Tag: Museum

The Unintended Trip Finale (Antwerp, Belgium)

Originally, it was never my plan to rush any country/city. But somehow there really was nothing much to see after spending one full day in Ghent/Brussels, and we thought, why not spend the last 5 hours before our flight in Antwerp, the fashion center of Belgium. With this limited timeframe, however, detailed planning was needed and here I lay out the (much anticipated, I hope 😉 ) grand finale of Belgium.

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I loved the trains here, for youth like us, you can travel to any city for 6 euros one way. There were quite a lot of “THE First/Best” claims here and the first we saw was the “Prettiest” train station in Europe.

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For that particular day, there was a Rotary event. As we headed for the pedestrian street with most shops, I saw this lovely chalkboard and as I arrived at the Italian Church, I looked down and there was a black, long limo. (Of course it was too rude to take a photo of it.) Someone died. My heart sunk a little.   P1070747P1070742

But these once-off moments are the little bits and pieces that build up to a memorable and unique experience. Indeed, the Schelde River will always be there, and so will the clock tower. But these spontaneous snapshots were not here to stay. At this precise moment, the event must have ended, probably no funeral today and the cafe owner might have drawn up a new smoothie menu. And it’s comforting and special to feel that you were there at that particular moment in the universe. Isn’t it a wonderful thing in life that despite the static castles and clock towers, life is ever-evolving in big and small ways?

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Now inside these marvelous architectures, was a huge champagne glass bar. And next to it THE First Skyscraper in Europe (Not exactly scraping the sky at that height though I suppose), the Farmer’s Tower 1932.

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Since Antwerp was an important port, we saw a lot of related decorations all over the town.

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This was the furthest walk because we were heading to a special floating swimming pool that was frozen into an ice rink in Winter! (On the way we passed by the red light district. OMG. It was just, shocking. I was too timid to take photos, but my friend should have it. The ladies were banging the window as we passed by. I simply cannot imagine how it’d be like at night, a small, curious part of me wanted to stare longer, but the startled part of me pulled us away from that street.)

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That day was somehow the coldest ever, the wind was blowing from all directions pushing me forward and dragging me back at times. We decided to take a break, and walked in to the MAS. They have a wonderful view on the top (Also where I realized I lost my left glove 😦 sorry grandma) but the point was, the intriguing and slightly dark exhibition on Life and Death. (I don’t know why this motif kept appearing in Belgium)

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In the introduction it asked the questions

“Where do we come from? Where will we go to?” As the first one addresses what was already happened, my curiosity for that is not as strong as for the second one. What happens after this wonderful, vibrant life? What would be left of me? Interesting questions to ponder upon in my free time.

It reminded me of one of my favorite poem by Robert Frost,

“Some say the world will end in fire, some say in ice”

Perhaps the only convincing and utterly calming answer to this is to make an impact that will last even years after I vanish. There would be a tiny part of me staying and watching as the world progress.

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Finally we arrived! It was my first time skating in the outdoor and you could not imagine how freezing cold it was. Also, I am a bad skater for all sorts of reasons: poor balancing and coordinating skills, inability to lose control, pathetically thin blade on the shoes and the slippery ice…

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I would rather be dragged around like this.

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Afterwards we rushed through the plaza and heard the clock town ring and saw the fairy-like fountain. Honestly, these are really the same after seeing the 3rd one. Suddenly though, a carriage just passed by us out of nowhere. Wow, I think I really haven’t seen one ever in my life.

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For lunch, I had the best ham and cheese sandwich I have ever had and this was my camera working the natural blurry filter upon entering the store.

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Finally it’s 3 pm and we were back to where we started, the beautiful Antwerp Centraaaaaal Station. (They like to spell it with many As 🙂

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Bordeaux Day 1

After the enriching week in Spain,  the only part of my body that was still functioning properly is my hair, all other pieces were either bruised, sore, fatigued or ALL OF THE ABOVE. Obviously, I have never taken into account resting time in between all the traveling, guests visiting and schooling and I am not the most robust person out there…Hopefully I will still be in one piece by the end of May, after all initial plans to visit 13-14 countries.

