Where the Old Meets the New

After spending a week in Berlin (which I wrote about last week), our next destination was Antwerp, Belgium. We boarded the plane, and an hour later, were in a different country and a different world. We stayed at Hotel Rubens, on a small street in the center of the Old Town, literally a few steps from the famous Cathedral of Our Lady, which was built in 1521, surrounded by old buildings, boutiques, and specialty stores. Since this area caters to tourists, there were also a few familiar places, including McDonalds, Starbucks and Häagen-Daz (in spite of the European sounding name, it is an American ice cream company). At the Waffle Factory, they offer Belgian waffles, which were very light in taste, but had the same number of calories as their American cousins. Next door, was a place that sold Belgian fries, which were advertised along with Coca -Cola. The connection between the Old and the New World became less obvious when we ventured away from the center; though, everyone we talked to, spoke excellent English (Flemish is their native dialect).

I liked Antwerp from the first encounter. It was 100% opposite of our experience in Berlin. When we stepped out from our hotel, I noticed a man in a red hat drinking beer. He saw me, lifted his glass to greet me, then hopped on his bike and rode away. Belgium is known for its beer, as well as its chocolate. One store boasted that they have truffles in 25 different flavors. At home, I do not eat bread or sweets, but in Belgium, I have to admit, I had Belgian waffles covered with Belgian dark chocolate. After all, “when in Rome, do as the Romans do”.

It seemed that the main form of transportation in the city center was by bicycle. There are no designated lanes. Bicyclists ride everywhere, in the middle of narrow roads or on sidewalks. They don’t usually wear helmets, and it seems that no one complains, and somehow everyone manages to work together (I have seen similar circumstances in Berlin as well).

The name Antwerp in Dutch means “hand thrown”, which comes from the legend I found on Eupedia.com. We came here for only two days, on the way to our next destination (which you will read about next week).

The following morning, before moving on, we visited the Rubens House. On the way there, we walked through the area with a lot of chains of famous American stores. The weather was chilly but a lot of people on the streets seemed to be having a good time. Our last lunch was in a small square in front of a church built in the 1600s. The trip was enjoyable and I strongly recommend adding Antwerp or Antwerpen, as the locals call it, to your list of places to visit.

From Antwerp we took a train to Paris. What surprised us is that there was absolutely no security control. We took our suitcases onto the train and stored them next to other passengers. The train stopped in Brussels. Passengers got out and in, carrying their luggage. After we returned to San Francisco, we learned about what happened in Brussels.

It seems that Paris and Brussels, and Europe in general is far from us. But the terrorist acts that happened there, affect all of us. Can we be protected? Should we not travel to other countries? President Ronald Reagan adopted and often repeated the Russian proverb – “Trust, But Verify.”

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