I got to visit Antwerp (Flemish:Antwerpen / French:Anvers) for the first time in October 2006, and found it to be a delightful city – helpful, friendly people who spoke English (as well as German, Flemish, French, it seemed), cooked good food, and made excellent beers in various styles. Belgium is a country divided by language. In the south they speak French predominantly, and in the north, it\’s mostly Flemish, a Germanic language. It\’s mostly the same as Dutch, with a few dialectal differences that certainly my ears can\’t distinguish.
On the 2006 trip I stayed at the Best Western Classical Mozart hotel (view from my room) . Unfortunately they were booked solid (and quite a lot more expensive) this trip, as was the case for most hotels in Antwerp, apparently. We stayed at the Tourist Hotel, which was quite conveniently located just opposite Antwerp\’s Central Station. But the view from my room this time looked like this:
![\"Room](\"http://johngriswold.files.wordpress.com/2007/11/roomwithaview.jpg\")
which is clearly not as cool as the Cathedral. But the hotel was clean and reasonably comfortable, if not luxuriously appointed like the Mozart. I do wish they had had a real shower, though. Instead of being wall-mounted, the sprayer was hand-held, which made me feel more like a load of dishes. But it worked pretty well in any event. At least the water temperature stayed steady (which I cannot say about the Hilton at Schiphol Airport in Amsterdam). We didn\’t try the hotel restaurant, but I stopped in at the bar a few times. They had Primus beer (probably Primus Haacht) on draught, so that suited me. Nothing too complex, just a nice session beer, with a little bowl of peanuts to while away an hour before heading up to bed.
The Tourist Hotel was, we suspect, owned by Russians (Dema Hotels Group), and the bulk of the folks at breakfast were apparently Russians, too, both business and casual guests. Breakfast was a bit sparse by the European standards to which I\’ve become accustomed, but I didn\’t leave hungry. I would have been happier with cereal, some fruit and some yogurt in the mix. But coffee, tea, juice, bread, sliced meat and cheese usually do pretty well.
