PAUL

We arrived in Antwerp to discover that the beautiful sunshine in Amsterdam had not followed us and that it was in fact raining. So looking rather like blimps with our rain covers and jackets over the bags on our front and backs, we made our way to our hostel, needing only to stop and ask for directions once. We arrived to what can only be described as the perfect hostel. The owner, Bridget, is a traveller herself and so she has endeavoured to make it a hostel that she would like to stay in - clean, friendly, safe with fully equipped kitchen and a large bathroom to share between 8 guests. That night we were lucky enough to meet some of Bridget's friends, who all speak at least 4 languages, and I'm not sure if the champagne, Belgian beer and banana wine (made by the next door neighbours) gave us more or less chance of working out a)what language they were speaking and b)what was being said.

Today (June 7) we decided to really do the backpacker thing just plan-as-we-go. We made our way through the fashion and shopping district to the very large and impressive Cathedral which is also home to some amazing pieces of art. Then we found ourselves wandering through some Belgian markets which sold everything from belts to flowers and olives to snails. A raised walk way along the docks gave us some nice views back across the city before we made our way into the old historic part of Antwerp. Here we witnessed the celebration parade of the Moustache Society's Man/Moustache of the Year as explained to us by a lovely little Belgian lady who paused her explanation only to wave to her son who was in the club. We ran into the moustache society again later when they were joined by a horse drawn carriage and four little fiat 500s, packed with moustache growing men and their wives.

In the afternoon we walked through the trendy part of town, through what has to be one of the coolest fairs in the world and into a display at the photography museum. We ended the day with Belgian waffles with ice-cream (my goodness, they know how to do waffles here). Tonight we went down to the 'square' where there are a number of cafes, restaurants and bars, but we must have been there too early because it was all very quiet, so we will head down there again soon and see if we can learn some more about Belgian culture (or at the very least work out how to order a drink).