Antwerp - Diamonds ARE a Girl's best friend

What I was expecting to be a relatively quiet week in London 'packing up shop' ended up being quite busy. On Monday, Jason came over for dinner and a look at the new apartment. On Tuesday, I had dinner with Corinne and her ex-OFT work colleagues at Tayyabs (we all smelt of curry and barbequed meat afterwards). On Wednesday, Ammy had her birthday dinner at Awana. Then on Thursday, I had a work colleague’s leaving drinks at the Porterhouse Covent Garden, dinner with Alli and Aaron at Waterloo Brasserie and then dessert with Corinne and a few other friends around the corner from my apartment on Bethnal Green Road.

Saturday 2 February 2008
After some initial tube dramas, I made it to London City airport this morning and headed to Antwerp, Belgium. Antwerp refers to itself as the “diamond capital” of the world as it handles more than 80 per cent of the world's rough diamonds. After meeting Jane at our hotel, we headed to Applemansstraat, De Keyserlei and Vestingstraat for diamond shopping. We were told to keep away from the Central Station as the less reputable jewelers are situated there. In addition, most of these stores are owned by the Jewish and today was their Sabbath so their shops were closed in any event.

The main purpose of this trip was to buy my 30th Birthday present from Yang, a pair of diamond earrings. I had been procrastinating for 2 years to actually buy these because of the cost of two little carbon stones…

The experience was actually quite stressful, going in and out of jewellery shops asking for a pair of princess cut earrings and then comparing the price to the size, colour and clarity offered. Princess cut diamonds are a lot harder to source than brilliant cut (which are apparently more popular) and it didn’t help that I came on a weekend, as on weekdays it is easier to source diamonds, and as stud earrings are quite easy to set, they don’t really sell stud earrings already made.

However, I had success almost 4 hours later with matching princess cut diamonds in the size, colour and clarity I was willing to accept. Although, I did feel physically sick from handing over my credit card, entering my pin to authorise the transaction, and thinking of the much better uses I could have put our money to. So thanks a heap to Yang for my new earrings and to Jane for her level head and following me in and out of shops all afternoon!

With my new earrings on, we walked down to the Meir, Antwerp’s most famous shopping street. The architecture of most of the buildings on the Meir was amazing; very ornate Baroque facades in the Rococo style. We also went inside the Stadsfeestzaal Shopping Centre, located inside the restored City Festival Space. It had the coolest Champagne Bar, built on what was meant to look like a Martini glass.

At the end of the Meir, we reached Groensplaat and then Grotemarkt, the main square, which is similar to the Grotemarkt in Brussels. Unfortunately we didn’t have time to do a lot of shopping, which is a good thing given my most recent purchase, but it is worth mentioning that as a city the shopping here is great; I would compare it to Barcelona in terms of choice.

After wandering down some very interesting alleys and streets looking for restaurants, because there was so much choice, we finally settled at Paul Preud’ Homme. We shared the Château Briand that was overcooked, but the waiter kindly took it back and had the kitchen prepare a medium rare one as originally requested. The béarnaise sauce is apparently the best in Antwerp, which I can’t dispute as it was really really nice, especially served warm. Our evening also included entertainment from a drag queen in a sequined swimsuit lip-syncing “One day I'll fly away” from the Moulin Rouge sound track, and a violinist.

Following dinner, I introduced Jane to Belgian fruit beer at Kelly’s Irish Pub, which was very enjoyable as there was live music, and the guy performing played all the songs that we both enjoyed.

Sunday 3 February 2008
After breakfast at the hotel, we headed to Rubenshuis, Peter Paul Ruben’s original house and studio. Unlike other painters of his time, Rubens was actually quite wealthy, given his multifaceted talent as not only a great painter, but also as an architect and diplomat. As a result, his house and gardens are very impressive, and also display some of his paintings (including 'Adam and Eve in Paradise' and 'Annunciation'), paintings by his trainees and some of his original furniture.

From Rubenshuis we walked along the Meir, which was very quiet, but it gave us an opportunity to take photos with the "hand" sculpture. There are so many tacky tourist souvenirs with a "hand" because according to folklore, Antwerp got its name from a legend involving a giant whose hand was severed and thrown into the River Scheldt. Hence the name Antwerpen (from the Dutch words for hand and to throw).

We ended back at the Grotemarkt to admire the ornate Guild Houses, Brabo fountain, and the Town Hall during the day and then headed to the start of the original Port of Antwerp (the current Port of Antwerp is the third largest in Europe after Rotterdam and Hamburg). We walked around the Steen, a small medieval castle on the banks of the River Scheldt, that used to function as a city fortification, but now houses a naval museum. Then from here we walked up to Bonapartedok, named after Napoleon Bonaparte, which is currently undergoing a huge change in the form of office blocks, loft apartments, restaurants and galleries (another Canary Wharf?).

Town Hall; Grotemarkt; Steen

We were quite far away from the centre of town by this time so we walked to Carolus Borromeus Church and had a look inside just as a service was finishing. It was good timing actually as they don't usually open for the public on Sunday. The Carolus Borromeus Church was built by the Jesuits and in keeping with the Rubens influence in Antwerp, includes paintings by Ruben, and sculptural decorations and façade designed by Rubens.

We also visited the Gothic Our Lady's Cathedral, with a 12 metre tower that makes it the highest Church Tower in the Benelux (the economic union comprising the three neighboring monarchies, Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg). The Cathedral houses some of Ruben's famous paintings, the 'Descent from the Cross' and the 'Elevation of the Cross'.

The rest of the afternoon was spent eating and drinking, firstly lunch at a Cafe in the Old Town, then a waffle at the Take-a-way store for Désiré de Lille (Antwerp's most famous waffle shop), then coffee at De Foyer inside the large cupola above the Bourla Theatre.


By the time we had finished coffee, Jane needed to get back to the hotel and head to Brussels to catch the Eurostar to London. After saying goodbye to Jane at the train station, I headed to the Antwerp Zoo as I had not been to a zoo in ages, and apparently the buildings constructed to house the animals were worth the visit. It definitely was interesting; the giraffes and elephants were housed in an Egyptian Temple that was modeled after the 1854 'Egyptian Court' at the Crystal Palace in London, and other 19th Century Flemish Architecture.

After the zoo, I walked around the diamond district a bit more; this time all the Jewish stores were open and you could tell they were dodgy, as there were no price tags and when you look in the window, they wave signs saying '50% off' to entice you to come in. Given I had made my purchase for the weekend (or as Yang said "for the rest of my life"), I decided to have an early dinner, comprising waffles and ice-cream at the Désiré de Lille Tea House before catching my flight back to London.

Thanks Jane for sharing my last European weekend holiday with me!