lauantai 19. toukokuuta 2012

antwerpen

Such a beautiful train station they have. I think it is important to have a nice looking railway station, as this is the first thing you see in the city. We ate wonderful cupcakes, ate fries, visited photography museum, ate at lombardia and spent the next hours shopping until the last store closed :D I still haven't seen the city properly and another museum I would like to visit and the other part of the centre....should I just visit Antwerpen again?
So little time left and Mechelen and Maastricht (Netherlands) are not explored yet. Tomorrow I'm going to Brugge and gonna spend 4 days there! I doubt that I will ever have the opportunity to "live" in Brugge.
Here are some photos from Antwerpen trip:



















keskiviikko 9. toukokuuta 2012

liege

The one and only city I have visited in Wallonia, a french speaking part of Belgium, is Liege. My first visit to this city was very quick and this time we had a plan to visit flea market, museum and walk around. There is a famous railway station, but outside city centre so we did not see it.
In the tourist office we figured out that there is no flea market that day and headed to the photography museum. On the way we found a nice shop with buffet and took some food to eat outside.
The museum was closed and we had an hour to sit in the park nearby, watching ducks and other birds.
Photography museum is an old big building reminding someone's mansion. We spent around 3 hours exploring an international exhibition with photographs and videos.
Next hours we were walking around, doing some shopping and having a dinner before going back home.
Liege is not like small Flemish towns, it's a big city and it reminds me more of Brussels. I don't like big cities, for me, small, cute and cosy towns are more attractive :)



photography museum 



i look like a maniac :D i just like cute little bunnies <3 





surprise <3

lauantai 5. toukokuuta 2012

ghent

      Ghent it is. We had a breakfast in our hostel, which was nice, since I don't remember when was my last stay in a hotel or a hostel with breakfast included. It is like after flying with Ryanair, to use another airline :DAfter breakfast we travelled to Ghent. It is only 25 minutes away. Ghent is bigger than Bruges, and we took a tram from a train station to the centre. Thanks to use-it maps we had something to do in every city. They are fun, made by locals and for young people. Although there are mostly bars listed, some useful and interesting spots are also mentioned.
      We decided to rent bikes, again, as it is faster and you don't get tired so quickly. If I remember right, we went to a wonderful Avalon restaurant. Weather was finally good enough to sit outside on the terrace, otherwise there were no places to sit inside. The food was great, the mood even better after this and were ready to see more touristic attractions. We went to the Belfry of Ghent, which is a 91-metres high bell tower, and you can go by elevator to see a panorama over the town. I'm glad we didn't have to climb all the stairs up, because I feel uncomfortable in small spaces, I might be claustrophobic....at least I would not go all by myself. I was never a fan of panoramas, so nothing special, besides the tower you see this view from.
      I don't like that museums and shops close at 18.00 here. You have to choose. We didn't have time to visit Museum of Contemporary Art properly and went for a tea to find some vintage or second hand shops on a map. I love cafes, even more than restaurants, especially cute and cosy ones. I wish I could go every day to different cafes, or at least work in one. Hoping to get back to Finland and find any cafe would take me to work. Ok, back to Ghent :) Still some time before every shop closes in Ghent we stopped by at 2 cute little shops. One was actually meant for children, but I found a bottle of bubbles in a shape of ice cream for myself. In the other one I wanted to buy maybe more little things, but I couldn't leave without buying a match garden and a cute postcard.
     We returned our bikes back to the rental place and decided to go home. We went to the place we got out and took a tram to the train station. As we started to leave the centre, we realised we are going in the wrong direction, but we could see another side of the city too. After all adventures, safe return home and gaining strength to the next day's trip to Liege.










under "romantic trees"














i'm gonna have my own little cress salad :)