Welcome to the new kid on the Blog

Greetings from Antwerp, Belgium.

I have finally decided to join the growing ranks of Bloggers around the world to begin telling the story of our new life in Belgium. I plan to have regular installments about the trials and tribulations as well as the joys and pleasures of living in one of the most interesting towns in Europe--Antwerp. It is a city that has a deep history and yet is more vibrant than ever. Great efforts are currently being made to bring the city back to the world status it had when Jan van Eyck and Pieter Paul Rubens walked the streets that we are walking today.  

Before getting to specifics, let's paint a quick picture of the city so you can get your bearings.

Antwerp, or Antwerpen as it is called in Flemish, or A'pen by the locals has stunning architecture, worldly cuisine, and an enormous pride, sometimes to a fault. It is a city of roughly 700,000 and is one of the major Flemish cities in Belgium. It grew in prosperity during the 16th Century as a result of its proximity to the river Schelde, which houses the fifth largest port in the world (and where our belongings are now sitting in a warehouse, but more on that later). It is about 30 km (sorry all non-Metric people) north of Brussels, but is a world away in many ways from the EU capital. 

The name is said to come from a legend in which a giant straddled the Schelde and demanded to be paid before your ship could pass. If you didn't pay, your ship was smashed into pieces by the giant Antigoon. The Flemish Polyphemus in a way. One day, having had enough, our hero Brabo fought the giant and cut off his hand. He threw it into the river, and the shipping lanes were now free. In Flemish, this action would be "hand werpen" or "throwing the hand". With a little linguistic shift, we get Antwerpen, or so the story goes.

The people of Antwerp are often called Sinjoors. This can be taken two ways, either as a derogatory term by outsiders, or a matter of pride by the locals. It comes from the Flemish pronunciation of Señor. During the height of Spain's power of the Siglo de Oro, Antwerp played a prominent role due to the large port. This collaboration with the Spanish didn't sit too well with all of the Flemings, hence the name, Sinjoor. As a result of the collaboration, Antwerp's wealth and power grew significantly and in the 16th Century, it was a formidable metropolitan center. 

What one cannot miss in Antwerp is the cathedral, the Onze Lieve Vrouwekathedraal, which is the largest Gothic church in the Low Countries of Holland and Belgium. Built between 1352 and 1521, it was a work of wonder in Northern Europe. Due to a fire in 1533, a second tower was postponed, and ultimately never built. As such, there is now one large spire that rises above the city and is brilliantly lit every evening and is a meeting point for people from around the world. A large Rubens is the masterwork inside, and it is quite and experience to be inside such a grand structure.

Other landmarks are the Centraal train station, which has to be one of the most elegant stations in the world. A recent overhaul of the station added three levels underground and trains to and from all over Europe leave each day. Antwerp's central location makes it an amazing city for easy travel. (I sound like I'm being paid by the tourism board. If only...) One of Europe's oldest Zoo is located adjacent to the station to the east, and to the south the world's largest collection of diamond shops. Nearly 85 per cent of the world's diamond pass through the diamond market here. Needless to say, there is quite a bit of wealth in this town.

On the cultural side, Antwerp has no shortage. Middelheim sculpture garden has a vast selection of artists and works and is situated in a beautiful park. The Koninlijk Museum Voor Schone Kunsten, or Royal Museum of Fine Arts holds numerous works of the Flemish artists such as Rubens, Van Eyck, and James Ensor, just to name a few. The Rubens house itself is a museum and a glimpse into the exquisite world of Antwerp in the 16th Century. As Antwerp was also a world center for printing, the Platijn Moretus Museum gives this history of the trade.

These are just a few highlights of a fascinating city. I will be checking in with stories that I hope give a personal touch, with a bit of humor, to this new life in a city that I lived in fifteen years ago. Much has changed since 1993, when Antwerp was named the cultural capital of Europe for the year. Much has stayed the same as well, but as we'll see, it's the "little differences" between America and Europe that makes it all interesting.