Adventures in Antwerp and Bruges

Folks, this is going to be a longish blog, as it's been 6 days since the last blog.  Here's a picture of me blogging last Monday.

Blogger at work

Tuesday was Ann and Grace's last full day in Paris.  We met in the morning at a wonderful scarf store, called Épice.  It is located in one of the beautiful shops surrounding the Palais Royal gardens.   The designers are Danish and this is their Paris store.  There are only a few scarves displayed, but each pattern comes in six different colours, which are displayed in a beautifully composed book.  The salespeople then bring a box in which all 6 scarfs are displayed and one proceeds to try them on.  We all made purchases.

Alain with his new scarf and the boxes

Grace trying on scarves

We ate lunch nearby and then continued with some more retail therapy.  First, a pastry break at a beautiful Algerian pastry shop - La Bague de Kenza on Rue St. Honoré.  Later we had coffee at Aux Vieux Colombier on Rue Rennes.

Toby, Grace, Ann in shopping mode at Marithe Francois Girbaud 

Coffee at Aux Vieux Colombier

Grace contemplated the art on one of the Paris bridges, but Ann said that the pictures looked like they had been painted over prints, rather than being originals.

We ended the day with a great dinner at La Locanda, a favourite Italian restaurant on Rue Dragon (6th), where Alain and I have eaten on past visits to Paris.  The owner, Martin, is a very charming man who speaks at least 4 or 5 languages.

Dinner at La Locanda

We walked home from Grace and Ann's hotel, passing by Notre Dame, lit up at night.  We also saw a movie being shot on the Seine.

Notre Dame at night

On Wednesday May 25, Grace, Alain and I headed off to Gare du Nord to catch the Thalys fast train to Antwerp.  It is only a 2 hour trip to a very different culture, language and history.

Gare du Nord

We stayed at a wonderful B & B that Alain and I stayed at in 2008, called Boulevard Leopold B & B.  There are only 3 rooms, and 3 apartments in this restored house in the Jewish area of Antwerp (about a 20 minute walk from the City Centre).  The street is unassuming, but once one enters the building, you are transformed to another era.  The building dates back to 1890 and the initial owner, who was Jewish, sold in 1936, and moved to the U.S.  The buyer's family lived there until the early 2000s, when two guys bought the place and did a massive 10 month restoration project.  They sold to the current owners (a lovely couple) who bought the place in late 2009.  Alain and I stayed in the bigger room, which we later saw a picture of in Wallpaper magazine.  The price was very reasonable, and included a Belgian breakfast (cheese and meats as well as cereal/croissants/rolls/eggs).

Boulevard Leopold B & B- Alain and Toby's room

We saw many Hasidim on bikes in the neighbourhood.  Very unique!

We had beautiful weather our first day in Antwerp.  On our way into town, we stopped for lunch at Bicyclette, a newish restaurant with a lovely terrace.  Grace and I had a traditional Belgian lunch of meatballs, in a delicious sauce, with mashed potatoes.  It was also nice for Alain to have three days of good Belgian coffee (the French just don't get it - the coffee always seems watered down).

Grace at Bicyclette

We checked out the main square, which has some wonderful old buildings, including the city hall.

Grote Markt

City Hall

Here are a few street scenes:

Street scene- Antwerp

Theatre

We spent part of the afternoon at the Modemuseum (fashion museum- MOMU), seeing an exhibit entitled UNRAVEL: knitwear in Fashion.  There were some wonderful pieces and a focus on Belgian designers, although Canada's Mark Fast was also featured.

"Youthquake" the 60s

2010

May the wool be with you!

We had a coffee at a quiet spot a few blocks from the city's centre.  Antwerp is an amazing city for both its fashion, art and history.  It also brands itself as a City of Trams, and has extensive bike lanes next to the sidewalks, which one has to look out for ( maybe someone should sent Mayor Ford for a visit).

Where we stopped for coffee

Coffee time - Grace and Toby

We did some more window shopping and then had an excellent dinner at Hungry Henrietta.

The next day was a lot cooler and cloudy.  We went to the new museum called MAS (Museum Aan de Stroom), which had just opened 10 days earlier (thanks Joey for letting us know).  The building, which is spectacular, was designed by the Dutch architectural firm Neutelings Riedijk Architects.  Their "warehouse" design was chosen from 55 submissions from around the world.

