As I flew into Antwerp, stayed in Breda and then met Geoff for the weekend in Amsterdam, we thought some bite-sized commentary on each city would be the best way to disseminate our experience.
>> Antwerp >>
It’s amazing that just a 45-minute drive can transport you from one country to another here in Europe. Often the drive to work in Sydney took me longer than a drive between Antwerp, in Belgium to Breda in the Netherlands.
Antwerp is small and friendly city, steeped in history.
Preparation: Nil
Transit and transport: VLM flies from the teeny-tiny London City Airport to Antwerp in just 45 minutes. Hardly enough time for air stewards to set down and collect the food and drink on your tray table.
Length of stay: 4 hours
Architecture: Mostly low-rise buildings, mixed with old 16th-century architecture which can be found in the cobbled city centre. Antwerp City Hall in the Grote Markt (or Main Square) and The Onze-Lieve-Vrouwekathedraal (Cathedral) stand impressively in this pocket-sized city. The row of Guildhouses at the Grote Markt are a sight (Note: image from Wikipedia. How do you get photos off your mobile phone?).
Weather: Cool and rainy on the day I visited.
Scene: As the weather had apparently been lovely, warm and sunny earlier that week, the streets of the city were quiet on this cool and rainy day.
Visited attractions: My host had booked my flight into Antwerp just to see the old printing museum, Plantin-Moretus Museum, a UNESCO-listed site of one of the first printing presses in the world. The Plantin-Moretus family archived everything, so the museum has on display the tiniest details, such as Garamond’s typeset box that he took around the world in to sell his typeface, to big wood printing presses that were used to make books centuries and centuries ago. The museum is huge and full of wonderful discoveries for graphic designers, typographers, printers and anyone interested in how people got the written word out into the world.
Food: My host said that Antwerp is well-known for its great nosh. Unfortunately I didn’t get to sample the food this time around, maybe next time...
Environmental: The main city centre can only be toured by foot, which makes for a safe and car-free experience when visiting Antwerpian history.
Don’t: Forget the digital camera in the car (like I did) because there was a tonne to photograph, even in just 4 hours in Antwerp.
Don’t wear heels to walk in the city centre. Cobbles are not your friend!
Draw out money at the ATM at the airport because I didn’t spot one until we got to Breda.
Visit again? Sure, but maybe to see other parts of Belgium which is easily accessible by Eurostar from London.
>> Breda >>
Breda is another pocket-sized city, easy to get around with lots of friendly people. The Graphic Design Festival was held in May and June this year there. The focal point of the Festival was the city’s new Graphic Design Museum, the first ever in the world. The Design Council were invited to give a presentation on their research into design at a full-day’s seminar titled ‘Design and Personality.’
Preparation: A 20-minute presentation to the seminar delegates to paint an international picture on design and what UK-based designers are doing.
Length of Stay: 1 night, 2 days.
Transit and transport: Easy access by train to Amsterdam, Rotterdam, the Hague etc. so a great place to stay if intending to visit different parts of the Netherlands.
Architecture: Not as old-worldy as Antwerp, but the town had retained its historical charm.
Weather: Cool (especially at night), but no rain.
Scene: Breda is very much trying to carve a name for itself as a creative centre.
The people in Breda couldn’t be more friendly and helpful. And the conference hosts and organisers were absolutely lovely.
Accommodation: I stayed in a very nice hotel, the Golden Tulip Keyser.
Attractions: The Graphic Design Museum is the latest addition to the city having just opened its doors last month. It has both permanent and temporary exhibitions where graphic design is concerned, tracing the history of the discipline in The Netherlands and also inviting international designers to exhibit. This month, Ji Lee, who was also an invited speaker at the seminar, has on display some of his personal projects such as The Bubble Project.
As part of the Festival we toured the light show around the city at night. This involved moving image works by various designers beamed up on bare walls around the city.
The main city square hosts a big market buzzing with people, food and things to buy.
Food: Ji and I were treated to a huge Italian dinner at a restaurant run by a quirky married couple. Great food, service and conversation with our hosts- couldn't have asked for more.
