nights in Hoboken

when we first arrived in Antwerp, I was surprised to see the trolley coming towards me with a Hoboken sign in the front window. It was like a case of deja vu. Did I just arrive back at Newark? where the hell am I?

But no, Hoboken is an area in the south part of Antwerp. So naturally since I've had some great nights in Hoboken whether it was going to shows at Maxwell's, going out to dinner/bars, or even just hanging out when my brother used to live there, I had to go check it out in Antwerp as well.

It was totally different. There isn't a ton of information but here's wikipedia's page about this little subdivision.

But it did remind me that I need to get back over there soon. With the Syndicate being right in Weehawken, I really should be making it over there more after work. And then also go down the shore for some surfing and beaching before jellyfish season kicks in.

antwerp-a-derp

just going to start with a side note: for some reason, I can't get Skulls out of my head....was singing it in my head all night tonight. so go ahead and listen to it as well.

great day all around in antwerp today. started off meeting our diamond subsidiary folks and watching rough diamonds getting graded, measured, cut (sawed), shaped, polished and finished. unbelievable stuff. Just knowing that half of the carat weight is unused, removed, or polished away to get to that final little sparkler makes the experience of working with them that much greater. you should definitely go and buy yourself some. after that, went to visit a vendor that uses technology in a way that is pretty new in the jewelry business and had a very productive meeting talking about CNC machines, CAD/CAM, and mostly robots.
Did you know that Robots don't get holidays? I know that now.

after work, ran into this little 70's Zundapp on the sidewalk. I tried asking who the owner was in my broken french/belgian/german-ish (aka English), but I was unsuccessful.



walked past a thrift shop that was closed and saw these beauties in the window. I'm such a sucker for Eames chairs. I still miss the blue set of side chairs. But I don't miss the cat hair that burrowed its way into them.


oh and some Saarinen sneaking in the background? yes please.


an unexpected view of the Cathedral


we found a great little underground spot for dinner. place was definitely dungeon-y. All the food was cooked on a wood burning stove that was fully exposed. Not only was my beef cooked this time around, I still smell like it. *oh and I think this restaurant reminded me of the song London Dungeon by the Misfits which THEN made me think of Skulls......


and finished up the day with a bunch of these.

antwerp-ing

sometimes the clouds look like ________ (mad libs)



couldn't believe that Easy Rider was a movie option on my on-demand, but it was....YES!


Mark Drews sighting on a magazine here in Belgium

you know, just the outside of the train station

oh, and the inside. they did such a great job of making everything look really old. They must have hired some REALLY good hollywood set designers here.

For lunch i wanted something Grilled Cheese-esque. I ordered from the section that had Croque Monsieurs. I ordered the one called Americain Cannibal. I thought it would be ham and cheese. Instead the picture below is what came out. Raw beef spread on bread with the sides like a lox and bagel situation. Yes, I ate it all. No, I'm not sick yet.

oh, and some beer.