a fashion capital (right after paris and milan, the biggest fashion center in europe). it reminded me of a giant outdoor mall. at first i really liked that it was so lively, but i quickly realized that the only for me to really enjoy the city would be to get out of the (huge) shopping center. that night we enjoyed a drink on a beautiful terrace, wandered around the city, found some good pizza for dinner (cheap with a student discount)and had our first taste of belgian chocolate! yumm.
Sunday, August 2, 2009
a dam good time!
again, i have been lacking internet....and when i do have it, i lack time to sit and update, so these will be short as i attempt to catch up...
july 24:
i met hannah at our hotel, Hotel Groenendael. during our stay there i fell in love with the run-down, laid-back hotel (more like a motel for young backpackers) right in the center of the city. when i had called to make the reservation the guy had asked which nights and how many people. when i told him 2 nights for 3 people he said ¨great! see ya then!¨. i asked if he needed my name. ¨sure, why not - whats your name?....ok kerri see ya on the 24th!¨. i had been a bit worried that he had even made the reservation - he hadnt asked for a last name or a credit card number or anything. so i called the weekend before arriving. ¨yeah, kerri right? 3 people; 2 nights - see ya then!¨ very low key, very easy, very chill... very amsterdam!
that first day hannah and i wandered around the entire city - around dam square, through the red light district and coffee bars and sex shops, along countless canals (they call it ¨the venice of the north¨), all the way across town toward towards the quiter Vondel Park area. then we went to the van gogh museum - a major let-down. it was really expensive and kinda unimpressive - despite being the largest van gogh collection in the world, it lacked key pieces like Starry Night or the Cafe Terrace. later we caught some interesting street performances, including a middle aged man performing acrobats in nothing more than a neon green thong! gotta love it.
afterwards we went back to the hotel to meet up with dave and begin the evening! a fun night of coffee shops (not your typical starbucks, if ya catch my drift), falafel, and drinks. but it was a pretty early night - hannah was jet-lagged and i hadnt gotten any sleep on my 12 hour train ride, so we were exhausted.
July 25:
- dave and hannah discovered Bagels and Beans, which they really enjoyed... cheap bagel
sandwiches! yumm
- live jazz in vondel park
- more wandering around the redlight district
- a visit to the Bulldog, the oldest coffee shop in amsterdam
- tibetan food for dinner - delicious!
- out to a few bars
- grabbed some supplies and headed back to chill at the hotel
July 26:
- we went back to Bagels and Beans for breakfast
- saw part of a beach soccer tournament in dam square
- caught the madrid vs. egypt soccer game in a pub near the redlight district
- HANNAH GOT A TATTOO!!!!!
- dave left, but we had a fun weekend together!
- vegetarian dinner for kerri and hannah
- some drinks and cards and an early night
july 24:
i met hannah at our hotel, Hotel Groenendael. during our stay there i fell in love with the run-down, laid-back hotel (more like a motel for young backpackers) right in the center of the city. when i had called to make the reservation the guy had asked which nights and how many people. when i told him 2 nights for 3 people he said ¨great! see ya then!¨. i asked if he needed my name. ¨sure, why not - whats your name?....ok kerri see ya on the 24th!¨. i had been a bit worried that he had even made the reservation - he hadnt asked for a last name or a credit card number or anything. so i called the weekend before arriving. ¨yeah, kerri right? 3 people; 2 nights - see ya then!¨ very low key, very easy, very chill... very amsterdam!
that first day hannah and i wandered around the entire city - around dam square, through the red light district and coffee bars and sex shops, along countless canals (they call it ¨the venice of the north¨), all the way across town toward towards the quiter Vondel Park area. then we went to the van gogh museum - a major let-down. it was really expensive and kinda unimpressive - despite being the largest van gogh collection in the world, it lacked key pieces like Starry Night or the Cafe Terrace. later we caught some interesting street performances, including a middle aged man performing acrobats in nothing more than a neon green thong! gotta love it.
afterwards we went back to the hotel to meet up with dave and begin the evening! a fun night of coffee shops (not your typical starbucks, if ya catch my drift), falafel, and drinks. but it was a pretty early night - hannah was jet-lagged and i hadnt gotten any sleep on my 12 hour train ride, so we were exhausted.
July 25:
- dave and hannah discovered Bagels and Beans, which they really enjoyed... cheap bagel
sandwiches! yumm
- live jazz in vondel park
- more wandering around the redlight district
- a visit to the Bulldog, the oldest coffee shop in amsterdam
- tibetan food for dinner - delicious!
- out to a few bars
- grabbed some supplies and headed back to chill at the hotel
July 26:
- we went back to Bagels and Beans for breakfast
- saw part of a beach soccer tournament in dam square
- caught the madrid vs. egypt soccer game in a pub near the redlight district
- HANNAH GOT A TATTOO!!!!!
- dave left, but we had a fun weekend together!
- vegetarian dinner for kerri and hannah
- some drinks and cards and an early night
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