Antwerpen

Banana milkshake at Lombardia.  I want to eat everything there.

Jupilers, gummi bears, and some weird bolognese-flavored ring-shaped crackers on the midnight train home.
There was exuberance... and sleep.

Shop Windows

Favorites from Antwerp.

Throwing gang signs at Escada?

Another Post in Praise of Antwerp

It is impossible not to be charmed by Antwerp.  Go there and try, I dare you!

I mean, if the train station's that good, you can be fairly certain the rest of the city will not disappoint.

Pretty, pretty Antwerpen-Centraal.

See?  Charming!

I always find myself fantasizing about living there.  And wishing I could pop into the cool apartments with interesting architectural and design details that I spy from the street.  Or better, have one of my own.

The architecture is incredible.

And there's a nice mix of modern, as well.

And they have robotic dogs!

Found this cool "graffiti park" in a new (to us) area of town as we made our way to the RA Concept store (which happened to be closed... boo).

Megan's aglow.

This cracks me up!

Can't go to Antwerp without going to Fiskebar.  Every time... it's so good.

Spotted this vagrant with her plastic-bag wallet in line at the atm.  heh!

Even the Starbucks in the Centraal station is nice.

Training it home.

'Twerpen with Trace

First thing to do?  Get some croquettes!

This is the magical lighthouse of croquettes.  It is the beacon of fried goodness at the market.

And here are its delights!  We had cheese, Ganda ham and cheese, crevette (those mini grey shrimp), and pheasant foie gras with port.  The cheese and ham and cheese varieties tied for the title of favorite.  Mmmm....

Celery root as big as your head!

Snails/whelks/what-have-you.

Even the malls are pretty in Antwerp.

A chocolate zwarte piet with marzipan piggies.

You can see his clown face better in the white version.  More on zwarte piet later, I'm sure....

 A long-haired weiner dog outside H&M.

Snuggs!

Why can't this dress be in big people sizes?!?  I want the whole outfit!

Another dogger.

Crazy chocolate display, complete with moving boat.

Window beagle.  He looks creeped out by the photos overlooking him.  Poor guy.

This is Midas.  He is our new ATM friend.

He is a Seelyham Terrier.  Cute!

T & B at Fiskebar's oyster bar next door to their main resto.

Delicious grilled scallops.

Tsumori Chisato print.  Good for a winter's day.