Antwerp and the pleasant surprise.

Pictures (top to bottom): 800 year old fortress, our Antwerp buddy Jasper dancing, a picture of the two of us through the canvas of a modern art piece. 

Early on, Antwerp was viewed by us as the calm before the storm before heading to Amsterdam. This proved to be true early on, as we focused a bit more on the sites. This included an 800 year old fortress, a massive cathedral that took over 200 years to build and a modern art museum that had an amazing exhibit being showcased. We also went to a photography museum which happened to be closed, though they informed us that we could still visit the free gallery on the ground floor, a gallery that was focused on a man's road trip through California. The pictures were actually pretty interesting, but just kind of funny.

The second part of our stay started in an extremely packed pub to watch the Netherlands soundly defeat France in Euro Cup play. Antwerp is very much the Dutch center of Belgium, so this was the next best thing to being in Holland...moreso because Holland won. While watching the game, we made friends with an Antwerpian named Jasper along with his girlfriend Val. In telling of our Belgian travels, with an inevitable turn towards Belgian beer, Jasper told us that after the game he was going to take us to a bar that serves the best beer in the world. I (Mark) immediately assumed he was speaking of a Monastery brewed beer called Westvleteren, because in our travels this was the one beer we heard locals and visitors alike rave about, but also the beer they told us we would never be able to try. The reason is that the beer is not allowed to be used or sold commercially, and anyone that wants to buy it is only allowed one case (12 bottles) per month and must drive 3 hours outside of Brussels to do so. So we eventually make our way to the bar, only to find out it is the legendary Kulminator, a bar we had read about back home and one that serves about as many different beers as the Delirium Cafe but in a space 1/4 the size. This is certainly a lot of writing to devote to one beer, but it was everything people had told us and more. This stuff was more along the lines of drinking a fine wine with very deep and complex flavors. Certainly not a beer you just go down to the corner bar for after a hard days work. Cheesy we know, but it was an experience that we had hoped for and one that we got merely by chance.