Well Antwerp
Belgium Flanders is bikes. And bike lanes. And bike paths everywhere. And priority to the cyclist, even if not enshrined in law.Flanders is flat, too. That probably needs to be said about here. Photos:
Flanders is also art. The Antwerp art gallery (Musée des Beaux Arts) at present has a section displaying works from the Amsterdam
The Plantin-Moretus museum is even more special, as it is a Patrician House with all the art, tapestries, busts and portraits (by Rubens…) you would expect but in addition has loads and loads of things still left from the days when the rest of the building was a printers. (Plantin was a printer and publisher.) Unesco World Heritage: This complex is the only printers and publishers from the second half of the 16th century, complete with fully-furnished residence, equipment, company archives and library, to have been preserved anywhere in the world. If you are interested in printing (or have read The Queen’s Fool), this is a place to put on your visiting list. Next time I would take more photos and have a better camera. Outstanding.
Flanders has more cows than I have seen for a while. In between the cities there is plenty of green grass and cows are the most likely inhabitants. They live outdoors at this time of the year but the farms all have big barns to house the animals once the weather gets colder. There are also market gardens and greenhouses, so at least some of the food consumed is grown here, despite the profusion of trucks on the road.
Like Shanghai , Antwerp Antwerp port of Antwerp
The zoo. Yes. In the middle of the city. Right next to the rather magnificent Railway Station. If you actually want to know much about it, go to Wikipedia and look up Antwerp Zoo. Otherwise you can just check out the photos. I have to say I spent nearly all day there. I’ve never seen so many elephants! I hadn’t seen an okapi before either. Or a large hairy spider that looked like you could pat him, except that he was in a cage. Glass cage. Even a kangaroo and kookaburra. Penguins in a refrigerated area. Actually, the display areas are often really well done. Wellington has space, but Antwerp
19–28 August
There are bikes for Mums and Dads with one or two children’s seats attached, bikes of all sizes for kids, bikes with a drawbar and a little chariot attached for one or two children, bikes with a drawbar that has half a bike for a small person who pedals but does not steer, or as an alternative to the latter, a kind of clamp that will attach the front wheel of any kid’s bike, lifting it off the ground, so that again the child pedals but does not steer. There are bikes with big baskets for delivering goods, with smaller baskets for carrying goods and all manner of saddlebags – diverse sizes, colours and styles. Families bike, young people bike, middle-aged people bike, elderly people bike. You can park and ride (places to leave your bike near some tramstops) and take your bike on the train. The bike I watched unfold on yesterday’s train was small, with both wheels folding out, or in, depending on whether you want to use it or pack it up.
The Plantin-Moretus museum is even more special, as it is a Patrician House with all the art, tapestries, busts and portraits (by Rubens…) you would expect but in addition has loads and loads of things still left from the days when the rest of the building was a printers. (Plantin was a printer and publisher.) Unesco World Heritage: This complex is the only printers and publishers from the second half of the 16th century, complete with fully-furnished residence, equipment, company archives and library, to have been preserved anywhere in the world. If you are interested in printing (or have read The Queen’s Fool), this is a place to put on your visiting list. Next time I would take more photos and have a better camera. Outstanding.
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English is widely understood here in Flanders and you would choose it over French to communicate, for cultural reasons. With my German and English I can understand the gist of a lot of the Flemish, but the details escape me, so the names and explanations on artworks or in museums are a bit of a trial. In a more practical situation, I actually put away my tray in a self-service restaurant as I couldn’t work out the details of what was on offer for what price, and I couldn’t see how the salads worked (small plate, large plate – not obvious at all). And anyway, I remembered I had promised myself chips from Number 1 Frituur, recommended to me by several people. A reminder of how our students feel when their knowledge is till pretty basic. You can see some Flemish in the Rive Gauche album.
The cities are all very close together, easily accessible by train or motorway. There are two motorways linking Antwerp and Brussels , for example, and Joëlle and I went to Brussels from Antwerp Belgium are screened in the original language with subtitles, whereas in France Ghent
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I’m nearly finished. Just need to mention the bird-market and the zoo. The bird-market sells birds. Ha! But not just birds, also rabbits, dogs and one or two other living things, plus everything else you have ever seen at a market, including new bicycles. And cleaning materials. Lots of them. Plants. Flowers. Antiques and junk. Food. Sundays. Then you can waddle down to Rubens’ house (not far) and see if you can catch some musicians performing in the area.
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The zoo. Yes. In the middle of the city. Right next to the rather magnificent Railway Station. If you actually want to know much about it, go to Wikipedia and look up Antwerp Zoo. Otherwise you can just check out the photos. I have to say I spent nearly all day there. I’ve never seen so many elephants! I hadn’t seen an okapi before either. Or a large hairy spider that looked like you could pat him, except that he was in a cage. Glass cage. Even a kangaroo and kookaburra. Penguins in a refrigerated area. Actually, the display areas are often really well done.
Photos:
