Alex's Summer at Sea

Two blog posts today, including a report on Belgium, but first an update on our voyage. Due to the recent bombings in London, Semester at Sea has decided to switch our next port of call away from the UK, choosing instead Le Havre, France. Le Havre is located in Northern France, and is about 2.5 hours away from Paris by train.

I try to stay away from editorializing too much in this blog, choosing instead to share my experiences with you all, but I think it’s important to state my disappointment with this decision. While the terrorist attacks are both tragic and scary, there are still plenty of people living in the city going about their lives as usual – or at least a very close approximation to it. While there has been a dropoff in the number of citizens using the Tube for transportation, the trains are far from empty. This suggests that Londoners are willing to go about their lives without letting terrorism rule every decision. Even after these terrorist attacks, I don’t feel any less safe going to London than I do any big city, especially Washington DC, perhaps the world’s top terrorist target, where I just spent 10 weeks. This isn’t a reckless, carefree attitude, but rather a rational analysis of the impact of terrorism, and my insistence that suicide bombers won’t stop me from exploring and experiencing important places in the world. Unfortunately, I believe that the decision to divert our voyage away from London was done so out of fear of public opinion rather than rational fear of bodily harm. This voyage is supposed to show us the world, and, regrettably, terrorism has become part of our everyday lives. This, however, does not mean that we should shy away from any situation in which there is danger. Further, at times like this, it’s important to support affected areas, and what better way to show our support than to visit as scheduled. What happens if more groups of otherwise eager travelers are turned away from visiting London because of a couple of attacks? Should that be enough to turn a public-transportation system into a ghost train, or to transform one of the world’s most storied cities into no-man’s land? Even in the midst of these attacks, I still believe that London is safer than Moscow, a city we all visited and came out not only unscathed, but better for the experience.

This news of course, will not stop me from enjoying our next port – as much as I wanted to see London and possibly make a trip out to the links of St. Andrews. However, with not much time to plan, I’d like to know if any of you have traveled to northern France before, and if so, what tips you might have for places to see. I may go to Paris, but I was just there in December, and would like to see other parts, so all suggestions are welcome.

Now on to better things: Belgium.

First of all, thank you to all of you who wanted to make sure I did, in fact, eat a waffle in Belgium. Rest assured I had two for myself, as well as tastes of my friend’s waffles, and enjoyed them all. Waffles in Belgium, it should be noted, are not quite like their American cousins. Waffles in Antwerp more closely resemble fried cake. Also, you can forget asking for “a little syrup” on your waffles. Here, you choose a couple of toppings which range from whipped cream and cherries (my personal favorite), to a chocolate coating, to Icecream, whipped cream, sprinkles and chocolate sauce as one of the girls I was with had. Amazingly, it seems despite how many things you can think of throwing on top of a waffle, the price it seems never tops 3 Euros.

I spent most of my time in Antwerp walking around the city, going in shops and stores and taking photos as I pleased. This was a pleasant break from all of the group travel I had done in Russia and Poland where our organized trips were filled with “hurry up and wait.” On those trips you don’t get a chance to see things you want to see for as long as you want to see them, and are always beholden to a tour guide, who, in Moscow was a fierce little lady. My time in Antwerp reminded me of the amazing time I had this past winter in Europe with Justin and Mark, where we spent most of our time, at our own leisure, exploring the cities at ground level.

In the short time I was there, we managed to find a bar that became our main hangout; it was, in many respects the best of globalization: an Irish pub atmosphere, Belgian beer, and American music. The beer in Belgium is very simple to order. There are hundreds of local breweries, but each one puts out just two types of beer: blonde (light), or bruin (dark). I took special enjoyment in purposely mispronouncing my order, asking for a “Bruin,” instead of a “Brooooon.” When I get back to Westwood, I’m going to go talk to Maloney’s and tell them to only stock Belgian Bruin beer; I don’t think they’ll listen to me.

I wrote about my obsession with Norway’s obsession with Americana on their t-shirts; Belgium’s fashion was almost as entertaining. My favorite items were a series of shirts that apparently assume that California and Florida are the same state, as they offered Abercrombie style shirts that said “Santa Monica Boulevard Lifegard, Miami Beach Florida,” and “Santa Monica, Florida Surf contest.” Apparently Belgians have decided that just because two American regions are sunny and have beaches, they must be the same, even if they lie 3000 miles from each other. If nothing else, I’m glad Belgians are envious of Santa Monica, and not Rhode Island, as the Norwegians are.

I leave you with some photos of my time in Belgium, and, a semi-promise to finish writing and post more experiences from Russia and Poland.

Apparently Lorenzo Mata has given up on basketball and opened up a restaurant in Antwerp:

A couple of photos from the afternoon I spent in Ghent – about an hour from Antwerp:


The Antwerp Cathedral at night:

Yeah, I am obsessed with the flags: