Thoughts about Antwerp

It was on a whim that I ended up going and staying 3 days in Antwerp. Especially, considering I doubt I could have told you Antwerp was in Belgium before this trip, more or less what one would find and do there. However, I was pleasantly surprised with Antwerp and may even consider revisiting it for the winter holidays. Below are some of my thoughts and observations about Antwerp.


Antwerp City: 
The store fronts in Antwerp are struggling!! This is a trend you also see in New York City, but its much more extreme here. I saw one block with 3 store fronts in a row empty. As the world shifts more and more toward online shopping, I imagine this trend will become even more dramatic.

Despite the store fronts struggling, Antwerp is known for its shopping. There's a larger fashion industry here and a larger emphasis on design in general than most cities. I bought a white maxi dress in a specific style that I've been looking for over the past 2 years. It's strange to me that I found it in Antwerp.

The Cathedral is late white Gothic and beautiful, but you have to pay 6 euro to get in (why do they do that!). It has a famous painting of the "Descent of Christ" by Rubens that I personally found to be uncomfortable (maybe that's why they make you pay?). You can see a picture of it below - in real life its roughly 3 times as tall as me (~15 feet). 

Antwerp has an impressive train station that was built with the money they got from killing Africans for rubber. It also has the largest diamond industry in the world historically - also thanks to Africa. It's a city whose wealth was built off of colonialism, which is uncomfortable. But I'm impressed by the Belgians who not only recognize it, talk about it, and are starting to take responsibility for it. There is a colonialism museum in Brussels that was recommended to me and I'm hoping to see it.

Trappist Beer is beer made by monks and it is delicious.

Below are some beers I tried in Antwerp.

Interactions with the People:
The Belgians are incredibly warm, friendly, and pragmatic people. They are like the best of both worlds when it comes to northern versus southern Europeans.

A waiter last night sat down and chatted with us about Belgium and shared some of his travel stories. He was in Laos/Thailand/Cambodia for 10 months and loved it. He said that its weird when you are in the jungle - the birds there have all died from the hunting so the jungle is silent.

The cab driver told us to not say we are from the USA when in Brussels since our president called it "Hell on Earth" and the people of Brussels do not appreciate it. (Do you blame them? I would be super upset if a foreign prime minister called New York "Hell on Earth" after 911 - it is just BAD diplomacy.) I think I'll continue saying I live in New York - people get way more excited about that and tend to be more forgiving towards my American shortcomings.

The same cab driver found out I like beer and told me I should try the beer Jupiler. "It is really good," he said. I have not tried it and probably will not - it is the beer I keep seeing young people with and its the cheapest on the menus - I imagine its like keystone or Miller light.

The Europeans are confused why Americans don't want universal healthcare and they ask about this a lot. I tell them I don't really get it either and say I think the argument people make against it is it will raise taxes.
They respond, "but it pays for your healthcare."
Me: "I know, but the Americans are a proud  and self centered people and would rather take out a second mortgage on their home (even lose their home!), work multiple jobs and force their teenage kids to work to pay off their health debt when dad gets cancer rather than pitch in for anyone else's dad that gets cancer. They do this in the name of 'freedom,' its a special kind of American privileged."
Them: I think I'll stick to Europe.
Me: That is probably smart.

Platin-Moretus Museum (aka The Printing Press Museum)
The printing press museum in Antwerp is AMAZING. I spent 2 hours there and could have easily spent 3.5 hours, but they kicked me out because it was closing. It is fascinating how quickly knowledge spread with the printing press and how much power the publishers had in deciding what got published (mostly Bibles, Christianity stuff, and Greek philosophy). Books were a luxury item so only the rich had access to the books that were printed - women (who could read) were not allowed to read anything except the Bible.

The Printing Room where books were made in Antwerp.

Making mistakes in printing early books was fairly common because the process was so cumbersome. It took 8 hours to set the letters/words for ONE page of a book. Most books had to be translated from their original Greek or Latin so either the translation would get mixed up or the format would get mixed up, this at times could change the meaning of the text even if it was off by one letter. They had scholars they hired to catch these mistakes, however, because making books was so expensive and time consuming it wasn't unusual for several hundred copies of a misprinted page to be sent out into the world.

To be more competitive in the printing market, Platin hired someone to create the Garmond font. It is the same font you can use on word today. Above are the letters that were placed into the printing press to make text.