Antwerp, Belgium (Part 1), March 22nd

I have a confession to make, this morning I woke up after having slept for over 12 hours! Brent got up at 9am to attend a marketing meeting. Jet lag was brutal the first few days and I was so tired! When Brent came to wake me up I was even mad until he informed me of how long I'de slept! Yeah! Good for me!

After another delicious breakfast of fresh cooked omelet (with all the works!) we walked right off the boat and into Antwerp. Our tour guide led us directly up the street where we got a great shot of the 'Cathedral of our Lady'. Look at all those tourists taking pictures!

Brent first got a glimpse of the Cathedral from the ship and said "thats where I want to go today". Good thing it was on the agenda! But first we got the tour of the river walk and a full explanation of the story behind how the city got its name:

Behold the statue of the evil ogre named Antigoon who guarded access to the Scheldt, threatening anyone unwilling to pay his extortionate tolls. One day, Brabo came along and challenged the giant to a fight... (to be continued...)

Oh, I know, I am so mean... I will continue the story shortly. First another photo of my handsome prince as he stands in front of the door of some castle. I don't know what the castle's called or why we were looking at it; I couldn't understand a word our tour guide said!

I admit I really, truly, painstakingly tried to listen to our guide but it reguired so much energy I quit after about 5 minutes. Her accent was too strong and her English was just wierd... But I did hear why the house on these streets were made of part brick and part stone...

If you look closely to the building at the left you will see the white stone interlaid with brick because the stone was so expensive to transport. People who didn't have a lot of money just built their houses of brick like you see to the right. The 3 little pigs couldn't argue with that. (I'm just wondering where all the trees are!)

I believe this is the grand City Hall we are in front of surrounded by merchant houses and more cafes where people sat and watched other people. A very good passtime I have been told...

I took this picture just because I liked this architecture. (These buildings remind me of 'Its a Small World' at Disneyland.) At this point I had to turn my headset off because I couldn't understand a word the tour guide was saying and I was getting annoyed.

So back to the story... This is the famous 'Brabo Fountain', honoring the mythical hero who challenged the evil ogre, Antigoon. In the end of the battle Brabo cut off the ogre's hand and threw it into the river.  After that, the Antigoon ran away and was never seen again.

I think the Ogre ran home to his mom and she grounded him! But anyways, the city 'Antwerp' literally means "hand-throwing". We saw hands all over the city representing the story.  Our tour guide loved it, apparently she was from Antwerp. Okey dokey then!