Not that I am a fan of grey and rain on any given day (I get my fill from living in London), but visiting Brussels and Antwerp on a rainy November weekend with Mr Handsome had its fair share of visual treats. Namely typography. Lots and lots of sexy retro typography. Who would have thunk that chip/frituur shops could look that classy?
You can travel around these bite-size cities easily on a bike (Antwerp has city-run bike schemes similar to Boris's Barcleys Bikes), I would ask the hotel to stay at to rent one out for you, much cheaper than going through a private bike company. Unless it rains. Then you dash into a coffeeshop and order a hot chocolate which you make yourself (yes, they give you blocks of Belgian chocolate and a steaming cup of milk and off you go!). Albeit the weather wasn't the best, but the buildings are old and lovely (and skew), Belgian beer is sublime, the streets are cobbled and echo, and if you are lucky, you can wander into the main square with a lone flutist playing up from one of the windows to passersby. Just for the hell of it.
You can travel around these bite-size cities easily on a bike (Antwerp has city-run bike schemes similar to Boris's Barcleys Bikes), I would ask the hotel to stay at to rent one out for you, much cheaper than going through a private bike company. Unless it rains. Then you dash into a coffeeshop and order a hot chocolate which you make yourself (yes, they give you blocks of Belgian chocolate and a steaming cup of milk and off you go!). Albeit the weather wasn't the best, but the buildings are old and lovely (and skew), Belgian beer is sublime, the streets are cobbled and echo, and if you are lucky, you can wander into the main square with a lone flutist playing up from one of the windows to passersby. Just for the hell of it.
