(sources: Belgian movie poster with Belgium born Audrey, Miffy 1 & 2 by Dutch Illustrator Dick Bruna)
I know I mentioned this a while back, but Ethan and I are going to The Netherlands and Belgium this summer (the trip is getting close!) Many of you were so generous to leave comments and lengthy emails with lots of ideas of things to do. I have a looooong list of things to do in The Netherlands, but not so much for Belgium!
If you live in or are familiar with Belgium (or the Netherlands!), I would be ever so thankful if you could fill us in on cool cities to visit and things to do. Belgium was mostly on Ethan's wishlist because he wanted to visit some of their amazing Breweries, but we'd like to do other things as well. We've been to Bruges a long, long time ago. It's beautiful. So we're looking for other cities. We do have a hotel booked for Antwerp, so if you have ideas for that city, we'd love to hear!
Here are some ideas we have so far for The Netherlands:
Cities: Utrecht, Alkmaar, Leiden, Delft, Rotterdam, The Hague, Amsterdam (we have a hotel here, so we'll be taking day-trips out from there).
Things to do: Dick Bruna museum in Utrecht (illustrator of Miffy, above!); Amsterdam: Haarlemmerstraat area, The largest fleamarket in the Netherlands,
9 streets in the old city centre with a lot of vintage stores, Kitsch kitchen, KNSM eiland area; Rotterdam: Photo Museum, Secondhand Stores.
For Belgium: Antwerp: The Kloosterstraat (vintage stores along this street)
We will be gone for 10 days (the boys are staying with my parents!) and that includes travel days. So that's the amount of time we're working with. We'll spend most of the trip in The Netherlands with a few days in Belgium.
Also, we need restaurant ideas! :D
Feel free to leave a comment here or send me an e-mail at thousandclowns(AT)yahoo(DOT)com. Thank-you for any additional recs!
I live only some kilometres from Antwerp so I have tons of tips for the city, including restaurant ideas. I also think you should visit Ghent, because Ghent is definitely worth visiting too. I'm emailing you!! :)
Posted by: severien | June 07, 2012 at 08:59 AM
Ooh! Exciting! I'll ask my husband. He was in Belgium for several weeks on a printmaking fellowship a few years back and he is completely in love with Belgium. He said we'd move there in a heartbeat if we could and trust me, he hates moving so that's a BIG deal. : )
He brought back a lot of their chocolates for me so I too am in love with Belgium by proxy.
Posted by: Eartha Kitsch | June 07, 2012 at 11:11 AM
i'll think of some stuff and get back to you. I live in the south of the Netherlands (close to Belgium) so I might have some tips.
And yes, as metioned above, visit Ghent in Belgium, it's so lovely.
Posted by: Philomeen | June 07, 2012 at 11:59 AM
Ghent is a wonderful city with a lot of lovely shops (many vintage!) and beautiful houses and cozy streets. It's even better when the sun is shining, so fingers crossed for august.
Posted by: Elodie | June 07, 2012 at 12:03 PM
Try the atomism in Brussels, I think you'd like it!
Posted by: Anita | June 07, 2012 at 01:31 PM
*Atomium :)
Posted by: Anita | June 07, 2012 at 01:31 PM
I live in Belgium, Antwerp. So I'll try to help you out a little!
Close to the Kloosterstraat, you have the area 'het zuid'. It's mainly art and you should take time to visit the nearby museums: Museum for Fine Arts, Muhka and the photography museum. I'm not sure when you're going to visit? But until the end of June, there's a huge fair!
If you go the other direction, you go towards a more older part of the city. You have the Nationalestraat, although there are a lot of constructions going on. It's best to randomly ask someone who passes by which way you have to go. If you're on a tram or metro, it's better to ask a person on the tram or metro as well instead of the driver. Not all drivers know the way. We can be quite timide, so it's best to ask instead of waiting for someone to go 'can I help you out?'.
Anyways. When you're at the Nationalestraat, you can visit a lovely fabric shop called Julija's Shop and if I'm not mistaken, there are some second hand stores as well. I know other fabrics store in the area. You can visit the fashion museum at the end of the street too. Then you reach the Groenplaats, which gives you a lot of other possibilities. There are some vintage stores close, and a few second hand stores. Also a lot of great coffee shops! Or if you want to visit old buildings, there are quite a few made public. Like the Ruben House, or the churches. I can eventually mail a more clear list. I live very close to the Carolus Borromeus (beautiful baroque church!!), so I can help out around these parts of the city.
Other cities are Brussels, Bruge (very beautiful!), Ghent and even Hasselt is a very beautiful one.
Posted by: The Blue Rabbit House | June 07, 2012 at 02:12 PM
comic book museum is awesome and tin tin museum (which we didn't have time to do) but I'm sure is incredible. Have some waffles. We did this trip 2 years ago and had a wonderful time. Enjoy, you lucky duck!!!
Posted by: heather | June 07, 2012 at 05:28 PM
might I suggest checking out Kitka design? They are a Toronto based couple who own the MOST amazing scandinavian design store. The two of them are often in Scandinavia on product searching missions so their blog could offer a lot of info, other wise I suggest contacting them directly-- John and Julie are really nice I'm sure they'd love to suggest come places to visit.
Kerrie
http://kitkadesigntoronto.com/
Posted by: kerrie | June 07, 2012 at 09:03 PM
Yeah, like everyone says, you definitely have to see Ghent :) Oh and in Antwerp, the biggest shopping street in Belgium: de Meir. And there's a street attached to it called the Cammenstraat with the best shops :)
Also, if you're in Belgium, you NEED to have the original BELGIAN (french) fries :D You have to search for a 'frietkot' (they are everywhere...) and ask for 'een kleintje met stoofvleessaus en layonaise' you'll love it, I eat it every week, yeah that's kinda bad... I hope you'll have a wonderful time! (Oh and for shopping in the Netherlands, visit a Primark!)
Posted by: Dorien | June 08, 2012 at 07:26 AM
That should have been mayonaise...
Posted by: Dorien | June 08, 2012 at 07:26 AM
I just found your blog through Kate Gabrielle's...I live in San Diego but grew up in Antwerp, I haven't been there in the past 9 years but all of the suggestions above are exactly what I would have said :) oh and by the way.. when you're there don't get the typical tourist "brusselse wafel" (ie;Belgian waffle) instead try a "luikse wafel" which is what we really eat there, it's a dense waffle with little sugar pockets inside that caramalize the outside :) also many people don't realize that stuff like chinese food and greek food are completely different when you eat them in different countries, when in belgium you should try a lumpia at any chinese restaurant, they are the size of a burrito and are served with curry sauce!
xo
Alex
http://louise-amabilis.blogspot.com/
Posted by: Louise Amabilis | June 25, 2012 at 04:35 PM