I’ve uploaded some photos from our weekend in Antwerp.
Category Archives: travel
Antwerpen Report
Karneval time in Cologne is frighteningly busy: there are crowds everywhere (huge portions of which are drunk), terrible music (schlager, of course) in every bar and none of the shops are open. There are of course the charming traditional parades and celebrations but for me, it is all bit much.
Instead, we embraced the fact that Mark Sultan (aka BBQ) was touring Europe and playing a show nearby in Antwerp, Belgium to take a long weekend away from the insanity. We took the train West on Friday, checked into our flat then grabbed a dish of frites and headed straight to see Mark Sultan perform. Continue reading Antwerpen Report
Belgian BBQ
This weekend we are travelling to Antwerp in Belgium. Mark Sultan (aka BBQ) is playing a gig there and it’s also just a good excuse to get out of town for a couple of days and do something different. It has seemed as though the last few weekends the weather has been completely rubbish and either I or Tom has been sick so we didn’t want to do anything at all (although we did see Bill Callahan play at Köln Kulturkirche last weekend and it was terrific).
All I really know about Antwerp is that it is up on the Dutch border and is a big port. Which is fine – you certainly don’t always need to know everything about a place to enjoy it! Continue reading Belgian BBQ
Train travel
Last week my reserved train seat was in the little compartment at the front of the train just behind the driver. This meant my fellow passengers (about a dozen of us) had a terrific view of the train simply eating up the distance as the sun rose.
I have never before sat in one of these seats so I really enjoyed it. I don’t think it was a particularly fast piece of track although it was fast enough that sometimes things would whizz past in the middle distance before you had worked out if it was a shed or a cow. I especially enjoyed floating past the traffic on the autobahn situated alongside us: I found myself feeling extremely smug about that!
Still, I do find myself caught up in the opportunities for train travel in Europe. While my initial expectations were perhaps a little romantic and tinged with the drama of too many Agatha Christie novels as a child, I still find them endlessly convenient and valuable.
New Flickr Set – Amsterdam, January 2014
We had another weekend in Amsterdam: a relaxing few days with no real plans except enjoying a mini-break. Tom had tickets to Ajax vs PSV (? I think?!) on the Sunday and on the Saturday we had dinner with some people.
We stayed in the Jordaan area for this trip – right near the Noordermarkt. Normally we stay closer to the Pijp district, so it was interesting to really be embedded in a different area of the city. We did visit a couple of our usual favourites: Bakers & Roasters cafe for brunch (absolutely delicious!) and Workcycles to drool over their gorgeous Oma and Gr8 frames.
I added a few photos to Flickr from the trip. Continue reading New Flickr Set – Amsterdam, January 2014