Ghent, 2015

We visited Ghent in 2013, primarily to see the Mystic Lamb, but were enchanted by the old town too, and I did three posts (http://roadeveron.blogspot.be/2013/06/ghent-sights.html, http://roadeveron.blogspot.be/2013/06/adoration-of-mystic-lamb.html, and http://roadeveron.blogspot.be/2013/06/more-ghent-art.html). I'll try to keep it to two this time. If you're looking for pix of van Eyck's masterpiece, that supreme artistic statement of Christianity in the Middle Ages, as some say, you'll find them on the 2013 posts. This time the special viewing room at St. Bavo's was packed, the staff seemed far more insistent on the rules, and I certainly did not want to get reprimanded or punished in front of what is one of my favorite paintings. On the whole, we tried to fill in some gaps in our previous visit, both in the town and in St. Bavo's, and, hopefully, there won't be too much duplication. And if there is, it's Ghent, and warrants another visit, and another....  

Welcome back to Ghent!

Another of Belgium's great bell towers

The Stadthuis...regime change in architecture

Entry to the TI, and a pretty nice canal-side
restaurant

One of many canals; large, scenic canals, not over-run with
tour-boats as in Brugge

Castle from canal

One of hundreds of old buildings

Street/canal scene

Ditto

Ditto again

And again

And again

All the walking and gawking brought on a snack attack, which
in Belgium can be dangerous

A fixer-upper, one of the first we've seen in
these urban areas

Our explorations took us into the Patershol, an old Medieval
area long associated with an hospital/orphanage; and now
home to some of Ghent's more, um, interesting restaurants (if
you can see them, note the awards...)

Part of the English menu at Vier Tafels; we
would certainly have eaten there but, a) I never
would have figured out what wine to pair with
kangaroo, ostrich, and zebra kabob, (not to
mention the crocodile), and b) they were closed

Next door, Amadeus, "The Place for Ribs," where Vicki would
have eaten

The 14th century orphanage (updated a bit), now a school

More beautiful old buildings (now restaurants)

Another canal view...the girls were going to do the canals in
these little 2-seaters...we saw them later...and they did

The Big Cannon, 1425, never fired a shot

Socialist Workers Union (left); we sat in its shadow and
enjoyed another decadent snack of vlaamse frites, two orders,
not shared

Yet another beautiful street

And Sweet P's, a retro shop for women and kids

Antwerp Parade Of Homes, 1905

One of the things we missed when last in Antwerp was a (then) suburban area near Berchem station that is noted for its Art Nouveau and other residences. Cogels-Osy and Waterloo are the two main streets, although there are others, and we spent several hours walking and gawking and taking pix. 240 pix. Reducing these to one post has been extremely painful.

Cogels-Osy Straat

Not everything was Art Nouveau

!!!

So I'll post just the ones we liked best

Sometimes without caption

Our over-all favorite, the one with the over-sized
port-hole (I'm sure there's name for this)

Thus

And thus

And thus

Moving right along to Waterloo Straat

So far as we could tell, real people live here

Another favorite

And another

Four of these, the Four Seasons, at four corners

Another favorite, the Waterloo House

Thus, Wellington and Bonaparte

Yet another street: next time

!!!

Not Art Nouveau, but interesting nonetheless

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

Most of our attention was focused on the station

And the adjacent zoo buildings

Side entrance to station

A view of the five levels of interior; we paused
for a frites break here

Antwerp has long had a large Jewish population, associated
with the diamond trade, and we saw the distinctive dress all
over the city

Thus; most of the Jewish population was deported and murdered
by the Germans, but some 1400 survived and returned to Antwerp

Totdat We Terug, Nederlands

As I write, June 19^th, we plan to leave the Netherlands shortly, heading for Belgium and then France. We had planned on spending two weeks in Nederlands, sightseeing, outfitting and testing the new (to us) camper while it is still under warranty. But that two weeks has expanded to four, and then some. Part of this is jet lag/old age/retirement syndrome. Jet lag and old age are real. It takes longer to adjust. Retirement syndrome means, as long as your health holds out, you don't have to hurry. Or want to. Plus we've had a touch of injury and illness; now on the mend. Anyhow, we have seen more of Nederlands than ever before, in part because of our MuseumKartes and the suffering euro, and in part because we have thoroughly enjoyed our time here. It's been an education, and not just culturally, observing a country whose standard of living is higher than that of the US and whose politics and attitudes are so very different.

Plus, we have spent some time making improvements to the camper: enhanced safety and security, solar power, new DC outlets, screen door, a fan, water filter, propane bottles adaptable to all the different systems in Europe, a back-up camera, household accoutrements, gadgets and gizmos of every kind, and much more. All this has involved trips to various stores as well as hours spent in researching, planning, installation, testing and so forth. Apart from the lack of air conditioning, we have things about the way we want them. (Well, we're still looking for a proper paper-towel holder.) And so we're now ready to venture out. Not a little of the improvement has been due to Rene at BW Campers, who sold us the vehicle, providing all the paperwork and insurance, who did some of the work himself and who generously lent us his shop and tools when we needed them. And in English, too. If you're interested in doing what we're doing, you should visit him at http://www.bwcampers.com/en/. 

140 watts; works, too; we love watching our Trimetric show the
energy falling out of the sky