Lunch at Mama's

Today we are in Antwerp, Belgium with a leisurely morning. The ladies continued playing Hand and Foot as we waited to begin our private tour. Erwin, our private guide met us on the ship at 11:30 am. Although it’s sunny, it’s still a bit chilly approaching 51 degrees.

We started out walking toward the Museum of Fine Arts. The architecture of the city is beautiful, and this building was no exception.

 

We walked on to where we could catch the tram which was our chance to experience some local flavor.

 We took the tram to the area around the train station. 

This building was sure unique with the boat balcony. 

After departing the tram, we stopped in a chocolate store to buy some chocolate, and it was difficult to select. But we succeeded!

The train station is very grand and soooo beautiful. Pictures will have to tell the story.

After leaving the train station, we took another tram to where our guide’s mother lives (that's our guide Erwin next to Paul). 

She lives in a large 4 story row house 100's of years old painted in white with flowers in front. She (Kristine) had a beautiful garden in the back and underground parking. She made lunch for us, an abundant Belgium lunch consisting of meat loaf, pastries, lunch meats, several cheeses and an almond frangipane cake that she made. Again, pictures will tell the story.

 

After lunch we got a taxi to take us to central Antwerp, which was beautiful with many old high buildings surrounding a large plaza.  More pictures….

Erwin took us into the Saint Charles Cathedral (that is the English translation). He toured us around the beautiful large cathedral and told us all about it, including 4 Peter Paul Rubens original paintings that were very large and so representative of Jesus. We got there late in the day, which was great because there were no large crowds, and we could enjoy it more.

Then we walked over to the ‘castle’ which really isn’t a castle but looks like one. A portion of the building consisted of the old city wall.

Erwin found us a taxi and escorted us back to our ship after a nearly 6-hour trip and walking nearly 11,000 steps. As usual, we enjoyed a delicious meal at dinner, but the conversation was somewhat subdued, as we were all worn out after walking 4 ¾ miles…but we all did it and had a great time on a beautiful day.