MAS

The permanent collection unites collections from 4 smaller historical museums in the city.  The museum is 9 stories high, with incredible views of the city (it is in the northern part of the city near the Schelde river).  It focuses on Antwerp's role in the world as a port city.  It explores four themes: Display of Power, Metropolis, World Port and Life and Death.  The opening exhibit was entitled Masterpieces in the MAS:  Five centuries of images in Antwerp, and included works from a number of the other fine museums in the City.  Antwerp during the time of Peter Paul Rubens (1577-1640) and the other Flemish Masters, was a thriving port city.

Another highlight in Antwerp history

Historical posters- Antwerp- Congo sailings

View from the Museum

We ate lunch at the Museum and then checked out two small pavilions in the museum square dealing with the port and silver.  The diamond pavilion was still under construction.

After some retail therapy- Alain bought some very cool pants at the Marithe Francois Girbaud store, we went to dinner at Fiskebar, which was recommended by our B and B hosts.  We had a spectacular meal-the fish was fantastic and the place was really buzzing.  Warning : Food Porn pictures follow.

Toby and Grace outside Fiskebar

Toby, Grace, Alain with food

Appetizer- razor clams

Appetizer-squid

Halibut for Alain

Tuna for Grace

Mixed Grill-  Halibut, salmon, tuna for Toby

Needless to say, there was no room for dessert.  It was drizzly and cold as we trammed it back to the B & B.

On Friday May 27, we took the train to Bruges (Brugge in Flemish).  Another cool, cloudy day.  We stayed at B & B Brughia and wandered around town.  Bruges is very touristy, and has too many suspect chocolate and (fake) lace shops.  However, it is worth seeing for the medieval buildings and history.  Bruges' heyday was back in the 14th and 15th century, when the Burgundian court was headquartered there (decline started after the death in 1482 of Mary of Burgundy).  There were actually 45,000 inhabitants of Bruges back in the day!!  The main streets in Bruges had a series of interesting modern flags that have just been posted this year.  The original drawings were at the Arentshuis museum which we visited.  The artist is Benoît van Innis Vlagger.

Flags in main street of Bruges

"Tourists" flag

"Bikes" flag

Markt Bruges

Main Square

Historic lace at a reputable lace shop

We visited the Groeninge Museum, which was undergoing renovation and only had one floor open.  This museum is famous for its flemish art.  There were definitely some pictures of outstanding quality.  We then visited the Arentshuis which has a permanent collection of the work of Frank Brangwyn (1867-1956), a Bruges-British artist who painted realistic scenes of the docks and factories.  He had worked at William Morris and also designed furniture and carpets.

We also visited the famous Begijnhof (dutch) Beguinage (fr) of Bruges.  This beguinage was founded in 1245 and housed religious women (single or widowed) who didn't want to be part of an order and wanted to remain independent.  The last beguine (lay sister) died in the 1930s and today the buildings are inhabited by Benedictine nuns.  It is a beautiful serene place, where silence is observed.  We met a woman from Pittsburg at our B&B who taught a course on medieval women. She told us about how unique the beguine movement was, and how it had flourished in Belgium.  Well worth the visit.

We ate dinner at De Passeviet, where Grace and I had a traditional Belgian stew cooked in beer and served with homemade applesauce, salad and frites.

On Saturday May 28, we headed off to the Diamantmuseum, which was a nice surprise.  The exhibits told the story of diamonds, from the original diamond finds in India, to the Venetian traders who set up shop in Bruges.  Bruges was the diamond headquarters for a while until it moved to Antwerp, then Amsterdam and then back to Antwerp again.  We also had a demonstration of diamond polishing by a fellow who gave his presentation, alternating between English, French and German.

Diamond polishing demo

Toby and Grace outside Diamantmuseum

Luckily, we had a brief window of sun or at least less cloud before it began to drizzle, so we took a half hour boat trip down the canals.  This trip gave us a perspective on the back of the medieval houses that hug the canals.  The step patterns in the roofs are very distinctive.

Wooden houses that are newer

Beautiful step roofs

Interesting statues

How much is that doggy in the window?

We took the train back to Paris at 6:00 p.m.

I would recommend Bruges as a day trip from Antwerp or Brussels, but there is not enough of a critical mass for much more.  Our three-day trip was an excellent adventure.  Train travel is wonderful in France and Belgium and it is amazing that in 2 hours one is in a different country, with a different culture, different languages and history and a very different pace.

However, it was great coming back "home" to Paris- where it was warmer and buzzing on a Saturday night.