The long awaited update! So, I’m going to try and make this as interestingly brief as possible, including only the most important details. yeah. We’ll see how well that goes.
Ok, the last thing I really left you with was back in Sweden! (Sheesh, that seems like forever ago.) So….
Antwerp's Grote Markt
Monday, March 24:
We got home from the airport late after a whole day of traveling. My friends Angela and Michelle had already been in the city since 6am Sunday morning, so we were anxious to get home and get the apartment cleaned up for when they came. They managed to get to our place without too much trouble, so that day ended well.
Tuesday, March 25:
After a very late start, since A & M where still jet-laggin a bit, we started out on a walk to see some of Brussels. Come to find out they had managed to see most of the really touristy stuff the two days before, so our itinerary was slightly less of the Day 1 tourist attractions.
We started off walking past the Royal Palace (yes, Belgium is a monarchy), which isn’t open for tours this time of year. Sad. So we took lots of pictures of the outside and the guards doing their walk. Next stop was the Musee du Jouet, a toy museum that had toys dating back to the 18th century. We almost thought we were going to get to see a marionette show, but for some reason it was cancelled or wasn’t actually happening…some woman came and made an announcement in French and all the children dispersed, so we weren’t sure what happened there. Anyway, a very quirky, unconventional museum.
After that we had coffee across from the Parliament building and decided on the course of action for that night. We tried to go see the Cathedrale des Saints Michel et Gudule, which looks quite a lot like Notre Dame de Paris, but we only managed to get in for about 4 minutes before it closed. After that we went to Grand Place to pick up some touristy stuff for A & M to bring home. Dinner and bed was the final note on the agenda.
That night I also found out about the passing of my Great Grandmother. A tough night, but everyone was really understanding about everything. So thanks to Angela and Michelle for helping me not let that put a damper on their time here.
Wednesday, March 26:
I hung out at home that day. A & M went to an Army museum, I think. Kristoffer took part of the day off to stay with me, and we spent the afternoon in a café around the corner. We had dinner that night in this great asian restaurant. They have this fantastic calamari dish that I love. But anyway, this was a quieter day.
Thursday, March 27:
I decided to go with my friends on an overnight trip to Antwerp (in northern Belgium) and Amsterdam in the Netherlands. We had a little snafu with our train ticket to Antwerp. For some silly reason, the guy in the ticketing office had sold us a ticket that wasn’t valid until 9am, but had told us that we could take the 8:20 train. This wasn’t a matter of miscommunication. We knew our tickets wouldn’t be valid to leave the Netherlands until after 9am the next day, but another lady the day before had said that stipulation did not apply in Belgium for our initial trip. Of course, on the train, the ticketer told us our tickets were not valid and we had to buy an additional 7 Euro ticket to get to Antwerp. Sillyness. But very typical of this country: the left hand doesn’t know what the right is doing. There are a lot of things that don’t work in this country, this has just been added to my list.
ANYWAY, once we got to Antwerp it was great. We stopped at a café, because nothing else was open yet (lame considering we had paid to be there that early!), and then went to a really great Museum called Rubenhuis. It’s the house of this famous Belgian architect/painter, and it was really interesting and a beautiful estate. We wandered around Antwerp and saw the main market (Grote Markt), an ancient fortress which is now a maritime museum, got lost a couple times, got back on track, and saw the Onze-Lieve-Vrouwe-Kathedraal (which was GORGEOUS, but cost 2 Euro to go all the way into, so we didn’t, plus no time).
One thing to mention about Antwerp: it’s is in the northern part of the country, which is the Flemish area. They speak Flemish which sounds (and reads) like a strange combination of Swedish and German. There were words that I could pick out that were like Swedish and there were words that Michelle and Angela could pick up out that were like German. Weird. Good thing they all speak English!
Next we went to Amsterdam and found a cheap hotel. We wandered around a bit, and even saw the Red Light district, which was sketchy. We were pretty tired from wandering around Antwerp all day so we crashed a little early.
Friday, March 28:
We started off the day with a decent hotel breakfast and headed out to see the sights of Amsterdam! After dropping our bags off in a locker at the train station, we took an ubber-touristy canal ride which was somewhat interesting if not just visually nice. Then we went to the Anne Frank Museum in the house where she and her family hid from the Nazis for over 2 years. It was really fascinating and very well presented.
We tried to go see the Jewish Museum after that, but got lost on our way so we decided to head back towards the train station. A massive hunt for souvenirs ensued where I was looking for these really cute little magnets that we had seen the night before. After scouring every souvenir shop we passed for about an hour, we finally found the place we were at the night before! yay! Never again, will I think “Oh I’ll just buy it tomorrow…” What a pain.
Hopped the 6pm train home (literally! we jumped onto the train as it was pulling out!) and got back to Brussels about 9pm.
Angela & Michelle in the Canal Boat in Amsterdam
Saturday, March 29:
A & M decided to take another day trip out to Bruges near the west coast of Belgium, I was pretty wiped from the last two days, so I decided to stay home. We had lunch at one of our favorite restaurants nearby. I bought a rose on our way home for the little remembrance thing I was going to do for Great Grandma the next day, and we spent the rest of the afternoon in our café around the corner called Maison Renardy. This place is a favorite of mine and I’ll have to write more about it later. That night, after A & M got back, we took them to the proclaimed “Best Pomme Frites in Brussels.” It’s pretty much a Dick’s restaurant style, outdoor, walk-up-window, fast food place that serves darn good fries (Pomme Frites). And since it has no dining area, all the bars around the area allow you to eat your food with a drink purchase from them. Pretty good deal, and again, darn good fries. Maybe not the best I’ve ever had, but good good good.
Sunday, March 30:
Michelle and Angela left to go back to the states.
The rest of this day is chronicled in my previous blog, so I won’t repeat that again here.
YAY! almost caught up!
This last week nothing very exciting happened. I quit my job, and spent a lot of time at my favorite café studying. Tomorrow (I promise), I will write about my excursion to Waterloo yesterday, which was quite fun. And perhaps post some pictures if the internet is cooperating.
Alright, signing off cuz its time for bed!
The long awaited update! So, I’m going to try and make this as interestingly brief as possible, including only the most important details. yeah. We’ll see how well that goes. 
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