At night I had no choice but to sleepover at Nice airport. Though it was dimmer with more comfortable chairs to sleep on, there was also a hobo who slept around that area. It was mildly intimidating but hey, life is all about facing your fears and becoming braver!
After a long night and a delay due to captain’s sickness, I finally landed into the very different landscape of Bordeaux. From above, you could see the winding meanders stretching all across the green canvas of agricultural land. I did not see any oxbow lake though 😉
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The world’s largest urban area to be named a UNESCO world heritage site welcomed me with pouring rain. During this whole trip in Bordeaux, I got more rainy days than my entire month in the South.
It was easy to find my way out to the city (perhaps I was getting better? 😉 unfortunately plan A of meeting my friend there failed. Thank god we do have a plan B.
Problem solving time: stay calm, don’t panic, look helpless and harmless.
I asked around and people were so nice to help me out with their google maps and I finally stumbled upon their fascinating apartment.
Note to self: ALWAYS have more than one plan at least for important matters. I mean it’s not like you have to carry a fire extinguisher around or anything, but just be well prepared.
Sadly, my plan B was flawed as I forgot to ask which floor or room number it was. so I just had to ring all bells and got replies like we no speak English…then finally I heard footsteps; the door opened and my friend was there! I don’t think I have ever been that happy to see him :p
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After a hot long lovely shower, I was refreshed again. Yay, I’m getting more sturdy now: 3 hours sleep + coffee and food and shower and I am good to go. (Perhaps I will no longer be tofu by the end of exchange 😉
My friend has an Interesting house. It was old, wobbly and it was as if the entire mansion was falling apart, but it was different in a good way. The key, the door knob, the middle outdoor space, the fireplace, the irregular shaped kitchen all seemed very French to me.
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The house is also in a ridiculous central location. I walked 5 minutes and I am at the Saint Andre church. It was definitely one of the most crippled church I have seen. But I liked it, it smelled and felt different. This church seemed to contain more stories with the greyish, peeled off pillars.
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Then I also walked passed another random church. Seriously though, they are just everywhere. They are like the Starbucks in Hong Kong. I mean in terms of quantity.
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I saw many lovely small shops that sell toys and children books etc that was really adorable.
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I discovered a free musee d Aquitaine but it was just super horrifying. I didn’t get the purpose or the theme of it. I was practically the only one there and the atmosphere freaked me out.
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At the end, the trading of slaves part was a bit heart twitching. Do you know only those slaves who were packed tightly in the ship has only 25% survival rate? Less than 3 people survive out of 10 slaves 😦
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Then randomly I arrived at Plaza Victoire (Vic TUA) 😛
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Bordeaux is just such a big city with big, wide roads. I almost got lost when I was finding my way home. I thought I just have to find back the church, and I will be home, but turned out I recognized the wrong side of it… The wind was ridiculously strong too like it wanted to blow me away. My tiny umbrella became useless and I decided to walk back, French style – with just a hat on.
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For Dinner we went out to a black and white restaurant and had beef and duck with lots of salad and delicious fries 🙂 It was such an interesting restaurant, all they sell are beef/fish/duck + salad and fries, with JUST ONE SAUCE. But it was good, may be that’s why people kept coming still despite the limited choices.
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The strong wind and rain wide kept hinting not so subtly that we should go back home so we finally gave up and called it a day. Well 4 more days, plenty of time left!
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C for Cannes (A for Antibes, B for Biot lol and so on)

Off to Cannes today. Weather not that nice unfortunately :/ but the place is fun nonetheless. There were many Cruella De Vils 😛 (Old ladies in fur with big dogs) and so many nice cars and yachts. (One was called Nonetheless, and one called Knot To Worry)

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We arrived at 9 am and just walked around to get the map and figured out where to go. Then we ended up roaming around the old town and the Castle Museum. Free entry for etudiants. I love France.

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It was donated by several rich aristocrat, rich man’s daughter and a journalist/soldier from many years ago and there were exhibits from Arctic, Latin America, Himalayan and Oceania etc.

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This photo below is a currency they used to use to buy WIVES and FINE PIGS in Solomon Islands. YES, wives and pigs. I had to laugh at that. The brighter the color, the higher the value of this currency, so whoever has the sharpest one gets to buy the wife or pig that he desires the most.

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There were also paintings from the 19th century and they were just like photographs. The castle itself holds all these exhibits and is a lot of fun to tour around too.

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We climbed up 109 stairs to a clock tower that over looked the whole of Cannes. (These are old stairs only for display, thank god haha they have newer ones now)

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Too bad the sun was on a strike today (haha french thing) if not the view would be 10 times nicer.

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Then we started looking for the marches around (flower and grocery markets) and we passed by so many petit restaurants and shops “SOLDES” (On sale) until we made it there. Then we finally started shopping yay. And then we tried looking for another museum that is unfortunately closed today. It only opens on 2 days a week from 3-6pm. WHAT kind of musee does that? -_-

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Anyway we have to come back again to the 2 islands outside of Cannes so we weren’t too disappointed. Then we walked around the port and down the beach for the sunset. Each beach is completely different: the Nice one was black rubbles, the JLP one is whiter and softer sand but this in Cannes, is darker and harder, with many many seagulls. The sound of waves tapping the coast was angelic. The sunset could have been better if the sun wasn’t on strike haha but we will return 🙂

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What really touched my heart today was that 2 old couples approached us so genuinely when we were looking at our map-turning-it-constantly-not-sure-where-we-are-lookng-puzzled-and-confused. They spoke to us in French which I could only guess that she meant her husband has some Chinese blood too and she blessed us. Who knows that French people (especially elderlies) are that nice? People’s stereotype and misconceptions should really be reassessed.

One last joke: We can always run and make it to a bus. Even when we see it coming all the way from the other side of the street, we can still catch it for sure.

WHY?

Because more than often, the people boarding the bus are old and they move r-e-a-l-l-y-s-l-o-w. Lucky for us 🙂 And I love old people in France. They are lovely.

Jan 9 9:40pm