There is nothing useful on this web site.
Even though the internet is the source of all truth, the only truth here is that everything else is a lie.
We can forgive a man for making a useful thing as long as he does not admire it. The only excuse for making a useless thing is that one admires it intensely.
All art is quite useless.- Oscar Wilde
The Reluctant Traveler (TRT) and his sidekick, MLW, visited the city Antwerp in Belgium on this weekend.
For those of you who are wondering why TRT goes by that name, it should be explained that it's the act of traveling that he fears and loathes. Once at the destination, things are all right, even pleasant at times.
TRT looks forward to the day when we can just ethereally transport from place to place at the speed of light, avoiding things like airports and queues and the like. Until that time, TRT will soldier on, reporting to all the joys of "travel".
The train trip to Belgium offered a perfect backdrop for your intrepid reporter.
Not long before we crossed the border, an announcement was made, in 3 languages, that there was a train strike in Belgium.
They further explained that we would have to disembark at Roosendaal and continue our journey by bus to Antwerp. They had already arranged for buses. My guess is they have done this before.
Europe is a very wonderful mosaic of nations, its citizens cultured and civilized; at least until they have to get off a train and get on a bus bound for Antwerp.
I'm not sure why so many wanted to go through the door of the bus at the exact same moment, or why some that were behind us believed it absolutely necessary to get to the door before us, but that is the way it was. It was magical.
Many of my fellow travelers already believe they can transport themselves through walls of people if they apply enough forward force with their bodies. It makes for a remarkable experience. We were transported through the door of the bus by their energy alone, with the speed of a Galapogos turtle. I'm not even sure that my feet were touching the ground as we drifted to the door of the bus like a piece of glacial debris.
Eventually everyone did get a seat and we were on our way. The bus driver took a wrong turn at one point and we doubled back, so that both sides of the bus had a splendid view of the nuclear power plant outside of Antwerp.
We eventually did make it to the city and reasonably close to the train station. The bus driver was kind enough give us a couple of circle tours of the area around the train station before he gave up and dropped us at the bus depot. We all disembarked and waved goodbye to the bus driver as he placed a large 'For Sale' sign in the window and drove off.
The Antwerp train station is magnificent, worth the visit in itself. The trains arrive and depart from the station now on four different levels, with high speed train service due to begin in December 2008.
The vaulted ceiling of the meeting room is probably 30 meters high, recalling the golden age of train travel.
Around the corner to the right of the main entrance is the Antwerp zoo.
Across the street to the west of the train station is an array of at over 20 diamond kiosks.
They are mostly small stores, maybe 4 meters across and all clustered together like some farmers market, but together thay offer an incredible selection of diamond jewellery and cut stones. A great place to shop for an engagement or anniversary ring.
Another delight of Antwerp is the resplendent guild houses and the gold statues that adorn their peaks.
Most were built in the 16th century, as the dutch colonized distant parts of the world and enjoyed great prosperity with the spice trade, a golden age.
Not all the buildings are 400 years old.
A fine example of Art Deco architecture from 1931 called the Boerentoren or Farmer's Tower.
We paid a visit place called StadFeestzaal (pictures on the right). It was stunning inside. I am guessing it was once a giant ballroom, but now serves as a shopping mall.
At one end of the ballroom was a beautiful marble staircase, at the other end was a restaurant sitting atop a champagne glass shaped platform.
No European city or town would be complete without a cathedral. Antwerp has one, of course, complete with its own silly clock.
The Cathedral of Our Lady is one of the most beautifully restored Gothic churches I have seen. The white interior makes it wonderfully bright inside. The exterior has also been immaculately cleaned.
The Dutch and Belgians seem to have this strange obsession with putting a clock (or four) on every prominent tower in sight.
So one can find beautiful old church spires that have been retro-fitted with a clock of some kind.
I do not understand this. Maybe there is a history here that I don't know about, but some of these clocks look really bad. They just don't belong.
The Dutch are very good at design, building, art and style. And they are masters at preserving history. So what posseses them to do someting like this?