Het Zuid

The neighborhood in Antwerp that we live in is call Het Zuid, or the South. At one point, the Zuid would have been described as up and coming, but now it is known as the trendy place to live. I thought I would take some pictures of some of the interesting things and wonderful buildings we see on a regular basis.

We live just off of the main shopping street for antiques. There are also a couple of fashion concept stores along this street. On the weekends, it is normally crowded with shoppers. There are also several cafes along the street and the weather doesn't even have to be nice to make it difficult to find a seat outside.

Below is an art gallery with an elaborate wood sculpture attached to the facade of the building. It is next door to one of our favorite restaurants, Chez Fred.



Just down the street is another restaurant/bar, Heilig Huisken. The name translates in to The Holy House. Heilig Huisken is a typical example of a stepped gable house that you see all over town. You will often see with them with the year they were build in wrought iron on their facade. I have seen them as early as the 1400's. Heilig Huisken is know for their good service. I would normally consider the phrase 'good service' an oxymoron in Belgium, but they do take care of you here. This is where one of our favorite servers works, Kenny. You may remember him from the Bollekesfeest Tandem Bike Rice.



Heilig Huisken





This is the infamous bar on our corner where the Belgian Beer Pouring Champion works. He also owns the bar along with his father. It is called De Vismijn or Fish Market. The bar has been here since 1930 when the street we live on was the Antwerp Fish Market. It is a landmark in Antwerp and most people know it. It is definitely a hang out for all ages and you can frequently find people dancing inside. On the weekends, there is one man who takes orders and serves all of the drinks. You are not allow to walk up to the bar and order a drink from the bartender. It is suprisingly efficent. The owners are quite friendly and they are nice neighbors to have. With the exception of the Vismijn, our street is full of modern apartment buildings and several high end design shops.



De Vismijn



Even though we only live about 4 blocks from school, there are many interesting sites along the way. Only about 2 blocks from our house is a local Steiner school. The building is probably one of the most well known Art Nouveau buildings in town. 



Art Nouveau Steiner School

Just one block further, in Marnixplaats, stands a large statue of Neptune. There are 7 streets that lead up to this circle, so you are able to get a great view from many places.

Marnixplaats

After I drop the kids off at school, I often walk over to the food store. Along the way is the Royal Musuem of Fine Arts and just behind it is another popular building in Antwerp, t' Bootje or The Boat. It is another Art Nouveau building from 1901.

't Bootje

This apartment building is around the corner from us along the river. The design was inspired by a building designed by Adolf Loos for Josephine Baker in 1928. The original building was supposed to be built in Paris, but never was. Our friends Amelia and Rajat live across the street and have a great view of the building. What you cannot see from the street is a wacky mannekin leg sculpture on the roof. 

                                               

The buildings in Antwerp are pretty diverse. There is a nice mix of old and new with a bunch of Art Nouveau thrown in. We have been pretty lucky with the weather this fall but as you can see, it has turned very grey recently.

Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving. Craig has been away all week, so we will be celebrating tomorrow.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Chloe's Hand Turkey - Gobble Gobble!

Sausages, beer and more sausages - Munich and Nurnberg



Marienplatz



After a week in Bavaria, it was a good thing that we left when we did. As much as we wanted to keep eating, I don't think our bodies could take anymore sausages, pretzels, potato salad and beer. Eating is one of our favorite activities to do while in Bavaria and Munich and Nurnburg were the perfect places to do it.

Out first stop was in Munich. We rented a very tiny apartment for 3 nights, which gave us plenty of time to explore the city. We hit all of the major sites including Marionplatz. We were so lucky to have decent weather and many people were out. One of the nights we were there, Munich was hosting Naples in a soccer match. The Italians made the city very lively and you could hear chants everywhere.

We stopped in the famous Hofbrauhaus to have a tradional liter of beer. We learned that a beer venue can only technically be called a beer garden if it is under chestnut trees.


Hofbrauhaus



Marienplatz

Just like in other places we have visited, Chloe is a popular attration with the Japanese tourists. The white, blonde hair makes her a novelty and people are always wanting to take her picture. Craig was joking that Chloe's picture is probably hanging in many Japenese living rooms. If only they knew that under that angelic white hair there was a crazy three year old ready to have a meltdown and any moment!

We scrapped our plans to go to Legoland at the last minute and went to Nurnberg and Playmobile Fun Park instead. We were pleasantly surprised with Nurnberg. Nurnberg was one of the cities heavily destroyed during WWII. They did an amazing job rebuilding that you hardly noticed that many of the building were barely a half centry old. Nurnberg is famous for 2 things - besides the trials. Lebkuchen, soft gingerbread cookies and sausages, which are sold everywhere!

Our Diet in Bavaria: Sausages, pretzels, beer, potato salad and sauerkraut.

The Playmobile Fun Park was great. All of the attractions were interactive and were exact replicas of actual Playmobile toys. They also had a huge indoor playground and a seperate play area with all of the Playmobile toys. Also, in typical German fashion, they also have their own beer garden. What is not to love about Germany!!

Cinque Terre Flooding

During the past week, we heard about the flooding and mudslides that have hit the Cinque Terre. It was just this past June that we visited the area and were amazed at how beautiful it was. Two of the towns we enjoyed most, Vernazza and Monterosso, were the hardest hit. Let's hope that they are able return to life as normal, sooner than later.

Vernazza - June 2011



Vernazza - After the Mudslide October 2011