Traveling Tuesdays: Belgium and Holland - Part 4

Day 5 – Thursday, April 21 – Antwerp


This was probably one of the days I enjoyed the least on the trip, simply because we didn't do much. Breakfast on Thursday was Belgian waffles, as it was our first day in Belgium. We enjoyed waffles in the traditional Belgium sense – with powdered sugar and fruit, not with syrup or whipped cream.
We spent the morning in Antwerp with our guide Jeff. I did not care for Jeff as a guide, as he moved extremely slowly and was a bit scatterbrained. He gave us a short city tour.

City square in Antwerpe.

Cute little cafe getting ready to open (it was about 8am when I took this picture).

Our group and guide, Jeff (he has the microphone in front of his mouth).

More of the group - NU and UNC-Chapel Hill.

I liked the middle dress so I took a picture :-)

More City Square.

The FitzSimons and Louise Rose.

Then we had a tour of the Rubens’ House Museum. Rubens was a master artist of the Baroque style. The tour was actually his old home, which has been turned into a museum. It was extremely crowded and with four groups of 20, it made moving through the house quite difficult. I took several pictures outside, but couldn't take any inside.

Rubenshuis (or Ruben's House) from the front.

Inside the courtyard.

Balcony over looking the courtyard.

Garden behind the house. This was really pretty.

View from the balcony.

View of the house form the back of the garden.

After our tour of Rubens’ House, we made our way to the Our Lady Cathedral. We walked down the main shopping street of the city. It was strictly a pedestrian walkway, which was nice. The Cathedral was beautiful, but crowded.

The Our Lady Cathedral.

Loved this guy's mohawk.

Inside the Cathedral.

Beautiful tapesties hanging from the wall.

One of the many altars.

The floor, which has gravestones and burial plots underneath it.

ET greeted me when I got back to my cabin that day :-)

After the tour, everyone split off to do their own thing, as we had the afternoon free to ourselves. I had lunch in the city with the a few couples and did some shopping on my own before walking back to the boat. It was nice to have some free time that afternoon. I spent the rest of the day laying on the deck of the boat, enjoying my book and the sun.
I ate dinner with the FitzSimons and Roses that night, and we had a wonderful time. Fitz was quite the character and we laughed a lot. Following dinner, there was a Belgian chocolate reception in the lounge, which was very delicious. I wish I would have had my camera and taken some pictures. The highlight of this night is that we talked Wanda Paik, one of my NU passengers and an acclaimed concernt pianst, into performing on the piano for everyone. Everyone was impressed by her talents and she got a standing ovation. It was a wonderful end to the day.