Antwerp, in all honesty, is not that beautiful of a city. It’s old, gray and has a coldness to it. The city has grit, so if you like dark and stormy Europe, you will love Antwerp. To be honest, if I hadn’t purchased concert tickets (more on that later in this post) we likely would have skipped Antwerp.
The last (and only) time I visited Antwerp it was to shop for diamond earrings, which I still own and wear to this day. With no diamond to purchase this trip, Charlie and spent a leisurely day exploring the city.
We visited the Rubens House, where the artist Rubens lived for five years. He designed and lavishly decorated the house himself. In addition to stately art the house has grandiose finishes like leather wall paper in some rooms. Anytime I visit the house of someone famous and dead, I feel a bit voyeur- esque. Nonetheless, the Ruben House interesting to see.
We then took a walk to see some the old architecture in the city including Het Steen, the medieval fortress in the old city center.
That night after taking a much needed nap we headed out to a concert. OKAY- Okay. I probably should have done more than listen to one song on Sound Cloud before buying tickets. BUT, in my defense the one song I listened to was good!
So,…. I might have bought tickets to a teenage rock band. And Charlie and I might have been old enough to be the parents of 90% of the concert goers. But when the lights went down, we rocked it out!
After the concert we headed out for a beer. We went to what has been rated one of the top beer bars, if not the best beer bar in the world, The Kulminator.
Folk, this is a weird place. And by weird, I mean, yes that is the owner mail sitting on a table in the middle of the bar. SHIT EVERYWHERE. I honestly wanted to start cleaning. I’m pretty sure the owners are hoarders. And I’m also pretty sure the hops on the ceiling have been there since the place was erected. But if you’re a beer nerd, it’s a pretty bad ass place. The woman takes the orders and serves the beer while the some man, I think the nice woman’s husband, fetches bottles from the cellar. The beer list is impressive. They also have a stellar cheese plate with either old cheese OR new cheese (if you ask for a combo, you get two plates of cheese…which yes, Charlie and I gleefully ate. Hey, teenage rock bands work up an appetite). (Don’t forget to check back next Tuesday for a full recap of my dining adventures in Belgium.)
We closed down the Kulminator and headed back to our hotel for a bit of shut eye before heading to our last destination Ghent (which I will be blogging about later today).
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