A day to remember Artsy Antwerp

Today, I exercised questionable judgement, but achieved some notable milestones: For the first time, I rode 90 miles, unplanned, directly from my house and not as part of some organized ride. It was also the furthest I've ridden without chamois (by about 5 miles). I also got my first sunburn and heat rash of the year, in mid-September. It was also the furthest I've ridden after taking a bit of a riding hiatus.

View of the St. Croix in Stillwater while I drank a Coke, and emergency Fritos and sports drink stuff to get me through the last 12 miles on a super hot day.

I think part of the reason why I rode this far (other than the fact that the first tailwindy 50 miles felt terrific), was that I sat on my butt a ton this week after returning from Europe and my mostly vegetarian, mostly wheat-free stomach still is trying to return to normal after the hearty Wisconsin, I mean Belgian, diet (beer, cheese, bread). I was feeling gross.

While riding, I was thinking about Antwerp, the city where we spent two nights after our Beercyling tour. It was a bit more - - - urban? than the other places I've been in Belgium, other than Brussels (which is very modern). Antwerp is more industrial, but also kind of artsy and fashion-y. Less banker-ish than Brussels.

Antwerp's beautiful train station.

We stayed at a B&B called Rock Lobster, owned by a music journalist and his Amnesty International-working partner. The B&B is in a pretty fun neighborhood with a lot of restaurants (delicious Thai) and music. They had some good suggestions of things to do beyond walking to the tourist part of town. But of course, we walked to the tourist part of town.

Requisite shot of old buildings near the plaza. 

MAS museum with free access to observation deck to view the city.

Antwerp

Super cool old building with the Corbijn exhibit

After doing the Rick Steves walking tour of Antwerp, we went to an Anton Corbijn exhibit at a cool old building by the river that had just reopened for this exhibit. Corbijn wrote notes on the walls, in pencil, to explain the context of his photos of U2, Nirvana, Depeche Mode, REM, Debbie Harry, Grace Jones, etc. It was a great exhibit. After that, we went to a bar that we'd seen advertised on the Beercycling Tour and then a weird little bar that our Beercycling guide had recommended. Beer, beer, beer. 

Antwerp was an interesting pit stop between the tour and London. It isn't a priority to go back, but it was good to see. And now it is time to apply aloe and hit the hay.