We arrived in Antwerp and after quite a bit of lost wandering and map mis-reading we found out hostel. An interesting place to say the least... The name translates as something like ¨The Witches Brew.¨ The first floor is a bar and when we got there the owner informed us that our room was being remodeled and so we would be sleeping in the staff room. As we started looking around we realized they really took this witch theme all out. The were brooms, witches hats and lots of weird weird stuff around. The stairs were so narrow and tightly spiraled that I worried about people falling down...even when sober!
But we settled in and went for a wander around the city of Antwerp. Honestly, not much to see. The cathedral is beautiful (but all of the churches are starting to sort of blend together), we found a store that sells chocolates in the shape of genitalia (amusing...and disturbing, actually), we saw lots of super hip young people and had not-awesome Chinese take away for dinner. Then it was back to the hostel to hang out with the other residents at the bar on the first floor. It was actually a great night. Since it was a Monday the bar wasn't open to anyone but people staying there. So a group of about 10 of us ended up hanging out all night talking, laughing, playing cards...and drinking a bit of beer. (Just a bit really!)
The next morning after a bit of a sleep in we headed off to the Pedestrian Tunnel, which goes underneath the river that runs through town. We had heard that it was one of the coolest things to do in Antwerp, so we were naturally very excited. Well, the coolest part was that to get down to the tunnel you rode on a wooden escalator! That's right! An escalator made out of wood!! Whoo-hooo!!! But then you get down there. And it´s a tunnel. A long tunnel. A long, white tunnel. A long, white, plain and frankly boring tunnel. But we walked it and saw Antwerp from across the river...and then walked back. Checked out the shopping scene...a bit too hip for me. Had lunch at a bagel shop. Had fries. Took showers. Found a place where there was going to be live music that night. Hung out. Went back out and heard live music...it was good, but he sang in Flemish (obviously) but it is not as much fun to listen to folk music if you don't understand the words. Then went to bed.
Antwerp was...not awesome, overall. We were really excited and ready to be heading to Amsterdam the next morning. (Part of the reason we may not have liked Antwerp as much is that we were to the point of no longer being able to deny our colds. We were all coughing like crazy and really not feeling well...). But on to Amsterdam anyway...there is no rest for the weary traveller.
As we were boarding the train for Amsterdam we realized that the Antwerp hostel had lost our bar tab and so we had been drinking for free for two nights! Thanks Kyle!
Got into Amsterdam and headed over to the hostel. We were coming around the corner, smiling and laughing because we could already tell that we were gonna love this town. We saw the sign for our hostel. ¨Shelter Jordan- Christian Hostel.¨ our faces sank. How could we have possibly booked a Christian hostel?!? In Amsterdam of all places!?!
Amsterdam has a reputation for being a city where it is extremely challenging to find a room so we really didn't have a choice...and we checked into the Christian Hostel. (To be fair it wasn't as bad as I expected. I was only asked once to come to Bible Study. The worst part was actually that the staff were such pricks and really uptight about everything...but that didn't necessarily relate to them being Christians...I guess.)
Went out to wander and get a sense of the town. Had fallafel for lunch, checked out a coffee shop, had some fries as a late night snack and then went to bed. The next morning we rented bikes so that we could see Amsterdam the way the locals really see it. People had told me that there were a lot of bikes in Amsterdam...but nothing really prepares you for how much of a biking city it really is...wow. We had a few interesting/scary moments on the bikes...but overall we were really glad we had them because it enabled us to see a lot more of the city.
Well, I think that'll do it for me now. Hopefully I'll be able to finish up Amsterdam soon and then start to catch up on what we've been up to in Spain!
Blessings,
KNL
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