Banks Antwerp

... it was a journey getting there!

Our hostel was nice and we shared the room with one other girl each night.

Our first night there, our mission was to eat waffles. We found the best waffles from the waffle man (similar to an ice cream man). The rest of the night we ate dinner and explored the center of Brussels.

The following day we wondered around seeing many churches and museums. We ate more waffles and enjoyed cones of French ...

... and Butchers Street. This open area was covered with restaurants, cafes and shops. It is also home to the famous 'Mannequin Pis' aka the peeing boy. We had learned about this statue on the ship, it was a fountain of a boy peeing. We were surprised to see how small the actual boy was, he was only about two feet tall. He was also dressed up in a musketeer outfit. The peeing boy is significant to Belgians because it lasted though both world wars. After ...

... after visiting the camp, so I won't even make an attempt. Afterwards, I made my way around to see a few more of the sights before boarding the ship around 7pm before on ship time. Traveling on semester at sea makes you truly appreciate how far your legs can carry you, how important public transportation is when getting around without a car, and finally it makes you question why after living in your own hometown for ages, you probably know more ...

... Bonjour, parlez-vous anglais?" We're meeting lots of people. The teachers at Kara's school are always a good crowd to hang out with. We've also started going to the Brussels A Club events. They're an expat group that meets every Monday at an Irish Pub for Irish Pub Quiz. I'm hoping to get started with a running club and a writing group soon. Both of us our keeping too busy. Kara's ...

So today was my first day at the rowing club, lets just say these rowers are not the most punctual bunch, but once they get there and get rowing they go FULL TILT! Living in Brussels and the rowing club being in a city north of Brussels, it is quite the hike getting there. In total, one-way, I must walk, take one tram, one metro (subway), one train, one bus, then walk some more to finally arrive there 1hr 30 minutes later. Needless to say it is harder to get ...

... our waz...only to get side tracked, visiting some other little towns in Belgium and Germany, before finally getting to Munich by 4p. It was a long day, but we have decided that overall we LOVE the trains! Except when they are delayed or kick us off in small towns on the border of Belgium and Germany...

... speaks Dutch and has a Dutch culture, while the other half (closer to France) speaks French and has a French culture. We started the day in Antwerp (a city closer to the Netherlands). This was the most amazing city we have seen thus far! When we walked out of the train station we were surrounded by diamond/jewelry stores. Apparently, Antwerpen used to be the diamond capital of the world (never knew!). Then we walked down the street into a ped mall setting that ...

... whole time were were there. Other than that, life was pretty cool. We had standard dock watches, which really didn't amount to much besides making sure the boat didn't float away (which was damn near impossible) and stamping little kids' collections of boats they'd seen. We were in Antwerp for 4 days and I don't quite remember how they broke down. But here's what sticks out... After securing the boat and cleaning everything up, we ...

... girl. Got back to the hostel at about 4 to check into my room only to walk into a 12 bed girls dorm and find a guy sitting on the first bed....confused I was until his friend walked in and they started chatting and I realised that he was just waiting for her......Nick and Jackie - from canadian (i did make the mistake of asking what part of the states they were from) had just arrived in and we got to talking before I headed back out to have dinner.

... champagne and finished off a bottle of red Spanish wine dated 1998 which was pretty good as well. All in all the meal definitely had my seal of approval. We took some cheesy fammily pics at the restaurant which you'll all. We walked around downtown until I started to get chilly so we picked up the car and drove around checking out all the trendy hang out places and all the amazing apartments/lofts around the marina. WOW, I have no ...