First of all, if you're ever in the area GO TO ANTWERP. I know the name sounds sexy and sophisticated, but seriously, I could live in this town. It's the second largest port in Europe and they're totally into Canada because Canada helped fight off the invasion in 1944. More on that later. It's a big city, but totally walkable.
I got up to catch an early train. This is the commute I'll miss; riding bike to train station, parking bike in huge parking garage (which consists of rasslin other bikes out of your way), then hopping the train. I'm all for trains, especially for short term travel.
Early morning Amsterdam, parking garage, and train ride:
The two hour ride was beautiful. We went through The Hague, Rotterdam, countryside, etc. When I arrived in Antwerp I was bombarded with maps at the info station, which was nice because I had nothing but a wikitravel article to go on. I was flattered that the woman handed me a "young and hip guide to Antwerp" which consisted of a listing of bars and weird sites. I decided to check out a church, the fortress, and a book printing museum before hopping the city bus to Westmalle.
I started off in the wrong direction and ended up in 'Asia Town' - yes, many different countries were represented. Another turn took me to a predominantly Muslim area. Some of the clothing stores were displaying some seriously funky women's styles complete with funky hijabs. So once on the right track, you basically follow a promenade that takes you from central station to the port. Here are some pictures from that walk:
This last picture is the monument to the First Canadian Army for its defense of the port during WWII.
Because of the exchange rate, I'm on a serious budget. I have also taken to eating delicious Frites (fries) which are everywhere here. So, for lunch I purchased some delicious Frites at a stand next to the fortress (where people from Antwerp used to be imprisoned, tortured, and executed - isn't that a festive place to eat Frites?) for €.50 extra I got the most delicious sun dried tomato sauce on my €2 Frites, it was killer:
So Westmalle. Some of you will know exactly what I'm talking about, but for those who don't - it is a town that houses Westmalle Abbey, which houses Trappist Monks, who make lekker (Dutch for delicious!) Trappist Monk beer ~ actually they don't make it, they have on site staff for that. It's a 50 min bus ride from Antwerpen Central Station. Unfortunately I couldn't get any answers as to when I was supposed to get off the bus, so I kept my eyes peeled for an Abbey. I like to blend in, especially in situations like this where I appear to be the only tourist. I did pretty well until some kid left his water bottle on the bus, as he was departing I started yelling 'hey!' ~ not sure how to get a Dutch person's attention. Everyone stared at me until a kind citizen chimed in with 'hallo!' (hey doesn't work but hallo does?) After that little incident I retreated to my seat and attempted to blend in again...that is, until I saw a building that looked suspiciously like an abbey. I hadn't rung the stop bell, but the bus pulled over to pick people up. These people got in from the front while I stood at the back exit repeatedly dinging the stop bell because the door wouldn't open. Finally I had to yell and bang on the door, which worked. I'm sure it looked perfect ~ we're in the middle of nowhere, there are exactly two buildings: the bar and the abbey. I'm pretty sure it was evident that I was here for the beer. It may have been my quintessential Bridget Jones moment. After my 'metaphorical water balloon to the face', a term coined by one of my favorite Tulaners, I was able to maintain a shred of respectability by quietly milling around the Westmalle Abbey prior to any beer consumption. So...the abbey is not open to the public, you can get a group tour of the brewery or you can come live in the abbey like a monk, but you can't just head inside to snap photos by yourself. So I stalkerazzi'd from outside the walls. It's surrounded by miles of bike paths, countryside, and forest. It's really beautiful and quiet. The monks also make cheese and farm.
In the last picture, if you look real close, you'll see crates and crates of Westmalle beer. After all that walking it was time for my beer. The monks don't want the beer served near the abbey, so across the street is the Trappist Cafe, which used to be a little hole in the wall bar, but has been remodeled into a hoity toity cafe. It was me, well dressed old people, and road cyclists in spandex. I ordered the Half and Half - half dubbel from a keg, half tripel from a bottle. It was amazing. Total cost, which included salty peanuts, was €3.30 - which is a great price (although they did have to go through the trouble of transporting it across the street.) I stole two coasters for Dan.
I hopped the bus to Antwerp, and hopped the train to Amsterdam (there's something about riding the train and listening to Moby's Hotel: Ambient to put you in a deep sleep.)
It was a superb day. Today I think I'll ride my bike to Muiden to see some castles (should take an hour each way), then tomorrow I'd like to hop a train to see the Friday cheese auction in Alkmaar.
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