The Road Goes Ever On: On To Antwerp

Saturday, June 27, 2015

On To Antwerp

After Rotterdam, we drove back to Amsterdam and the Amsterdamse Bos, and then up to Zilk, beyond Haarlem, to pick up the solar panel we had ordered. The next day I installed it at BW Campers, smoothly, successfully, with only a minor mishap that was easily remedied. Only the wiring--connecting the panel to controller and to the shunt and to the battery and to the Trimetric monitor remained to be done, and I was unusually confidant, having watched HandyBob and Ralph from Bogart Engineering work on these things. An all-day rain was forecast for later in the week, a good time for indoor electrical work, so we drove the 100 miles or so from Amsterdam to Antwerp, to enjoy a good sunny day there and then to connect all the connections later. Only connect, as Forster said.

We were last in Antwerp in May of 2013. If you're into European art history, as we are, Antwerp is one of those holy places, this one owned lock, stock, and barrel by Peter Paul Rubens. As I've observed before, if you measure masterpieces by square meter of canvas, Pietro Paulo is the all-time champeen, and not by a little. He couldn't do a small canvas. And, in addition to Team Rubens--all his partners, students, assistants, hangers-on, etc.--he had the whole force of the Counter-Reformation behind him, and then some. The friend and confidant of kings and queens and popes, he was not your starving artist. So, anyway, we visited the cathedral, the Rockox House, the Mayer van der Berg House, and Rubens' House, and more. We are not really Rubens fans, however, and so once was quite enough, although there is plenty of non-Rubens interest in the aforementioned sites. For this 2015 visit to Antwerp we wanted to concentrate on the city's little Art Nouveau district, centered around Cogels-Osy in Berchem.

We got to Berchem station, but someone there told us we really must go downtown to the festival of The Giants, which was ending that very day. A Belgian tradition. Some of us have a weakness for local festivals, pageantry, costumes, etc., and so off we went, map and tram/bus tickets in hand, a knapsack on my back, in search of The Giants. We got off the tram at Antwerp's glorious old central station and proceeded to walk to the park where the Giants were; and, later, back. In the course of this we got to see much of Antwerp we had not seen before.

Inside Antwerp's central station; more later

Just adjacent to the station, the Antwerp zoo

Street scene; but no ordinary street scene

We're in Antwerp's Chinatown; beneath the
gate is the station

Restaurant menu in four languages

Interesting building along the way

We decided to have our picnic lunch in a park; but then noticed
the array of cars and tractors around us with giant drums and
cymbals on them; and some of the cars were sitting atop other cars;
all this, we deduced, must be part of The Giants

And at last, following the crowds, we arrived at the park where
were The Giants

Voila!

Ditto; apparently The Giants are giant marionettes operated by
cranes; we got there at 1PM; the show started at 2:30; we
decided to move on back to Art Nouveau Antwerp; I have
resolved to look The Giants up on YouTube someday; I guess
it's a European thing, one we wouldn't understand

Some of the thousands in the park that Sunday to watch The
Giants; I noted we were the only adults without young children
in tow

This is what all the fuss was about; "Atypisch
Antwerp"

Sites along the way back to the station included interesting
sculpture; could you do this with drones?

Zoo statuary

And of course the diamond district around the station; Antwerp
is still Diamond Central, although the bulk of the trade has
moved to India (not China?); the big job still are done here;
we read