Antwerp Diamond Day 2

The days are so long here, sunrise 5.29am sunset 10.02. This morning we set off, more prepared for the forecast 31 degrees. We first went to a fortress near here, Het Steen, the building has been reinvented many times over the years, but was first built in the 11th Century. There is a legend here about a mythical giant (Antigoon) who used to demand merchants paid their shipping taxes, those that refused he cut off a hand and threw it into the river. Until the Roman soldier
Barabo killed the giant and cut off his hand and threw it in the river, after that Antwerp flourished due to free trade, so the story goes. There are numerous statues and references to this legend around the city.
One other famous statue is of Nello, the boy, and Patrasche, the dog, in front of the Cathedral of Our Lady (from 'Dog of Flanders ' book), it is a a very sad story, but a cute statue. The Cathedral of Our Lady is beside the historic Grote markt (square) which is surrounded by tall terrace buildings in the Belgian style, and Antwerp City Hall. We had some lunch there, waffles with chocolate sauce and strawberries, and a crispy fish taco. No photo, disappeared too fast!
After lunch we went to KMSKA The Royal Museum of Fine Arts. A great collection of Old Masters (including a collection of Reubens paintings). We ended up at an James Ensor exhibition (another Old Master) where we were asked to describe the painting 'Adam and Eve expelled from Paradise' to a blind man, hard work, especially as it turned out he knew more about the painting than us! An interesting experience.
We then raced to St. Paul's church before it closed (near our accommodation) it is packed with paintings and sculptures and made from massive amounts of different colored marble. The white marble and dark carved wood combination was especially striking. There was also a treasury there, and being in Antwerp the crowns and other precious items had plenty of diamonds on them, usually 600 or so plus other precious gemstones.Read more