Antwerp, Belgium

Saturday, December 9th - Monday, December 11th, 2017

Mark and I made a trip to Antwerp to visit our friends, who we met in China while we were all living there at the same time. Jos and Marlene Vets. Jos was actually Mark's boss while he was in China and Marlene was my life saver while I lived there. We usually got together most weeks and had lunch or explored the different shopping areas. They lived in Shanghai for 7 years and loved it, well as most of you know we weren't really fans.

Mark worked in Cergy, France all day on Friday. So, we drove to Cergy Thursday evening and left from Cergy Saturday morning to drive to Antwerp. We drove all the way back home on Monday.
Jos and Marlene were excellent hosts and tour guides and we had a great time. Weather was very wintery, snowy, and slushy but other than that, everything was perfect. We walked in the city center, close to their condo on Saturday, and to the Christmas Market. We went out for a Chinese dinner that evening. On Sunday, we explored more of the Belgium things, pastries, Waffles, and Marlene made a great Belgium meal.

On Sunday we also toured The Red Star Line Museum. Mark and I really enjoyed this museum. I suppose you could compare it to visiting the Statue of Liberty or Ellis Island in New York. This is where the start of the journey for immigrants from all over Europe began. It showed individual stories of people, how they got their money, how they got to Antwerp, how they were processed and the sanitation process ( de- lousing). Then continued through to show how things were for them once they landed in New York, and their lives in the USA. It was so interesting to see both sides of the story now.

Antwerp is a Flemish city in Belgium. Population around 500,000. The Port of Antwerp is one of the biggest in the word, ranking second in Europe. Antwerp was also the place of the worlds oldest stock exchange building, originally built in 1531, and rebuilt in 1872. Today Antwerp is a major trade and cultural center, and is the worlds second most multi-cultural city (after Amsterdam) home to 170 nationalities. It is also known as the "diamond capitol" of the world for its large diamond district.

                                                                 Cathedral of Our Lady. Construction took 170 years for this cathedral. It was finished in 1520. Inside we took a tour. It had many painting of Flemish artists and beautiful stained glass.


According to folklore, celebrated by this statue if front of the town hall, the city got its name from a legend about a giant called Antigoon who lived near the Scheldt River. He extracted a toll from the passing boatmen, and for those who refused, he severed one of their hands and threw it into the river. Eventually the giant was killed by a young hero who cut off the giants own hand and flung it into the river. Hence the name Antwerp, from Dutch hand werpen, akin to Old English, hand and wearpan, (to throw) 




Night view of the same above (hand throwing) statue.



Cathedral of Our Lady




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