Tag Archive: Antwerp


Taking It Slow and Easy 🐌🐢

Filed under: Musings & Ramblings, Travel, travels — Leave a comment
December 17, 2019

It’s been 9 weeks. And before then, around 4 weeks of clinic visits and lab procedures. I haven’t had 13 slow and easy weeks in the last few years. A quick check of my busy travel calendar the last few years confirm this. And you know what? If you’ve been under “house arrest” for a considerable time, the first day out heightens all your senses to appreciate the air you breathe, the noise you hear or perhaps the lack of it, the temps that make you sweat or the breeze that cools your skin. The Harbour Square within the CCP Complex is a favorite spot within the metropolis. Antipolo too but it’s too far out and the traffic going there is near-unbearable. So between the waters and the mountains, I longed to instead count the yachts bobbing up and down in the bay.

There are still a few days before the year is over but Bali was def the last trip in 2019. Thoroughly enjoyed with the family despite the intermittent chest pains, which I assumed must have been acid reflux. My guardian angels must have worked overtime to bring me home safely and guided a family doctor to remind me to see my cardiologist instead of a gastro-enterologist. I did, and then had medical attention in the nick of time. After more tests pre- and post-stenting, my cardiologist declared I’m good to travel again. Yey! Two trips lined up for next year, and now working on a possible 3rd and 4th. I am so happy. And thankful for the trips made in the year 2019 without mishap. I still cringe at the thought that any one of these trips could have turned really nasty. I am thankful as I remember.

Same group on 2 separate trips to Brunei and Malaysia

Ticked off a few squad goals including this Hokkaido in Winter!

A third of the fambam in London.

https://lifeisacelebration.blog/2019/05/21/touchdown-london/

https://lifeisacelebration.blog/2019/05/23/one-in-a-million-stonehenge/

Cardiff Castle in Wales

https://lifeisacelebration.blog/2019/06/24/from-london-to-london-2019/

Amsterdam, Volendam, Marken, Giethorn , Zaans Schans, Delfth and The Hague

https://lifeisacelebration.blog/2019/05/25/its-been-awhile-amsterdam/

Brussels, Bruges, Ghent, Antwerp

https://lifeisacelebration.blog/2019/06/01/touchdown-brussels/

The Cotswolds

https://lifeisacelebration.blog/2019/06/16/the-cotswolds/

Off to Graz, Ljubljana, Trieste and Istrian Peninsula (Croatia

https://lifeisacelebration.blog/2019/08/18/road-trip-through-austria-slovenia-italy-croatia/

A family trip to Bali, Indonesia

https://lifeisacelebration.blog/2019/09/05/bali-highs-💕🏖😍🎶🧜🏻

So what’s in the drawing boards this coming 2020? Well, there’s a booked Nile cruise in Egypt, and the South American adventure should soon be firmed up, plus there’s that wedding later in the year in Barcelona. Same travel buddies…. unless of course we start growing tired of each other 🙄. We have yet to plan for that trip to Europe with my soon-to-graduate #aponimamu. And another adventure with my soon-to-retire dear friends. We’ll see. Meanwhile, let’s have a truly Merry Christmas in our hearts and a Prosperous, Harmonious New Year ahead.

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From London to London 2019

Filed under: Europe, Travel, travels — Leave a comment
June 24, 2019

My last visit was in 2003 but that was on official business so it shouldn’t count. In 1986 and 2000, I was there. First as a student, the next as a tourist. Most things remained the same, but for the price of West End tickets. As a newbie watching musicals for the first time, I was very lucky to be there when Les Miserables first showed some 3 months before my arrival in 1986. With my student discount, it was a steal watching it and quite frankly, I was beyond awed. I’ve never seen the likes of it till then. I’ve watched it several times since, both in West End and Broadway, and even back in my home country. This Cameron Mackintosh was my new hero. Fast forward 2019. Ticket prices have spiralled. Lowest-priced musicals still hovered from £30 upwards. Some at £200 and up. And I mean really upwards. If you’re aiming to watch only one or 2, sure you can splurge. But not if you’re meaning to watch more. And so, rather than stay longer in London, we moved to stay nearly a week in Amsterdam and then another week in Brussels before heading back to London and onwards for 8 nights in Bath and The Cotswolds. We made many day trips from our chosen city base using trains, buses and vans. This is our Trip Summary from May 19 to June 12, 2019.

London

https://lifeisacelebration.blog/2019/05/21/touchdown-london/

London

Day Trip from London: Stonehenge

https://lifeisacelebration.blog/2019/05/23/one-in-a-million-stonehenge/

Amsterdam

https://lifeisacelebration.blog/2019/05/25/its-been-awhile-amsterdam/

DayTrips from Amsterdam

Giethorn

Zaanse Schans

Volendam & Marken

Delft & The Hague

Brussels

https://lifeisacelebration.blog/2019/06/01/touchdown-brussels/

Day Trips from Brussels

Bruges

Ghent

Antwerp

Back to UK

Bath

The Cotswolds

Day Trip to Cardiff, Wales

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The Gems of Antwerp

Filed under: Europe, Travel, travels — 1 Comment
June 6, 2019

Over 80% of the world’s rough diamonds pass through Antwerp. Belgium’s 2nd biggest city has everything to do with the ladies’ best friends — from cutting to polishing to trading right within the city’s “Diamond Quarter” spanning one square mile. But we didn’t come here for the precious gems. We came here to check out the gothic Cathedral of Our Lady of Antwerp — a house of worship as well as a museum housing Rubens’ artworks.

Antwerp

Antwerp

Judging by the many falafel food stalls we found here, there seems to be a big community of Jewish residents likely working in the diamond industry. It’s a big city and there were throngs of tourists offloaded from tourist coaches at the time we visited. Our tour guide Jasmine gave us some fascinating stories about Antwerp, including the residents’ aversion to the French language. Her advice? Speak Dutch if you can, English if you can’t. Never French. Don’t ask me why.

Antwerp

But if you’re going to Antwerp and have very limited time, you can skip the port area and just devote an hour or so in the Cathedral to admire the Rubens masterpieces hanging inside along with those of other Flemish painters. And if you still have some spare time and still hungry for more, try the Rubenshuis. This is the former Flemish townhouse, studio and workshop of Baroque painter Peter Paul Rubens in Antwerp. The artist was laid to rest in another church in Antwerp though , the Saint James Church. His “Our Lady Surrounded by the Saints” adorn the altar in this church.

Not just a triptych but all of 5 panels. Rubens have 3 major works here: “The Elevation of the Cross”, “Descent from the Cross” and “Assumption of Virgin Mary”. In his lifetime, Rubens reputedly kept going back to these subjects for his artwork. Smaller versions are to be found in the Louvre and in the Art Gallery of Ontario. No wonder Napoleon brought these art pieces back to France, only to return the loot in 1815. They have since remained here in the Church of Our Lady of Antwerp, where they belong. The REAL GEMS OF ANTWERP. Who needs diamonds?

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