Here is an image that ought to confirm that we are indeed living in Belgium, the land of lace and tapestries. There is lots of this to be found in Brugge (Bruges) but this little shop is right here in Antwerp. It has been there for as long as I can remember so the tourists must still be buying this stuff. One of our favorite places to go for a drink or an authentic Flemish meal is "'t Elfde Gebod," which translates to The Eleventh Commandment. You all know the 10 first ones by heart right, this one is was left out of the OT but the Flemmings feel it is essential to life, "eat, drink, and be merry." The place is jam-packed with statues of various saints, the Virgin, and Christ, so when eating and drinking one is in good company. The place is cozy and inviting, especially on a wet and cold Belgian evening. In the weekends tourists flock to it, so it is best to stay away then. I have often taken pictures of the place inside but the other evening walking by it, I realized that I had never taken pictures from the outside looking in and it is exactly this view that is so inviting. This night too as it was once again a wet and cold evening. But Robert and I were on our way to the tram, so we walked past without going in.(Rachel, these are for you!)
Antwerp is, as you know, situated near the river Schelde. I promise pictures of the river and the "boardwalk" later on this spring, when it is actually pleasant to be walking down there. Today, Robert and I walked down to the tunnel that connects the city with the "linkeroever" or left bank, a residential area that was popular a few decades back when high-rises providing apartments with views of the city (at least on one side of the buildings) were built along the shore. These (in my opinion, quite hideous) buildings are coming back in vogue now with the hip younger crowd who are buying the apartments and completely gutting them to turn them into more contemporary dwellings. I suppose the view might be worth it. Apart from these, Linkeroever is also home to several tiny residential suburbs. So the tunnel is actually used quite a bit. It was built in the 1930s and is strictly pedestrian. You go down two original wooden escalators and then walk for over 500 meters underneath the river. For some reason this tunnel has earned itself a mention into most guide books on Antwerp. Now that I think of it, I ought to take a picture of its exterior structure as well as it is a nice piece of 1930s architecture. For now, here are some views of its guts. I must say that this is the only wooden escalator I know of.
More pics of Antwerpen in the next issue of "A very random selection of impressions." Also, I will say happily that the house is looking good! A big hooray for the Polish wall plasteres who worked with speed as well as great care! It looks good. I am now arranging the pouring of the subfloor for the ground floor. Once that layer is dry the new hardwood can be laid and then the kitchen can be placed! Yeah. Then it will really start to look like a house. In the meantime the bathrooms can be worked on further. These still need to be plastered because the contractor and plumber were not quite as efficient as the plasterers. I am starting to think we should have had everything done by the Polish guys... More on that actually later.
For now, many greetings of a slightly sunny (yet still cool) Antwerpen.
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