John did have his third and last field lab in Belgium, leaving Antwerp (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antwerp) early Thursday the 12th with a busload of students in his Stress class. They visited the World Health Organization in Brussels and also met with an alumna of Semester at Sea who is working in Brussels and who was instrumental in helping to set up the WHO visit. All agreed this was a very successful trip and the students enjoyed the opportunity to talk with someone who had been a SAS student and discuss the doors that were opened for her as a result of that experience. I went out that morning with a couple from the ship on a hop on, hop off tour of the city. We got off at the central train station (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antwerp_central_station), a magnificent building in the center of town that has a 75 meter high dome and is visible throughout the city. There are three levels from which trains depart and it's easy to get anywhere in Belgium and surrounding countries in a short time. There is also lots of shopping inside the station, and a Starbucks - the only one in Antwerp (though we did find better coffee shops in the city and no free wifi at Starbucks). Antwerp is smaller than Hamburg, and very industrial with about 20% of the population working around the port area. Government and service sectors are located in Brussels.
The main part of Antwerp is located on the right bank of the Scheldt river; development is beginning on the left bank, and that is the view we had from our cabin while we were in port, seeing what looked like a park used by families for picnicking and so on. There are six tunnels that lead from one side of the river to the other - one for pedestrians and cyclists, one for trains, one for the subway, and three for cars. I wanted to try the pedestrian tunnel, but never got there and might not have been able to make myself walk under the river anyway! John and I did some walking around in the city on Friday, our second day there, giving John a chance to unwind from his long day with students.
On our last day we had a short walk and then I went to the Rubens House (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rubens_House), where Peter Paul Rubens and his wife Isabella Brant lived, and where Rubens worked until his death in 1640. The pieces in the collection there are very nice, and the house itself is well worth the visit. I stopped at a small Belgian waffle spot on the way back to the ship for a treat, and if you think they are anything like what passes for Belgian waffles in North America, you'd be very wrong! Here they are made with yeast instead of baking powder as well as a special form of sugar not found anywhere else, and are served unadorned (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Belgian_waffles). The dough is much more like bread dough than pancake batter.
On our last day we had a short walk and then I went to the Rubens House (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rubens_House), where Peter Paul Rubens and his wife Isabella Brant lived, and where Rubens worked until his death in 1640. The pieces in the collection there are very nice, and the house itself is well worth the visit. I stopped at a small Belgian waffle spot on the way back to the ship for a treat, and if you think they are anything like what passes for Belgian waffles in North America, you'd be very wrong! Here they are made with yeast instead of baking powder as well as a special form of sugar not found anywhere else, and are served unadorned (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Belgian_waffles). The dough is much more like bread dough than pancake batter.
"On-ship" time on Saturday was early - 1pm. We left Antwerp a bit late while several people were running around trying to locate two students who had not come back to this ship. It turned out they had missed a train connection and would have to meet the ship in Le Havre, so we departed around 3:30 without them. The weather in Antwerp on Saturday had been quite rainy and chilly, and as we sailed back down the Scheldt and into the North Sea, heading for the English Channel and Le Havre, the weather cleared and we had a beautiful night, with visible stars and the almost three quarter moon shining on the water. We arrived at Le Havre (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Le_Havre) and its port (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Port_of_le_havre) at 8am yesterday, and were able to leave the ship around 9am. I went into the city and walked around, particularly in a very large market area. By the time I returned to the ship it was becoming cloudy and windy, and although we considered taking a couple of short train trips from here, in the end we did decide to spend the time at a nearby hotel. We had a chance to walk around for awhile. Like other ports we have seen on this trip, bombing in 1944 destroyed many of the old buildings in Le Havre, so there is a mix of old and new architecture, and the city was named a World Heritage Site in 2005 because of the restoration work of Auguste Perret (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Auguste_Perret).
When we returned to the ship an hour or so ago, we were in the midst of a downpour and since then have had bright sunshine and now clouds, very high winds, and rain starting. From our balcony we can see lots of our students in the cruise terminal, taking advantage of wifi there. "On-ship" time today is at 6pm, when everyone will need to be back on the ship with passports turned in to the purser's desk. Lots of people will be returning this afternoon from overland trips they took from Antwerp. We will not actually leave this port until 5am on Wednesday morning, even though we will not be allowed off the ship again; it's one of those times that we need some classroom days and don't need much time to get to our next port, Dublin at 8am on the 20th. John and I are hoping to meet with our extended family tomorrow evening, and on the 18th we are having a special dinner in a separate dining room with some friends from the faculty. This should help the time to pass very quickly until we get to the next port.
And now the sun has returned...
And now the sun has returned...
