Our First Weekend Trip: Antwerp

We pretty much planned out the next 10 weekends of our life. I was looking at the calendar and the list of places we want to go and realized we don't really have that much time! Our first weekend here we spent in Brussels, just relaxing and getting to know our own city.

Weekend #2 (this past weekend) we took our first trip together since arriving in Belgium. We decided to explore the city of Antwerp (Dutch: Antwerpen / French: Anvers), capital of the Flanders region of Belgium.

One of the main things that intrigued me about this city is it's known as "the Diamond capital of the world." It was fun to walk around and look at all of the beautiful diamond rings, earrings, necklaces and unique designs. I joked that one day for our wedding anniversary he should bring me here and say "Pick one. Any one you want." haha... it was fun to admire and I was excited to find a shop called "Natali" located at 74B (7 is my lucky number).

Apparently Antwerp is also home to the oldest zoo in the world, however, we didn't want to pay 20 Euros to see the same exotic animals we could see in America... so we ventured around the city instead.

One of the coolest parts about Antwerp is the "Grote Markt" - which is sort of similar to Brussels' Grand Place. I loved all of the flags on the building and of course the giant green statue / water fountain is pretty cool looking. We were lucky that we had such good weather. It was perfect for traveling because it wasn't too hot or too cold.

Another beautiful building in Antwerp is the Het Steen Castle. Apparently it was built during Viking time back in the Middle Ages. It used to be a fortress, a castle and a one point a prison but now it's a museum. We didn't go inside but it was really neat to walk around. I always love castles.

One thing I'll never forget about Antwerp is all the walking we did. It was definitely good for me but our feet were SO sore. We walked across the Saint Anna Tunnel because I really wanted to see the Antwerp skyline. I'm really glad I did. The view was beautiful! We also heard there was a small beach nearby, so we walked quite a ways but finally found it. It was a little bit of a disappointment... but I was still happy to put my feet in the sand.

On our walk back to the city center, I found the coolest playground! It had the most fun contraption I'd ever seen... with a great view too. I'm not even sure what to call it, maybe a Zip-Swing? Anyway, this just may have been the highlight of my day.

Before grabbing some dinner, Christopher spotted a group of guying playing basketball. Normally, we would have passed by but he just happened to be wearing tennis shoes... and he has been looking for guys to play with for weeks. (It's easy to find soccer players, but not so easy to find basketball players). So he played a few games and despite my dying hunger... I enjoyed watching him too :)

We ended our day with a meal from Quick Restaurant (kind of like McDonald's) which was a great choice because they had unlimited refills on drinks!! I almost couldn't believe my eyes. We were in Coke Zero / Fanta heaven.  Plus the burgers and fries were pretty good too.

Overall, I really liked Antwerp. It was a beautiful city with great views, cool buildings, a fun atmosphere and great shopping! I definitely recommend it :)