Category: Barreling thru Belgium

Above: mock sweet orange (left) and greater celandine in Stadspark Above: new growth on yew (left) and spiny snow thistle

We started off on our first trek of the day by exploring the Cogels-Osylei neighborhood. It was a couple miles to the south of where we’re staying. We passed through a park and admired the sweet mock orange blossoms. Went under a decorated overpass. Skirted a lot of construction and ended up on Cogels-Osylei. The…

If nothing else, go for the wooden escalators and killer bikes. That would be Sint-Annatunnel, a pedestrian and bike tunnel, constructed 1931-1933, running under the Scheldt river and connecting Antwerp city center with the Left Bank. From the nondescript entrance, you take two long escalator flights down – both bikes and pedestrians The tunnel is…

Yesterday (Sunday), we visited the M HKA (Museum for Contemporary Art) in Antwerp. If you’ve read our blogs over the years, you know we try to take in some contemporary art wherever we go. There is often a lot we can learn about culture from these exhibitions, although sometimes they are…er…not so intriguing. The M…

During Antwerp’s Golden Age in the 16th century the Scheldt River running through the city was one of the largest ports in the world. Along a street by the docks an inscription on an old, nondescript warehouse dating from the bicycle boom of the late 19th century leapt out at me.  The bicycle boom was…

Yesterday, to take a break from walking in the rain, we stopped at the Museum of Contemporary Art (M HKA). On the first floor there were some interesting notions, like the curved half-door. Or the devil dog impaled on a branch. But the main exhibit was on the second floor featuring recent Palestinian art. Victimization…

Here are some photos from today’s ramble.

Is there a better way to spend a wet Sunday than finding a museum with an excellent collection of Old Masters? Yes, Ella, says there are countless ways, few of them ending upstairs avoiding the grasp of a red-walled exhibition. But to be in Antwerp and miss out on, say, Jean Fouquet’s  “Madonna”? Sacrilege! There she…

From the old stock exchange, we wandered the wet streets in the rain to the KMSKA (Royal Museum of Fine Arts Antwerp). What an eclectic mix. Old masters, modern masters, a Dali triptych thrown into the mix and an exhibition called “In Full Bloom” where those displays were mixed in with everything else.

Today was a rainy day. Our good weather karma has come to a halt but I can’t complain. Since we landed in Belgium almost 2 weeks ago, we’ve had nothing but glorious blue skies, temps in the 60s, creeping up to the low 70s. But today, I had to dig my rain jacket out of…

Walking in the rain this morning, a light sprinkle, was pleasant. Not so much traffic.  Less people on the street.  Belle Époque buildings. Market squares. And Handelsbeurs Antwerpen, one of the earliest of the world’s stock exchanges going back to the 16th century. Entrance to Handelsbeurs Antwerpen We ducked inside to take a look. They were setting…

If I’m all agog about Belgian rooftops it’s because Albuquerque’s skyline seems so flat. Looking down at the city from the La Luz Trail it seems like the roofing has been given a crewcut which makes sense considering how much of the city’s economy is dependent on the military. Outside of the high rises downtown…

As mentioned, we’ve arrived in Antwerp.  I was here in 2016 on my own and stayed a week. Back then, I stayed in the Jewish quarter, mostly Hasidic. This time we have a spacious apartment in what’s known as the theater area.  Our apartments in Brussels and Ghent were fine but both lacked comfortable seating….

We’ve moved to Antwerp. Just an hour by train from Ghent but a different world. Antwerp is particularly noted for its diamond district. At one time the vaults were considered so safe, no one carried insurance on their diamonds. Anyone watched a diamond heist movie lately? Arriving at Antwerp Centraal station is a unique experience….

I stumbled across this street art mural in Ghent and realized it portrayed parts of panels from the famous van Eyck altar piece we’d seen a couple days ago. I mentioned in that post about the multi-paneled painting’s tumultuous history of being sold, looted, some panels stolen and restored (all except one panel which remains…