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.

Beer

The Belgians are famously known for their beer and there are over 1000 beers brewed just within Belgium alone. For Christmas, I bought Craig the latest edition of Belgian beer book picturing and describing all of the beers brewed here. The book offers information on it taste, how it is fermented, the temperature at which it is to be served at, how it is to be poured and of course, a picture of the glass it is to be served in. Every beer has it's own glass and you will never be served a beer in a cafe that is not served in it's proper glass. For the most part, many of the beers here are very high in alcohol content. Normally somewhere between 6% and 8%. We have had some at 12% and I know they go higher than that. At this point, Craig has tasted about 200 of the beers in the book. Pretty impressive!!


We thought it would be nice to bring home some beer mementos for the bar Craig wants in the basement of the house that we don't own yet. At this point, we have a fairly large collection of glasses, which are the easiest to find. It has been more of a challenge to find signs and other accessories, but we have managed to collect some nice things.

We took advantage of one the past weekends to make a quick trip to the Duvel Brewery. The brewery is only about a 20 minute drive from Antwerp and down the street  from Craig's work. Duvel makes several beers including one of my favorites, Vedett, and LaChouffe. We managed to pick up a sign, coasters and make a stop in a local cafe for a beer (or two).

Also, now making Duvel Tripel Hop

This past weekend, we drove to Mechelen to visit the town and have dinner at Brewery Het Anker. They brew many beers under the Gouden Carolus name along with several other varieties. They have been brewing beer since 1471(!!!) but did not start using the name Het Anker until 1872.

The weather could not have been more perfect and instead of using our time to explore the town, we found ourselves sitting at one of the cafes on Grote Markt sipping the local beer. Most of the beer in Belgium is very territorial. Even though we were only 16 miles from Antwerp, there was no sign of DeKoninck, the staple beer in every Antwerp bar. Mechelen is obliviously very proud of there local brew and it dominated every menu here.



Brouwerij Het Anker - Stepped Gables surrounded by cases of beer.



Gouden Carolus Classic and Maneblusser

In Grote Markt - Mechelen, Belgium

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.

Thanksgiving, Belgian Style and Sinterklaas and Zwarte Piet

What started out as a simple Thanksgiving dinner with another American family, turned into a somewhat large celebration including some of our Dutch friends. My friends Amelia and I had been working all week planning the right menu and dividing up who would make what. Our biggest obstacle turned out to be the turkey. We knew that we would be able to order a turkey from a butcher but could not stomach the idea of having to pay the equivilent of about $8.50 a pound. I even tried to see if the food store could get one in for me but was told they would not have have them until Christmas. We were told that a German food store chain carried frozen turkeys, so Amelia and I set out to the closest store in the bordertown, Aachen to get some. We were able to buy 2 - 6.5 pound frozen turkeys for about $2.50 a pound. The next day, I almost lost it when I went to the food store down the street and saw huge fresh turkeys in the case. 

Getting dinner on the table was a little hectic but convincing 9 little pilgrims to sit down and eat was easier than I expected. Our meal turned out great and it was so nice to be able to share some of our Thanksgiving traditions with friends who had never experienced it before.

The next day, we sent the kids off to school and went to Brugge. We didn't have much time there, but were able to squeeze in a brewery tour, which we would never have been able to do with the kids.

Saturday, Campbell's hosted Sinterklaas and his 2 of his Zwarte Piets. The event was really nice with pancakes (crepes), ice cream and candy. Campbell's gave us a choice of gifts for the kids. All of the options were very nice. Sinterklaas called each child up indiviually and gave them their gift. Seeing Sinterklaas is always nice but I still find the Zwarte Piets very odd.