Antwerp

After our night in Mechelen we decided to take the train to Antwerp next day. This had the advantages that Thibault could drink, and he didn't have to extract the car from the tight underground parking space at the hotel!

Mechelen station is under renovation at the moment, so half is really run down and half is under this quite striking modern canopy

Antwerp station on the other hand is actually a match for the city's cathedral in terms of architecture

Outside the station is a ferris wheel. No we didn't indulge

We (well Thibault) did find some nice, if small, botanical gardens in the built up urban environment

We found a deserted Greek restaurant in a courtyard for lunch

We only visited the outside of the castle as the interior didn't have great reviews.

Very attractive Great Market square

But of course we had to see the cathedral. And joined an English speaking guided tour which was actually very good

Brick tombs in the crypt

I have no good photos of what was the main event of the day, because I only snatched a few on my phone. Thibault was very keen to visit this weird beer bar, it having been closed when he came to the city previously. How was it weird? Well it is small, dusty, and despite its small size, has space occupied by vast piles of old newspapers.

 It is run by a very elderly couple. Its only open in the afternoon - closes at 7pm. And you can't just walk in. You have to ring the door bell. The owner then comes to the door looks you up and down and asks what you want. Apparently you can enter if you say you have come to taste beer, not drink beer. Its cash only. "You have euros for me?" he asked as if we are about to enter into some illicit drug dealing.

Having secured entry we then got the beer menu. Honestly this was a tome the size of a bible. I said to Thibault that it looked like it should be bound with a dusty leather cover. He responded "Made of human skin." Yes it was that weird. 

We spent nearly a hundred euros in the place. Many of the beers were more like fortified wines, and at least as potent. Every bottle (and almost everything was a bottle) arrived covered in dust. Many of the beers were aged - they had vintages. 

All that would have made it a very good afternoon just with Thibault. But we moved off our table to join another group and let in more customers. And we just got chatting to them. All beer connoisseurs. One was a local middle aged  man there with his daughter who naturally spoke perfect English. The other two were Brazilian civil engineers in Europe to deliver a paper to a conference. And they were seriously into their beers. The younger one had crutches, originally I feared from some congenital issue, but in fact from a rock climbing accident, so he will be able to discard them soon. Anyway, conversation flowed delightfully, all fortunately in English as I was the only monolinguist in the group (to Thibault's shame - he loves being able to speak fluent French or German as appropriate in restaurants, and is only slightly mortified when a waiter would offer to speak English instead!) 

Anyway, early evening we said our farewells (despite the generous offer of the younger Brazilian to roast us some coffee at their hotel - he seemed even keener on coffee than beer!) as we wanted to eat in Antwerp before train back to Mechelen. And we went for a very fine upmarket Italian.

And as we were heading to the station, who did we bump into in the street but our Brazilian friends. Well you don't see many people bounding down the street on crutches so they were quite noticeable. And I am still in whats app connection with him after our holiday. I am very good at staying in touch 😀They were on their way to Munich for Okotoberfest. Of course!