Today I experienced a different side of traveling. I’m learning about the world and seeing first-hand what I’ve spent my whole life reading in a text book.
Today we slept in and headed out for lunch in Antwerp. We ate at a small Italian place where we were given entire Margarita pizzas for only 5 Euros….probably the best pizza I have ever eaten. Frozen pizzas in the states in no way compare to this. We continued our way through the shopping areas until we reached the train station. From here we purchased tickets to make our way to Fort Breendonk (a concentration camp in Breendonk, Belgium open from 1940-1944). We traveled here from Antwerp making a stop in Mechelen to switch trains and then ended up in Willebroek. From here we took a bus and ended up near Fort Breendonk but had to walk the rest of the way.
Belgium has not been spared the horror of Nazism and its concentration camps. During our day spent here we saw the yard where the prisoners had to pass their days in forced hard labor, the torture room, the showers, the execution shot, the prisoner’s cells, and much more.
While you hear about World War II and the concentration camps in school starting at an early age, I have found that you do not truly get a feel of what happened until you have seen it. Today, I saw a piece of history that was not striking or beautiful, but instead was gruesome and shocking. This was one of the most eye-opening experiences I have had in a long time.
Afterwards, we walked back to the train station and made our way back to Antwerp. After a long, exhausting day we sat down for dinner and checked our messages before heading back to the ship. And here I sit now….blogging about my day. Does not sound nearly as exciting written down…and in reality the day was not all that exciting but more informative and slightly depressing.
After an exhausting day we headed back to Antwerp and to the ship to get our computers to go pick up some WIFI. Heading outside, we found out it was raining. We spent about an hour in search of WIFI that was not outside and settled at some sketchy underground train station let in that was about 10ft wide with windows all around. It was one of the most interesting spots we have found WIFI at so far and I could not even video chat because the connection was so bar.
Tomorrow we go to Brussels and Friday to Amsterdam. Hopefully I will stumble on a place with better internet so I am able to call home.
With today being my last day in Antwerp, I can reflect back on my experience. Overall, it is a very nice, vibrant city with many interesting shops and places to see. One thing that strikes me though is it has a feeling that makes it seem unreal...almost like you're sitting in Disney World in Epcot just visiting for a short time before moving on to the next country. It was definitely interesting.
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