Antwerp Round 2

Saturday (February 19^th, 2011) my art class went on yet another one of our lovely trips; this time we went to Antwerp (the diamond capital of the world). 

Like always we met up at Central Station, and departed missing about 4 kids, as always! We got to Antwerp and the first thing we see is Starbucks. Now I don't want to say I became that girl, but I became that girl that just NEEDED a normal sized cup of coffee. At my internship they keep feeding me these baby cups of coffee, which honestly do nothing for me. So when we stumbled upon Starbucks, it only seemed right for me to get a venti (aka the largest size they have!)

After this little detour where we learned about Andreas Vesalius, we walked down the main street and saw the statue of Anthony van Dyck, a statue of Rubens, and the Cathedral (which happens to be the largest church in Belgium).

Then, we went to the Plantin-Moretus Museum, aka the printing museum, where we got to see one of the 12 original Gutenberg Bibles!

Next, we wandered off to lunch and met back up at the Cathedral. At the Cathedral of Our Lady, we saw some of Rubens artwork, then walked over to the Grote Markt and saw the Barbo statue. Then, it was to the port where we froze as a girl gave her presentation about the history of the port.

Janice, Dane, Patrick, Casey, Janie, and Katie with the Brabo statue

Hand cookie!

 After the presentation, we walked to the Steen and saw the Vleeshuis (the Butcher's Hall). From there we visited St. Charles Borromeo which used to have a ceiling painted by Rubens but it was destroyed in a fire. There we sat and warmed up a little as Janie gave her presentation on the Inquisition. 

We left the church in search of Ruben's house, and when we got there the people were simply rude to us! Despite the fact that all the signs said that the house closed at 5pm, at 4:20pm they were shooing us out the door. So, we didn't get the chance to enjoy the house cause every room we went in the people were reminding us it was closing and to get out. Poor Martine couldn't get a single word in with all those employees reminding her to get out. After that unpleasantness, we went back to the train station, I got myself another Starbucks drink, and we were on the train returning to Brussels.