I meant to mention last night how interesting the conversation with Elli and Julie was over dinner. We talked for ages about cultural differences of various every day things like how long it takes before it's awkward to be silent at dinner in all of our cultures. It was very interesting seeing how different what we would all consider really simple behaviours are across cultures!
This morning I had breakfast with Elli while Julie left for a dance workshop. Then Elli and I headed out. We started off by going to the cathedral, which is so beautiful on the outside and had lots of Rubens and other works on display inside. We spent about half an hour admiring the art and the inside.
Then we went to the City Hall. For 361 days a year no one is allowed inside the city hall, but for four days of the year they are. By sheer fluke I'm here during the four days called "Flowers for Ladies" in English which basically was an exhibition of 10,000 flowers on display inside the city hall. The building itself was really beautiful, and then on top of that the displays (some of which were amazing and some very weird!) were great. It was funny seeing flowers weaved around office desks and things like that. The highlight was a bridal gown made of roses with blue lights shining on it! It was quite expensive at 9 euros but we enjoyed it. The man on the desk tried to make a joke saying "no student rate. Students from Australia get in free" thinking no one from Australia would be here. When I said "I'm from Australia!" he said he was joking. Everyone in Belgium thinks I'm English, which is an improvement on everyone in recently who's asked me thinking I was American!!! We then walked through the small exhibition about the history of the city hall (which turned 450 on February 27 this year!) but we didn't gain too much from it because it was mostly in Dutch.
Next we went shopping in a small street called Kammendstraat. And for 30 minutes I thought I had been transported to Fitzroy or Brunswick at home! It was a very alternative/hipster area. The fashion was very strange but it was interesting to see because Antwerp is very famous for fashion. We then headed to the Meir, the main shopping street here. Here I spent an hour in 'Forever 21' trying on clothes. 'Forever 21' is amaaaaaazing. Be proud - I only bought a dress and a top! And they were cheap :)
Had a bit of a rest at the hostel. Elli went to meet her friend and I went walking to an underground pedestrian tunnel that goes under the river here! It's 31m underground and is 600m long. I had a bit of a walk along the banks on the other side and enjoyed a panorama of the city. Bit creepy walking down there though, makes you feel a tad claustrophobic!
Haven't felt all that great the last couple of days to be honest. I tripped up some stairs hurrying to my room the other day and since then my scoliosis has been playing up. Getting lots of headaches and aches in general but never mind. Treated myself this afternoon and had my feet scrubbed and cleaned up. Won't go into detail but 3.5 months of travelling around does not make your feet pretty!! That helped and I'm feeling a bit better now. And the lady was lovely! Funny fact I picked up from her - 'Border Patrol' the program from home is on everywhere here! She said they all love it because they find it strange how strict our controls are haha.
Tonight I'm having tomato soup and bread I bought from the supermarket for dinner, and a vitamin C juice. Might be heading to a viewpoint later with Julie and Ellie and her friend!
Love to all
Claire
Xoxox
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