Interrail Diaries #5

 Interrail Diaries #5: The Twerps in Antwerp. :D

We hadn't planned much to do in Antwerp because we were staying in the city centre we figured we'd just walk around and see what was cool. First stop was coffee because the powdered oat milk that I bought was pretty weird, we were also pretty hungry too because the room we were in had no fridge or cooking thing we didn't have anything to eat, bar some apples. 

As we headed to the coffee shop it started raining which it would do nearly all day - of course until we were back inside lol. Too hungry to function we first picked up some sandwiches from a place that did weird vegan fillings and then we went to the cutest coffee shop for drinks but also got a slice of apple cake and a cookie. 

Americano for me and oat vanilla latte for evan! :p

 The rain was still kicking so we decided to brave it and walk to the Bejinhof of Antewerp, which was sadly having construction work but still very beautiful.

Cannot believe people still live here! the dream..

Each door of each house had beautiful calligraphy of a saints name.

The Bejinhof church - super peaceful

 Afterwards we just started walking in a random direction and ended up at the Museum aan de stroom, which is a pretty famous cubey building. You can go up the top for free and look at the view via like 10 escalators, even though it was raining and cloudy it was still a nice experience. We also got to go to the only free exhibit they have which is like a peek into their warehouse. We got to watch a really interesting clip about this lady who collects porcelain dolls and some of her dolls were there to see too.

Looks old timey in a way lmao

Cute nun doll

Portrait of the collector by her dad

After that we sat by the docks and ate our sandwiches which were honestly really mid so I will not being spilling the name of the shop. I was kinda tired already and it was only midday so to pep me up we went to an arts supply shop by the university and I got some oil pastel crayons that I've been wanting for a while yay! We then walked through town to a yarn shop that had an amazing selection of wools so Evan was happy happy happy~ I was fading at this point so we stopped at Panos (Belgian greggs LOL) and I got my Belgian waffle. We also went to the supermarket and got dinner-y things because the vegan scene in Antwerp is expensive and we saving our coins for Amsterdam. In the evening I went on a little walk and looked at some of the street shrines which are like everywhere, way more than I saw in Italy which is where I'd def expect to see them more.

The next day we gathered up our things and hit the tram, then Albert Heijn - for tasty wraps, then the train to Amsterdam yay! The train ride was super sweet, really pretty views and I devoured a cinnamon bun from AH too that was soo tasty - kinda outsold Panos waffle... :0. In front of us on the train were these kids making signs for a climate protest that was happening in Amsterdam that day - it was so cool to see. Before long we had made it - our final destination: the city of canals, getting hit by bikes and tourists being really high before 11am - Amsterdam!  Catch us next time for Interrail Diaries #6!    

Interrail Diaries #4

 Interrail Diaries 4: The One Where They Went To Bruges. 

Sadly we had to leave the spooky Blankenberge house but before moving to the next location we headed to the town of Bruges. I signed up to a bag drop at a local hotel which was a life saver because I am NOT going to be walking round all day with my big ass bag on my back. 

Mural at Bruges Station.. so pretty

Bruges is like internationally acclaimed for being so damn beautiful and guess what - it is! But also because of that it's pretty busy, even the walk to town was pretty packed with tourists but as we went about our sightseeing they kinda dispersed. 

Honestly. This could be Ghent but there's no location or date tag. LOL

My first stop I'd been dying to get to was the Bascillia of The Holy Blood - which is said to have a relic of a host that is bleeding, with Christ's blood presumerably. So. We didnt see that- oops! I didnt look up what time they had it on show, but the church itself is just stunning! It's really colourful, almost folky so not such a wasted visit lmao.

the ceiling is soo cute?

Next thing we did was try and get into a museum for free and then we got hungry so we sat by the canal and ate our sandwhiches (vegan french cheese, tomato and homous - amazing combo). We had a booking for the Folk Museum in about an hour so we walked through town, taking our time to take in the beautiful medieval streets and classically Flemish houses. We also got a coffee from a local coffee shop that made all their drinks with pea milk?! I was pleasantly surprised with my pea milk americano, not much pea-y taste lol. 

evan with a mini library!

The Folk Museum was AWESOME! Each room was set up like a different persons room e.g Blacksmith, Cobbler or like a collection of historic items from the area like embroidery or devotional objects. We both had lots of fun doing the "kids activities" like putting on clogs and doing a dance and we also got to attempt some old fashioned games with some other visitors - none of us were any good lol!

Old-timey room

Folk museum resident cat - Aristide IV. He is very miaowing and not that interested in pets.

Various religious objects, so tiny!

Vintage hat fashion show, participants: 2

If your ever in Bruges the Folk Museum is my 1 reccomendation, it's really fun ^.^ 

We also went to the lace shop next door because I was being cheap and didn't want to pay to go to the Lace Museum but honestly it was like being in a museum. The lady who owns in collects and restores vintage lace and its all sooo beautiful! I bought a little swatch I'm gonna put in a frame soon.

Ty Evan for taking sneaky picks!!

Before leaving we visited some more churches - duh! And even got to go to a Carmelite church which adjourned a monastery. I'm a big fan of Carmelite saints - St Therese of Lisieux, St Teresa of Avilia and St John of The Cross so it was cool for me hehe. 

 

Pink and blue oh my!

St Teresa of Avilia statue

By this point we were ready to continue on our journey so we got our bags, almost got run over by some school kids and ate homous and bread in a park because we missed our train lmao! We finalllly got the train - which was mega busy, because it was busy we accidentally ended up in 1st class which I lowkey did not notice until a lady in front of us was like oh no I'm in 1st class. I was like noo we are too and then she was like they probs won't check anyway - and they did not! So thank you Antwerp lady :D! We made it to Antwerp in barely one piece and rushed into a falafel shop owned by a really sweet guy who was super cheerful :) We devoured our falafel by the river but then I got hot sauce all over my jumper so we bought some accidentally corked wine and headed back to the accom to binge watch Sex And The City. I also managed to get the hot sauce off - yay!

 

Antwerp... moments before hot sauce

 

:D

What will happen to the twerps in Antwerp?? Will we finally speak Dutch? probably not. hehe