Grote Markt

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.

Christmas Holiday Part 1

Our holiday season kicked off with the arrival of Sinterklaas and his Zwarte Pieten in Antwerp. As usual, it was a big deal to see his boat come up the river and see Sinterklaas and his entourage parade into town. Colin went dressed as Sint and Chloe as Piet. There were easily a few thousand people who came to see him and we were packed in tight to try and get a glimpse. The TV footage that played the following few days proved to be the best view. The kids also got a visit from Sint at school and Chloe found it funny that one of the Zwarte Piets told her she was a little bit bad. She would think that was funny. As expected, we woke up on December 6th to find that they left the kids sweets and toys in their shoes. Colin is already asking if Sinterklaas will be visiting us when we are back in America. If you want a good laugh, listen to this You Tube recording of 6-8 Black Men by David Sedaris describing Sinterklaas.

The opening ceremony for the Antwerp Christmas Market is the Light Parade that starts down by our house and ends up that the market. It is another one of those odd Antwerp events that I would describe as a indie, performance type event that seems to be normal around here. My favorite was the light princess that guilded down the street by way of bicycle, of course!

It is nice to be here during Christmas and to be able to see the markets. Being around wooden shacks covered in lights somehow makes it ok to hang out in the freezing cold. The market gets very crowded and many people end up hovering around the drinks stalls or the fire pits that are set up. It is almost hard to believe that they are not selling beer at the stalls here in Belgium rather, it is typical for the stalls to sell gluhwine, amaretto and of course, jenever.

This year, there is an enormous ferris wheel set up and I brought Colin on. I could not believe that he was not scared, even when we stopped at the top for a few minutes while they were letting people on and off.

Colin has also been playing basketball twice a week. He enjoys playing and has a friend in his class. He is not the best player, but he doesn't seem to get discouraged. He had his first game early in December and recieved a medal for his achievements.

Colin and his giant uniform.

Antwerp Christmas Market

Our plans to travel over the weekend were cancelled again due to the weather. It is been very cold here, at freezing or below. It has also snowed often but it has not been sticking too much. They are definitely not used to get snow here so even a little causes a bit of chaos.
The Antwerp Christmas market opened on Saturday. One of the events the city put on was a light parade that night. We were able to bring the kids to see the parade and Santa Claus in his sleigh before the sitter came. Even though it it far from the best market, it is so nice to see the center squares filled with decorated stalls and lots of people hanging out drinking their gluwine and jenevers. The next day, we brought the kids back to the market to ride the carousel and ice skate.

We woke up that Sunday morning only to realize that Craig's bike had been stolen. He will describe is as a gem, but the reality is that it needed new tires in a size that is not manufactured anymore. I wasn't too worried since he has 2 more back up bikes in the garage.  I almost couldn't believe it when I spotted the missing bike just down the street from us today. The fender was badly bent making it impossible to ride. I can't believe it spent the past 4 days leaning against a wall a half a block from us.

We have a busy weekend coming up starting with Colin and Chloe's school Christmas Concert on Friday. Saturday, we will be taking part in a 5K Santa Run. We are given a full Santa costume to complete the race in. Should be interesting. We will take lots of pictures!