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20140427 Sunday ... Scroll Down.........

Vantage: Antwerp Your European river cruise continues to Antwerp, Belgium’s second largest city and one of Europe’s “undiscovered” gems, boasts beautiful gothic and baroque architecture and lively cafés. The impressive cathedral houses paintings by master Peter Paul Rubens (1577-1640), which you’ll view on your included walking tour. Cultural Connection: Enjoy a real treat back on board ship — a delicious Belgian chocolate making demonstration! Passengers may also choose to join the optional Hidden Flanders excursion to the town of Lier, known for its beers and unique architecture.




Actual: ........ PhotoLink-O .... PhotoLink-D

A gray day and cooler 47*/64*.

I’m finally (after three days) able again to update the page. Something was preventing my uploading to the server using “ftp”. Now, it’s working but slowly, so I’ll update these pages first and upload pictures when I can.

After breakfast we hung around the lounge until the chocolatiers demonstration of how they make and store chocolate. We didn’t buy any, since the good stuff is hard to keep correctly, and the stuff that keeps is of poor quality. We’ll order some from home when we return there.

Then we hit the beach. We in our slow-walking group were escorted up the gangway onto the dock. When we returned, we walked up the gangway to get onto the boat - tremendous tidal reach here.

We walked a few feet to the street, which was majorly blocked of for the finish of the 10-mile and marathons. We crossed after looking and wandered through some back streets. The Butcher’s Guildhall was pointed out, and the town hall, and inexpensive housing, and many shops and restaurants. No stores open, though.

We dropped out of the tour at the cathedral where Dolores decided she want to go to mass. I walked the neighborhoods and found nothing intriguing. I came back to wait and found the cathedral square a zoo. The marathoners were finishing a block away and going through it to the cool-down area. Tour groups were marching through it. Families walking through it. Seemed as though everyone in town was there.

Dolores left mass, so we went up the street to an Italian restaurant. I had saltimbocca with pasta side, Dolores had ossobucco with pasta side and we had a half-liter of the house red. Not bad, except my bird must have been able to vote by the time it expired. D liked hers.

Then we slowly hiked up the marathon route to the river and along it to the ship. We took it easy for a couple of hours.

The ship left Antwerp at 1645 promptly. We threaded our way out through canals to the north rather than the Westerschelde waterway open to the ocean to the west. Tomorrow is Arnhem.

At Arnhem, the primary museum will be closed so we will be bused to the Liberation Museum, said to be a series of wonderful talks on the freeing of the Netherlands from Nazi rule.

I was the only male at our table of six at dinner. Moms & daughters were four of the six, D & I were the other two. The two to my left were from Ann Arbor although the older one lives near Phoenix now (she’s the one with the broken wrist bone). The other couple were from New Jersey with the older person residing in the same general area of Phoenix as the above. Strange.

Dinner was excellent. As the courses changed, the chef responsible for it was introduced. Much clapping. We ended with Rudesheim coffee, i.e., coffee with Asbach brandy in it. Glenn & Marylou will recognize this immediately.

Later, there’s a movie in the lounge that doesn’t invite either of us. So we went to the cabin and read books and did computer chores.

The internet is on & off tonight as we thread our way through canals and waterways. The satellite just can’t keep up.