"Finding skunk in Antwerp" Antwerp Travelogue by Nathalie_B

The Antwerp VT meeting was scheduled for November 2, 2003. Can't recall how many people showed up, but I believe there were over 20.
It was carefully organized by Peter_P and Norali who guided VTers around the city while Nathalie and Sandra were looking for a "skunk".

For me it was the first time in Antwerp and of course I was very excited.
I met Sandra (Mique) at the train station in Roosendaal (NL) so we could travel to Antwerp together. Once we arrived we realized that this city should be explored to the fullest, but not before we taste the famous Belgian waffles.
We didn't have a city map, we didn't know where we're going, we just enjoyed getting lost in this gorgeous town and we didn't even know where we're going to have our good morning coffee.

Unfortunately, that particular day all the museums were closed, the weather was, not to say terrible, but very windy and it was raining all day. Umbrellas didn't help, plus you can't hold your umbrella and take pictures at the same time, so we just let them stay in our bags with no use.

We found ourselves on the Grote Markt and went to have coffee and waffles at De Reus cafe. It was a very pleasant experience. At this time we received the first phone call from Peter_P who was asking us for our location and whether we're joining the meeting or not. Good we were sitting right in front of the remarkable City Hall otherwise we would have no idea how to explain to Peter were we are. Of course we did want to join the meeting but we also wanted to keep getting lost in the city. So the answer was "Yes, but later"

This later became later and later and later. Thank you Peter for not charging us for all these phone calls ;-)

After enjoying the waffles Sandra and I continued wandering around the city until we came across the Irish bar that was still decorated for the Halloween celebrations. Hmmm can I avoid any Irish pub???? NO!!! So we walked in.

At this time I didn't feel like having Guinness (yes, it does happen sometimes) so I asked Sandra to get me whatever beer she wants. Oops, she never drinks beer so I had to walk to the bartender myself and order my drink.
By this time I was living in The Netherlands for 2,5 months and got used to the fact that I had to ask people to speak English with me 'cause Dutch was the language I couldn't speak or understand. As the bartender asked me what would I like to drink I automatically said "I'm sorry could you please say it in English?" Bwah!!!! This was the moment when Sandra realized that I was even crazier than she thought I was, 'cause the guy WAS speaking perfect, native English to me. After a few minutes of a great laugh the bartender recommended me to try Murphy Red. Can I say no to a beer, especially an Irish one?

So there we were, sitting in the Irish pub, me drinking Murphy's and Sandra ice tea (this was very smart of her because it was as early as 1 pm ;-) After finishing my beer I realized that it was too strong for me or the waffle wasn't enough for my stomach to deal with alcohol? Whatever reason it was from that point on Sandra had to deal with intoxicated little me.

Anyway, slowly we went out of the bar and continued exploring the city. Suddenly we found our selves in a nice square, which had an impressive church on one side and a beautiful building with a statue on the other.
Well, since in Europe you can see churches on almost every corner we decided to skip it and to find out what the other building was.
It happened to be a library and it had a sign, which explained how the library started, unfortunately it was in Dutch. Lucky me I had Sandra as a private translator.
So there we were, standing in front of the text on the wall... And then she began reading.... But Murphy and me still didn't get along and of course I couldn't be serious about whatever she reads, I only saw one word in the whole text and it said "schonk". How would you read it??? Sounds like a "skunk" to me, because if you've ever seen Dutch spelling you'd realize that many of the words are like misspelled English ones.
Sandra continued reading, laughing, but ignoring my silliness (she got used to it by then). Suddenly two Asian tourists walked inside and heard Sandra reading and translating the text so they decided to stand behind us and listen carefully. WHAT A MISTAKE! By then we already knew that the "skunk" was very educated, worked as a lawyer, and loved to read books. We also learned that he was very old 'cause the books were donated to the city back in 1481.

Our bystanders were "gone with the wind" 2 minutes later, probably wondering about what these two silly ladies are laughing about. Did I say ladies? Nah, ladies would never be so loud in public. The two of us were making noise of a busy airport.
Finally we walked out and suddenly I heard Sandra saying: Look! This is the statue of the "skunk"!
There he was, big bronze "skunk" facing the church and probably saying to himself: "Help me God to get rid of these stupid tourists."
...And God heard him.

Later we walked around the neighborhood and enjoyed the architecture of the city. We even found out that ironing is forbidden on some of the streets. After this it was time to join the VT gang in the Da Giovanni restaurant, but how we got there is another story.

In August 2004 Sandra, like in the famous Billy Joel's song, "closed the shop, sold the house, bought a ticket to the...." ...around the world and left her beloved Netherlands for the unknown period of time. Before she left, a huge farewell party took place at her already sold house. On that day she got her devoted travel partner - the skunk "Stinker" - who never left her ever since. As a very intelligent skunk, Stinker has developed his own blog and is updating it regularly telling us about his and Sandra's travel adventures. You're welcome to visit their site and follow their never ending journey!