Antwerp is turning into my favorite city ever. This morning we met a couple at the hotel who mentioned that they were sitting behind us last night at the concert. Their son plays guitar with Dana’s band, so they were in town to see the show. Seriously, how odd is it that someone at the same hotel was not only at the concert but sat right behind us. I asked them what Dana said about Arizona. As I thought, she was going through the various areas in Belgium and then said, “I understand there are people here from Arizona. Where are you?” When I mentioned that I was afraid she wouldn’t get the flowers, they said she always gets and appreciates the things people send to her at her shows. Before I only loved her voice, now I think she’s an amazing person as well.
That started the day off with a smile on our faces as we headed out into the dreary weather to explore more of Antwerp. We took the metro to the Cathedral then walked about 10 minutes to the river where we found a giant Ferris wheel.
Neither one of us is crazy about heights so it should come as no surprise that we didn’t take a ride. Just down the street we saw Het Steen, a medieval fortress built in the early 13th century.
Then we headed back the way we came to visit Grote Markt in the heart of the old town center.
Since it’s been 2 whole days since we had chocolate, we stopped at a shop to buy a few pieces.
We had been told that the oldest street in Antwerp was near the Grote Markt, but we couldn’t find it. It just so happened that when I asked at the chocolate shop, it was directly across the street. It’s called Vlaeykensgang and the small street is from the 15th and 16th centuries. It used to be filled with shoemaker shops but now is home to a couple of exclusive restaurants and a gallery.
It was an adorable, hidden gem and were so glad we found it.
It had been over a week since we’d had Italian, so we stopped at a place close to the old street. You can’t throw a rock without hitting an Italian restaurant, but I’m thrilled we found this one. It was as if we were transported to Rome, that’s how good the food was.
After lunch we headed back to the hotel. It was a pretty long walk, but Peter had the wheelchair, so I was able to walk off some of the pizza while pushing him through the shopping area.
As you may know, Antwerp is the diamond capital of the world. Approximately 84% of the world’s uncut diamonds come through this 1 square mile of Antwerp. That area just happens to be outside our door. So, of course, we went window shopping. I saw an anniversary band that I loved and thought it would be fun to try it on. It was gorgeous but not even close to anything we could afford, which was fine because I had no intention of buying anything. This was just for fun.
The owner brought out a couple of others and within minutes Peter bought me a ring. Seriously, it happened so fast I didn’t even get a chance to talk him out of it, and yes, I really would have tried to talk him out of it. We are spending a fortune on this trip, and I don’t need more jewelry. But OMG it is gorgeous. It has 9 baguette stones surrounded by round diamonds. And it fit perfectly so I guess it was fate. After wiping up tears and giving several kisses to my honey, we walked/rolled out the door with my new sparkler on my hand. Wow!
Just as I was finishing this post, Peter showed me Dana Winner’s Facebook page, because of course he’s “friends” with her, and look what was on it.
The link you see in the post is a link to our travel blog. How the hell did this happen??? I don’t know enough about social media to even guess unless she has someone whose job it is to scour social media for her name. So, we’re now on her Facebook page. I’m not sure what that means for our travel blog as it is meant to be a private blog for family and friends. But I keep track of people who sign up for it, deleting uninvited people, so I guess we’ll be okay.
Our two days in Antwerp has been incredible for so many reasons but tomorrow we’re off to southern Belgium and Bastogne, sight of one of the most famous battles of WWII…the Battle of the Bulge.
What a fantastic couple of days. I love the story about Peter’s love of Dana Winner. I agree her voice is beautiful. As for the ring, it is beautiful as well. Can’t wait to see it in person.
It was pretty amazing. The ironic part is that I wasn’t expecting much of Antwerp. Boy, was I wrong.
Your ring is beautiful! And how cool that you two are on Dana’s FB page.
I was stunned that he bought it. I was actually a little nervous about having a link to our blog on her website as the blog is meant to be private. But, so far, there have been no issues. It is kind of cool though. I just wish I had been facing the other way so my fat lip wasn’t showing.