Its all quiet on the Antwerpian front

Well Antwerp is done. It was pretty cool, plenty to see, and the beer there is as good as I had been led to believe. Strong stuff too!

The only issue I had with Antwerp is that it was so quiet! Compared to Amsterdam, there was pretty much no one around. I figured when it got later it might pick up, so I freshened up at the hostel, and headed back out. It was absolutely hammering down with rain, and one of the cars that drove past managed to hit a massive puddle at just the right angle and I copped the lot. Umbrella's don't really protect from water coming sideways. Anyway so I ended up at a bar that served food and ordered cheese and tomato on bread. It sounded a lot more interesting in Flemish (what Belgians speak). It was still quite nice, and the bread was so heavy it filled me up without difficutly.

Another major food here appears to be fries. Woe be to those who describe them as 'French' though, as the Belgians consider themselves the inventors. I tried their magical fries, and they're really nothing special. I think they are just there to give you something to eat the sauce that drenches them. Chips are always served with sauce, and at one of the fry huts, there are about 20 to choose from generally. From curry to mayonaise to good ol' tomato sauce, or ketchup.

Anyway so I had a few different beers at the bar which were all good, and strong. I wandered out from there to try and find a medieval bar which was described in my little map / guide thing (www.use-it.be, fantastic!) but failed. I went to the irish pub and it was also pretty dead. I spied a sign on the wall indicating a sports / pool area downstairs, jumped with glee to get down there only to find it completely empty. I don't mean just quiet, I mean -empty-.

So I decided to head home. My hostel was in some kind of jewish district; nearly everyone I saw was in their black coat with hat and curly sideburns. Even the kids! I got lost fairly quickly, probably a combination of the rain, not looking at my map and the Belgian beers still doing their work. I walked far too far before asking for directions, which one of the top-hatted jewish men was able to give me. I travelled for a while longer, and another Belgian guy gave me some pointers and eventually I made it back. It was a long day.

So this morning I got the train to Gent, and have spent the day looking around. I'm in a bar drinking another Belgian beer, Hoegaarden (yes, I know its not exactly obscure), using their free internet spot. I've probably tied it up for long enough though, so I'll give an account of Gent sometime later. Hopefully the nightlife is a bit more interesting than Antwerp. Tomorrow I am doing a day trip to Brugge, and will be heading to Brussles that night.