Probably our favorite place to go in town is Grote Markt. Since day one, Colin has called the statue in the middle of the square, The Animal Statue and we still call it that now. I love it when Colin says "Let's see what's going on at the Animal Statue". I can't even guess as to how many times I have heard him ask this. We have over 150 pictures tagged Grote Markt that include The Animal Statue taken over the past 3 years!!! In sun, clouds, snow, with Jules, with a vuvuzela, with strangers, running through the water, at the Christmas Market, on a regular day, watching a football game, ice skating and more.
The statue in the middle of Grote Markt is actually called Brabo. The legend is that a giant by the name of Antigoon would tax people crossing the river. People who could not or would not pay, had their hand cut off and thrown into the river. The hero, Brabo, killed Antigoon, cut his hand off and threw it into the river. The name of the city was derived from this legend - Hand- throwing = Ant -werpen(meaning to throw). The story is a little gory, but telling it to the kids allowed them to actually notice several other details of the statue that they would have otherwise never noticed.
The city has been doing a lot of paving work around Grote Markt and while doing this, discovered cellar walls of the old town hall that date back to the 16th century. They have fenced off the area and built a temporary bridge of people to see. From what we know, they will be filling it back in again to complete the paving work. So cool.
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