Last weekend we made it to Antwerp. We left Saturday morning and the drive was quite nice, although it was long due to traffic.
We arrived at our hotel, the Plaza. It was smack dab in the middle of the Hasidic Jewish neighborhood which proved very interesting and thought provoking whenever we went out and about. Left me with lots of questions and left Ben doing tons of reading/research on his iTouch. (I actually left my computer behind!)
Our room was glorious. We got a Junior Suite so it had a separate bedroom and a walk-in closet. We had two children's beds delivered to the room as well so we didn't have to pack them along. Henry got the front room and Ivy got the closet. :-) The babies did great.
After getting settled we set out for the diamond district, just a short walk from our hotel. The diamond shops are in and around the train station. The diamonds are absolutely stunning and it's overwhelming how many there actually are. But the train station takes your breath away with its old world beauty. It's far more than just a train station. (Check out pictures in next blog down)
We (I) was on the hunt for a few things...a ring for me that was not too flashy, but sentimental and some diamond earrings for Ivy. I wanted something with a pink and a black diamond. I ended up getting a very simple, but elegant ring with 3 white diamonds, a pink and a black. I LOVE IT. We found Ivy some fabulous earrings. She will get them when she's old enough to appreciate them. :-)
My ring.
Pink for Ivy, Black for Henry, 3 diamonds to symbolize me, Ben and our family.
Ivy's Earrings.
Every girl deserves a nice pair of diamonds.
We spent the better part of Saturday walking the diamond shops and the Meir (great overall shopping). After lunching and purchasing diamonds, we decided to treat the babies, and ourselves, to a trip to Aquatopia, Antwerp’s aquarium. We had a great time. Mostly because we enjoyed watching Ivy explore. She now loves to find and do new things and then exclaim "TADA". It's quite cute and hilarious.
From the aquarium we wandered in search of dinner and landed at a nice Argentinean restaurant. The restaurant was on a cute little side street not far from the station and shopping. The food was good, as was the company. It was rather creepy because the owner is an exact match for my friend Adam.
We meandered back past the diamond shops to our hotel and after a long bath in the giant bathtub (very exciting since we don't have one in Hilversum) we turned in for the night. The babies didn't fall asleep until after 9pm, but they slept good so I was happy.
Sunday proved another day of diamonds and adventure. We were waiting on my ring, as it had to be made, so we stayed close to the shop. Lucky for us, and Ivy, the zoo was straight across the plaza so we went in.
The zoo in Antwerp is AMAZING. The animals are very close with a small fence to keep them in. Well, for the most part...The tigers and lions have a giant moat in front of their cage and the elephants have an electric fence keeping them in. But they are not far from view. We actually picked the perfect time for zooing, as the animals were lunching or had just lunched so they were active. Ivy loved it! I really enjoy watching her take everything in and process it. It's quite amusing and eye opening.
One of the best finds at the zoo was a petting pond. That's right. A petting pond. The pond was about up to Ivy's waste and she was able to splash her hand in the water and large koi came swimming up to suck on her hand. That sort of freaked her out, but she loved to 'pet' the fish. I hope we were able to capture it on video.
After lunch at a mediocre Italian restaurant we picked up my ring and headed home. Ivy was asleep before we got onto the freeway, less than 2km from out hotel. Henry was asleep shortly thereafter and both babies slept until we arrived at the house. The ride home was much shorter which was nice.
Overall, it was a grand adventure and a glorious weekend and Ivy and I now have authentic diamonds from Antwerp we can enjoy together in a few years!
Enjoy the pics below. I hope to post some video soon.
Tata for now!
Lindz
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