Amsterdam - day 3 - Antwerp

After wrapping up with the brewery tour at La Trappe, Pete suggested we have dinner in Belgium. We were already near the Belgium border, and the train ride to Antwerp would take less than an hour. Given the train schedules, we would only be able to spend a few hours in Antwerp, but we decided to go for it.

We arrived in Antwerp a little after 6:PM. Their central train station had the same vibe as the one in Amsterdam:


However, there were certainly less bicyclists out than in Amsterdam. Although, bikes were for rent as soon as you left the train station:


We headed out looking for an interesting dinner spot. We passed a chocolate shop and thought it would be wrong to not buy Belgian chocolates in Belgium:


We headed through downtown:



past the Cathedral of Our Lady:




and towards the Scheldt river and the harbor:



The medieval Het Steen (Stone Castle) is situated on the river and has a large statue of the giant Lange Wapper at the entrance:




We did finally find a place to eat dinner. It was a mediocre Argentinian restaurant, food-wise, but the furnishings were amusing. And the owner had a fascination with Che Guevara:


We rushed back to Antwerp Station after dinner, so as to not miss our 9:PM train. However, that train back to Amsterdam had been cancelled. We had an hour to wait around the station, so Pete went out exploring, while Glenn and I hung out at their heated Starbucks. By this point, we were both pretty cold and tired.

But hey, the station has these cool stone rails to haul bikes up and down on: