Saturday, September 27, 2008

An Autumn in Antwerpen


the pink flower, originally uploaded by - di.

You know those long dreamy golden blue-sky sunny days that sometimes happen in autumn?

We've had one of those here in the city and I feel like that cat who spent time in the sun somewhere, my back is warm from sitting out on the balcony talking of plans for spring and flowers with Gert, laughing over things said by Miss 4 and her mum ... enjoying a day that started out with Lut in the city.

We met in Grote Markt and it was so good to see her. We wandered a while, I had a Kafka-esque moment with a money machine, making Lut giggle ... making me glad that she doesn't have a blog of her own.

We coffee-ed at a sidewalk cafe down one of the old cobble-stoned side streets in the ancient heart of the city then wandered on, with Lut showing me shops I hadn't found yet.

Lunch was at my favourite Italian restaurant, the one I don't really want to write about here because I'm terrible and selfish and always want to be able to find a table there.

Sitting in the sun, drinking red wine, eating my favourite Napolitana pizza, with anchovies and capers, talking with Lut.

It's been a good day.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Nothing better than hanging out with a good friend on a beautiful day discovering new places and eating good food. Mmmm....

Di Mackey said...

You are so right, rd :)

Did you watch the debate between Obama and McCain? I couldn't bear the thought of listening to McCain's voice whine its way through - it was more than I could stand.

Anonymous said...

Next time you will do the Haka before attacking the money machine, I guess.
It was a good day indeed.
Looking forward to the next.
Lut

Di Mackey said...

The haka ... now there's a thought. That machine, it printed out my entire bank history almost!

And yes, let's do the day again one day soon :)

Anonymous said...

Same feeling here Di: after my return from Turkey I'd expected to come home to the traditional Belgian rain, but this weather is divine.

I don't want to be curious (well, I am ;-) but I still wonder which Antwerp Italian has become your favourite. See you soon!

Di Mackey said...

Let's have lunch there as soon as my money comes in ;) Maybe we can grab one more sunny day there? They say the rain arrives Tuesday ...

Anonymous said...

Oh, yes, I watched the debate--the one that almost didn't happen. I thought Obama did really well, considering that everyone expected he'd fail this foreign policy test. He did better than just hold his own. McCain did pretty well, too, but what came through loud and clear was his dislike of Obama. He never bothered to look at the person he was debating, not even look in his direction. Very, very weird. He seemed crotchety and arrogant. All in all, it wasn't a very riveting, memorable debate, but Obama came across as very presidential, as a strong commander-in-chief, and as someone who cares about the average American person. Imagine that! And he doesn't even shoot wolves or have 13 cars!

Di Mackey said...

I couldn't stomach all of the debate but watched some of the clips put together on the Huffington Post. In one, it showed McCain as the angry old man and sure enough ...

What is with the never looking at Obama thing? Is that how he's going to treat anyone who isn't white like him or is it just a Republican tactic? I was stunned.