Week 19 Aug 17-23

This week we went on our second Belgian bicycling adventure to the city of Lier.  We went with a couple of friends and made a day out of cycling and exploring the nearby city.  Lier is 20 km from Antwerp, and like all Belgian cities has its own beautiful town square and a couple of famous churches.  When we arrived in Lier, we headed straight for the tourist center for a map.  Once thing we have learned living here is that the tourist centers are awesome and you can always get a free city map.  In Lier, their map even included a lovely walking tour that took you past all of their notable attractions.  We did half of the walk and came upon the Zimmer tower which holds the famous Jubilee clock.  This clock tower consists of 12 clocks that show all sorts of times, like the time for tides, phases of the moons, time on other continents and a whole lot of other temporal stuff that we didn't understand.  We decided to stop for lunch near the clock tower so we could see what kind of fancy chimes and activities occurred on the hour.  We went to a Latin/Spanish tapas restaurant and enjoyed enjoyed some nice wraps and sandwiches.  We did catch the quarter to the hour ditty that the clock played but either the conversation was too good or the chime of the hour was that uneventful, but we totally missed it!

Church in Lier build in 1369

The Zimmer clock tower

After lunch we continued our walking tour and happened upon a food truck festival.  We were stuffed from lunch, but it was fun to wander around and see the various food trucks.  Then we headed St. Gummarus church to look around.  One of the workers tried to tell us the history of the church but with our limited Dutch, he could only give us the simplistic history.  We did see a Rubens painting.  Peter Paul Rubens is a famous Flemish baroque painter who is actually from Antwerp.  You can find his paintings in various churches and museums around the city and Belgium, but this was actually the first we have seen!  After finishing exploring the city, we headed back to Antwerp totaling a ride of 50km.  We are beat today but we had a great time, and we are already planning our next bike adventure (as proud, proud Mandy reads this post).  

More Giant puppets but smaller than the last we saw!

Vedett (Belgian beer) cement mixer!?

St. Gummarus Church

Also this weekend was Bollekesfest, a beer festival for the local brewery De Koninck.  A bolleke is the name of the glass the beer is served in, but around Antwerp people look at you weird if you order a De Koninck, everyone just orders a Bolleke.  The festival was huge, spanning four different squares around the city with music, beer, and food.  We ventured out on Saturday and Sunday to check out the music and festivities, and we had a great time.  With summer coming to an end, we are really going to miss all of the festivals that pop up just steps from our front door!

Bollekesfest