On the morning of April 11, Nanny bid us a warm fairwell at the Tilburg train station as we headed to Belgium -- first Brussels for two nights and then Antwerp for one night. On our departure from Antwerp, I would be an unwitting player in a deception/theft that would likely remain the most memorable moments of our time in Belgium but the intent of our visit was much more ordinary. More on the memorable moments in a moment.
In our planning and study for the trip, Deb had discovered that Brussels was home to a respected musical instrument museum -- and because we had a few days between our planned visit in Tilburg and with cousins further north in Holland, we decided to take in Brussels and Antwerp -- and add Belgium to our European destinations.
The train ride to Brussels was peaceful and uneventful. Just before arriving at the Central station, the train passed the obvious "red light" district with partially clad lovelies easily visible from the train in the long line of windowed doorways. Upon arrival at the station, our GPS guided us to our accommodations -- through beautiful and interesting cobbled streets -- including past the famous Manneken Pis ("little man peeing"). My reaction was exactly what I later read is the most common reaction: underwhelmed. It turns out that the famous statute is incredible tiny. Deb and I laugh about it now -- because at the time we were dragging our rolling luggage along in front of it, I even said to her that "it" couldn't be the real one. Of course my only frame of reference had been photos without size references -- but the photos had, nonetheless, led me to believe that such a "famous" statute couldn't be so small. Isn't it usually the other way around -- we are impressed by the size -- thinking, of course, of the Washington Monument, the Lincoln Monument, the Jefferson Monument, even the Seattle Space Needle. The Manneken Pis is definitely diminuative.
The hotel was a little further from the train station than I had discerned in my research -- but certainly walkable -- and it proved an excellent launching point for additional walks around the city, its famous Grand Place, to many other interesting churches/buildings and to the Musical Instrument Museum. The museum itself was very interesting and well done -- as they provided infra-red controlled headsets that would play an example of each instrument as one approached the display case/location. However, the lack of English explanations and the unexplained or finicky absense of sounds at some of the marked locations was disappointing -- and the overall presentation of the museum, while interesting for a musical instrument hobbiest like myself, wasn't up to the standard set by our visit two years prior to the mechanical instrument museum in Utrecht, Netherlands (blogged about here).
After two nights in Brussels, we took the train to Antwerp -- for another, completely different look at Belgium. While Brussels had put us in the heart of the touristy old city, the train to Antwerp central brought us to a 1/2 mile long shopping avenue that could have been transplanted from any city, anywhere in the world. Apparently Antwerp is known for its diamond shopping -- but our initial impressions that of a cosmopolitan city whose main stopping artery is but a duplicate of the same global branding that one can find anywhere.
Thankfully we were able to walk deeper into Antwerp and discover the old city and its mamouth church and, thanks to guidance from tripadvisor.com, find a true tourist gem: a printing museum housed in the same residence/printing plant location since the mid-1500's. The tour, guided by personal hand held media players, was superbly done -- giving life and meaning to the beginnings of printing, including two of the oldest printing presses. The audio described not only the items being viewed -- but the religious and political history that impacted what got printed. We mused over how some things in life haven't changed as one of the earliest things printed was a listing of the books banned from reading by the church.
Now, back to our departure from Antwerp. We had gotten back to the beautiful train station at around 9:30am and I took a place in one of the lines to purchase our tickets to proceed onward to Rotterdam. As is always the case when traveling where we don't speak the language, there is much to occupy our attention -- and today was no exception. But also, the lovely and organized surroundings of this busy ticket location can be disarmingly familiar and comfortable. Deb took our two roller bags and went outside, while I waited in line -- reaching the "wait here" line for the 2nd in line. Of course, I'm not exactly sure what the line said because it was in French or Dutch -- but I didn't need to be able to read to understand what I was expected to do -- as had each of those who proceeded ahead of me. The gentleman directly in front of me proceeded to the counter and left his roller bag directly behind himself -- with his briefcase perched up it. I'm guessing he felt comfortable in the surroundings to not have tucked it in front of himself. I didn't think much of it when a gentleman behind me tapped me on the shoulder and posed some unintelligable question to me -- and when I said, as I have many times, "English only" he proceeded to ask me the seeminly same unintelligible question again -- again calling my attention to this "unflipped" flip phone which he held in his hand a couple feet from his head. I responded the same -- and he left, seemingly in a hurry (his tone had been similarly rushed). I remember thinking it odd that he would attempt his question a second time even after I indicated I only understood English and that he didn't attempt to ask others around us the question before exiting until the gentlemen in front of me turned away from the counter, having completed his ticket transaction, and was obviously distressed over his now missing briefcase.
My recounting these observations to Deb -- who was outside the main ticket office -- prompted her to recall seeing a man and a woman running from the location just seconds before. She assumed they were hurrying to catch a train. It was a bit unnerving to realize that we had just witnessed one of the common scams -- but in reality neither of us "witnessed" much at all. The questioning gentlemen had diverted my eyes to his cell phone -- leaving me with only a vague recollection of his face and body particulars. A well executed crime indeed.
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