Hannah and me
This past weekend Koen was away in Rotterdam for a boys’ weekend, so I invited Hannah to come to Antwerp for a girls’ weekend! We planned for a delicious Japanese dinner at Osaka (edit – Osaka has since closed its doors after 20 years), followed by drinks at Dogma. The next morning we had a delicious breakfast at Lints, coffee at Caffènation, and then a walk in the Botanical Gardens to see the cacti! A great weekend!
Koen, Matt and Danny in front of the Frites Atelier
After many years of saying they’ll come visit, Danny and Matt finally made it to Antwerp! I made it mission to share all things Belgian, so we at a lot of delicious frietjes, drank Belgian beer, and wandered around the beautiful city!
Wednesday, August 15th, was a national holiday in Belgium. Because I am also off on Tuesdays, I invited Barbara and Sofie (2 of my sister-in-laws) to come to Antwerp and visit museums and also Rubensmarkt, a special market in the Grote Markt that always takes place on the 15th of August, where the vendors are all dressed in 17th century clothes. During the 2 days, we visited the Fotomuseum (FoMu), Sofie’s choice, and the Museum aan de stroom (MAS, featured in this post: Part II), Barbara’s choice. We also had time to visit a couple of cafés and make a delicious dinner!
Fotomuseum (FoMu)
Fotomuseum (FoMu)
My favorite place to get coffee in Antwerp is at Caffènation and it’s a convenient 5 minute walk from my apartment! The new location by the Nationale Bank van België is huge (3 floors) and now I’m always guaranteed a seat. Caffènation is the only real coffee house in Antwerp other than the Starbucks in the train station. Over here there’s more of a café culture, so the atmosphere at Caffènation feels a lot more American and like home to me.
Nationale Bank van België
An American in Antwerp 