In the first week of October, we had some very exciting guests!! Molly's sister, Jessica and her wife, Mary Lee came to visit. By the time they reached us in Belgium, they had already had a whirlwind tour of Europe, including stops in Paris, Cinque Terre and Florence. They arrived on Friday afternoon for a full weekend in Belgium! On Friday night, we hit up our favorite restaurant to take guests for typical Belgian fare (Mampoko). While they have a small printed menu, most of the offerings are on a chalkboard and change daily. We all had a delicious meal, but Jessica won the award for best with her order of Farm Chicken (better than City Chicken!). From dinner, we wandered back through the city center to catch the Grote Markt at night, an amazing site to see. After a stop at the Elfde Gebod (another common stop for visitors) to try another Belgian beer, we headed home to rest up for our day of exploring Antwerp!
On Saturday, after fueling up with a good breakfast, we headed out to show Jess and ML our city! Since it was Saturday, we had to make a stop at the market to check out what was on offer. Luckily we did because we found the man selling homemade stroop waffles! Stroop waffles are a delicious waffle cookie sandwich with honey in the middle that comes from the Netherlands. We each got a stroop waffle and a cappuccino (for €2.50 no less!) and it was fabulous! From there, we walked the city and saw the sites with plenty of stops for snacks, coffee and beers in between. We really enjoyed spending a day together and catching up. After a slightly difficult search for dinner (Its getting cold, which reduces restaurant space without terraces, requiring reservations) we ended up at one of our favorites for fish and chips. We rounded out the night by trying Jenever and stopping at the Filou cafe for Filou beers (another fabulous Belgian brew). Tyler ordered a tea at the Filou cafe and it came with a small tiramisu on the side, we will definitely be back, we are suckers for a free sweet treat!
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| Stroop waffels and coffee |
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| Hangin' at the Filou Bar |
On Sunday, we decided to venture to another city in Flanders, so we headed to Gent, the city often over looked for Bruge. Gent is a the fourth largest city in Belgium and has a large university. While we had visited once before, we saw new sites with our visitors. We even tried a typical Gentse gummy that we had never dared to try before, cuberdones. We decided they are cuberdon'ts but now we know! We toured three churches in Gent and Jess and ML toured the castle before we headed back to Antwerp for ML and Tyler's fancy birthday dinner thanks to Momma Smartt!!!! We went to the Zoute Zoen and had a fabulous meal. Tyler had a 5 course meal while Jess and Molly opted for the sissy 3 course version. And ML struck out on her own and went a la cart, a successful yet confusing decision. We all really enjoyed our meals and Jessica and Molly were super happy that they got to be included in the birthday shenanigans!
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| Gent |
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| Street art in Gent |
On Monday, poor Tyler had to go to work while the girls continued to have fun throughout Belgium. With a slightly later start to the day, we headed to Brussels to see the capital. We toured the Grand Place, saw Mannekin Pis, ate chocolate and stopped for a frituur lunch as part of our adventure. They will have to come back to Belgium because the frituur we chose definitely did not have the best frites in Belgium. We headed back to Antwerp with a stop for groceries to have a home cooked meal. Before we could finish out our day, Jessica HAD to try a Belgian waffle. The verdict...she liked it! A few more stops for souvenirs and our legs were done. We stayed in and had a nice salad for dinner to detox from the weekends overload of sweets and foods!
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| Brussels |
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| Molly LOVES frites |
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| And Jessica LOVED the waffle |
Jessica and ML were flying back to the US from Amsterdam on Wednesday, so on Tuesday we took the train to Amsterdam, again leaving Tyler behind to work. We took the early train to maximize our day in the city. Since we were toting luggage, we made a b-line for the hotel to get rid of it. Jess and ML had picked out a very nice hotel right next to the Albert Cuyp market. Molly had been to AMS a few times but has never visited the market. Though it was a bit early for all the stalls to be set up, we wandered through the market. Since we had that detox salad, we couldn't resist the poffertjes (tiny pancakes). Though we didn't know it at the time, the poffertjes are made by a father-son team that has been at the Albert Cuyp market since 1987! (
http://www.poffertjesalbertcuyp.nl/Over/) They were so tasty, they rivaled the waffle and stroop waffle we had earlier in the trip... I realize in writing this post how many breakfast treats we had...there is also a small possibility I didn't discuss them all. As we were finishing our walk through the market, it started to rain and we found solace in a cafe for a cup of coffee to warm us up and fight off the sugar rush. With the rain dying down, we headed to the Museumplein and the Vondelpark to explore the green spaces of Amsterdam. The Vondelpark is huge with all types of activities and walking paths. After wandering around, we decided to head to the Jordaan district to find lunch and explore. We ate at a typical Dutch Brown cafe, where Jessica and Mary Lee finally tried bitterballen. In the afternoon, we took a canal tour and explored the center area of Amsterdam. Before we knew it, it was time for Molly to catch the train back to Antwerp. As always, we loved getting to spend time with our visitors and see new sites and eat new treats in our region. We hope Jess & ML find a way to come back and visit again!
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| What can Brown do for you? |