Night life: Breda's night life sees lots of young people constantly streaming in and out of bars and restaurants when night falls. There were orange streamers everywhere in preparation for the Euro 2008 football (soccer) game between The Netherlands and France the following night.
Environmental: Like Antwerp, you can only get around the city centre by foot. There is also a lovely green park one must walk through to get to the train station. The park is as big as Breda's city-centre itself.
Details: Orange (The national colour of the Netherlands) and Welpies (orange-haired lion toys you get when you buy things from the supermarkets) can be spotted everywhere.
Don’t: Forget your a map because you can get lost in Breda’s winding streets.
Visit again? Sure, a great base to visit other parts of The Netherlands, and now I also know people who live there.
>> Amsterdam >>
This month, Monocle magazine ranks Amsterdam as number 18 on its list of the 25 world’s most liveable cities in the world. While visiting a city is quite different to living in one, we can understand why Amsterdam makes the cut.
Preparation: Booking accommodation in Amsterdam is tricky. It’s a popular tourist destination so do it several weeks in advance. Try B&Bs because there seems to be a strong network there and very friendly owners who help you get accommodation when they have none.
Length of Stay: 2 nights.
Transit and transport: Trains from other cites are easy and quite inexpensive. The train from Amsterdam to its airport is just 20-minutes (and at just 4 Euros it’s much cheaper than a taxi).
Architecture: The canal houses are beautiful terrace-like buildings, rarely higher than 4 storeys, lining the canals under the shady trees. Imagining living in one would put Amsterdam in our top 25 cities to live in too.
Weather: Cool but sunny for the weekend.
Scene: Amsterdam is highly tolerable of foreigners and people are very friendly. The city is an environmentally conscious and open place.
Accommodation: Ada owns a spacious studio behind her clothing shop in Jordan, a lovely part of Amsterdam with little pubs, boutique shops, 2 big farmers markets on the weekend and a young professional class who reside there. Jordan is a great location, walkable to the centre of Amsterdam, close to the canals and within walking distance to must-see attractions.
Ada’s studio apartment is thoughtfully put together with everything you could need for a weekend stay and in a great location.
Attractions: Anne Frank's House is an astounding narrative of the real-life story of Anne Frank whose diary, of life-in-hiding during the war, is now published in several languages. There is always a line to get in, but if you book tickets online, you can skip the wait.
The Van Gogh Museum and Rijksmuseum are both impressive, and can be done in a short space of time. Van Gogh’s tragic life story is portrayed in the museum alongside a lifetime of his work.
The Rijksmuseum traces Dutch history, but the majority of it is closed for renovations. What’s there now is a nice quantity to absorb for a few hours stay.
The canals of Amsterdam are reminiscent of Venice. Use the canal boats for transport to other parts of the city, a few history lessons and admire the gorgeous canal terraces and tree-lined streets.
The floating flower market is a huge market place on the canal selling all sorts of flowers, cati and souvenirs.
Food: The farmers markets have the most amazing breads and cheeses.
As we had arrived late on Friday night we picked up snacks at the supermarket but on Saturday night we made it to a lively tapas restaurant for tapas, sangria and live music (the band was lacking a little charisma but nevertheless fun to listen to).
Night life: The city must have been partying on Friday night after their win over France in the football, because Saturday night seemed pretty quiet.
Environmental: Unlike Venice, there are vehicular road along the canals, but we hardly saw a car as everyone uses bikes, the canal boats (though that's usually the tourists) or makes their way around by foot.
Didn’t see any green parks in the city, but almost every road along the canal is tree-lined.
Locals also don't use plastic bags, so one does feel terribly guilty when shopping for things in the supermarket without their own bag or basket.
Details: The canal houses lean forward to accommodate the hoisting hooks that lift furniture into the canal houses as doorways are too narrow for most furniture to be taken through.
Don’t: Bother with taxis to and from the airport as the trains are efficient, comfortable and so cheap.
Visit again? Loved it and yes.
