FLANDERS FIELDS

I'm back from my little trip. It was a simple one.

First things first though: SHOW 2009.

It was the Royal Academy of Fine Arts fashion department's year-end show. Simply put, it was mind blowing. I haven't got much else to say about it. I had no idea what to expect, but it was brilliant. The integrity and the energy of these Antwerpan students are truly admirable. Anyway, I hope that I can translate this experience to something rewarding in the end.

For now, I'll leave you with a picture of Rijnkaai:

SO I GO

No luck on finding a bike today at the secondhand market. I got so lost on the way there, walked around until my feet started to hurt. But I did score a pair of these two-bills Aigle riding-style boots for 5 Euros from a guy who was eager to erase all traces of his ex-girlfriend. Thank you, ugly breakup.

My home for the summer is located in the "ghetto" of Antwerpen, if you will, but it's only dangerous if you make it be. I can't lie, I'd rather live near Nationalestraat but it's still pretty awesome.

Mr. Bear on his new couch

Mr. Bear playing with the drums

Mr. Bear peeking at the fruit bowl

And finally, Mr. Bear on his new bed.

Tomorrow I'm embarking on a cross-Vlaanders journey, first stop Gent. Then who knows. Updates will be rare. Hope you guys are all having a lovely summer.

See you soon.

MAKE IT RAIN

I've been here now for 12 days. I think it's rained for about 9 of those days. Today is no exception. It's rather disheartening really, things are so much harder when you don't have a dry pair of shoes. I wanted to write up a somewhat eloquent observation on Belgian weather yesterday, but my brain was so fucked up from partying until 7 AM with cross-dressers and fashion students that I could not handle the Blogger formatting. It was the unofficial afterparty for the Royal Academy's SHOW 2009 -- Incredible show. More about that later. For now, I've been taking my compensation in the spectacular skyscapes...


And now I must brave this rain, in search of a secondhand bike. Will report on my findings later.

Ta for now.

TOURISTE

The beauty of Antwerpen is not as obvious as, say, the beauty of Paris. It's a more subtle, more look-down-that-seemingly-sketchy-alley-and-what-do-you-know kind of beauty. Here are some pictures, just for show:

See you soon.

NAMESAKE

Apparently, native Antwerpians don't really know the story of how the city came to be called Antwerpen, or why this dude below stands right in the middle of the city:

The story goes that once upon a time, there lived this awful giant fellow named Antigoon, here in this part of the world. He used to stand by the great port, forcing all seafarers and bargemen to pay heavy taxes for passing his waters. All those who couldn't afford to pay the taxes or those who resisted had their hands cut off and then thrown into the Schelde. Then along came Brabo, a brave Roman general, who put up a great fight to defeat this Antigoon; then, eye-for-eye, he cut off Antigoon's hand, and threw it in the Schelde. Hand-for-hand, in this particular case. And so, the seafarers were freed from Antigoon's ruthlessness.

And that's how the name Antwerpen came to be: from Hand Werpen, literally translated "hand throw." I think it's pretty entertaining.

More to come later. For now, here is a more panoramic view of the Grote Markt:

Mmm, Leffe.

YYZ-CDG-ANR

I arrived in Antwerpen four days ago. The travels were... Lucky. Extremely.

At the Pearon International, they gave me 'tude for having a nail clipper in my carry-on. Cell phone in my pocket. My laptop... Everything was troubling to them. The flight itself was great, the questionable muffin aside. Paris was beautiful, as far as I could tell in that one hour I spent there, getting from CDG to the Eurolines station. I was late for my bus, but luckily, the bus too was late. We passed by Brussels:

Then sleep got the best of me, and I missed my stop in Antwerpen. Ha! Some 20 minutes later, I woke up, ridin' away on the way to Amsterdam. The bus driver flopped me off in the middle of the highway. But luckily, again, this idiot ran into another Eurolines bus on its way to Antwerpen from Amsterdam, and I somehow found my way to 't Stad.

Day 5 in Antwerpen is currently interrupted by rain, and the Roland Garros final scores...

See you soon