Some People shouldn't travel

It's so much easier to be a wild crazy brave traveler when you are sitting at home in the good ole USA. Yesterday I was a bum all day and got caught up on sleep. This morning I decided that I was going to go out and see the city. I planned to go back to the GroenPlatz (City Center) where we were last night. Kyle and John pointed out that if I got on the #22 bus then there was no way I could get lost. Of course, in true Christie fashion I got on the bus going the wrong direction. So my 20 minute ride down to the GroenPlatz turned into an hour and a half ride to there through the entire bus route. I did get to see a lot more of the city.

So I finally got down to the GroenPlatz and got off the bus and started to walk around. I noticed that there was some very loud music playing and a rather large police presence. All of the sudden there were thousands of people dressed in red from head to toe coming out of several side streets. They were chanting something very loudly. It was difficult to tell if it was a Pride march or a Protest march. Suddenly there was the sound of something going off, I couldn't tell if it was fireworks or a gun. About 30 seconds later I hear sirens coming from all different directions. So I took my happy little, I-only-speak-English butt and got right back on the bus and came back to the hotel. I have no idea if it was harmless fun or the makings of a riot. Since I couldn't understand a single word of it and there were so many people I decided the best/safest thing for me to do is go back to the hotel.

So, my first trip out in Europe alone was me riding a train for close to 2 hours, walking around for 10 minutes and then coming back to my hotel to hide out again.

I did see a very cool looking flea market in my round about way. I think I'm going to put on my big girl panties and go check that out in the morning.

People watching on the bus is pretty interesting. There is a very large Hasidic Jewish community in Antwerp. The men look so interesting in their beards, hats and the long banana curls hanging down over their ears. There were very few cars on the road and it was so interesting watching all the older men and women with their shopping baskets getting on and off the bus.

There are also a ton of bike riders. It's not at all uncommon to see a mom riding a bike with a toddler on the back whipping in and out of traffic. People seem to walk a great deal everywhere we've been. It's quite the change from St Louis where people drive to go 1/2 a block.

Another very interesting thing I've found is that I saw probably half a dozen middle aged women pushing baby carriages. That wouldn't be so odd except the baby carriages held dogs!!!!

Things I've learned so far:
European toilets are weird. I was so glad when John mentioned how much they freaked him out too. Kyle and I were afraid it was only us that were intimidated by them. There is a basin (with almost no water) at the top of the toilet that collects waste. When you flush (using a large button the wall) water comes from the back of the toilet and washes out the waste leaving the basin at the top dry again. (I know Benjamin is finding this very interesting.)





Not speaking the language is difficult. Especially in very crowded strange situations.

Bus drivers here are CRAZY. They have no problem squeezing a bus through a space where they don't have 3 inches to spare on each side. The citizens of Antwerp don't even seem to notice this.

Meters/Kilo's all that metric crap is way difficult. Although it is kinda cool seeing a speed limit of 140 even if it is in kilometers.

Ditto for the Euros. It's so weird paying for things using coins. They have 2,5, 20, 50 cent coins then $1 and $2 euro coins. The paper money is very thin and feels like Monopoly money. We can't seem to find any rhyme or reason why the coin sizes are the way they are. The $2 and $.50 coins are almost the same size. It's just weird.

They use military time here. So right now the clock in our hotel room says 13:42 or 1:42 (It's like 7:45 in STL right now). I just don't want to have to subtract 12 when I look at the clock after noon.

Trying to get onto a normal sleeping schedule is hard when it's only dark for about 6 hours tops per night.

!nbev is everywhere here. Last night Kyle and John ordered a Stella beer at the Greek restaurant and discovered when it arrived that it is an !nbev product. I promptly took away their St Louis residency cards. They are now strictly Pabst Blue Ribbon guys now.

Okay, enough belly aching for me for now. The city really is very beautiful and slightly exotic to my uncultured self. It's also intimidating. The people seem very friendly but I'm still trying to get up the guts to venture out on my own.