Saturday, October 04, 2008

Paris Parfait in Antwerpen

Tara's visit was the best of times, the worst of times ...

After the taxi debacle on Thursday,we decided not to order a taxi from home and having discovered that Axel Vervoordt's shop was open from 2pm Friday's as well, we headed into the city on the tram knowing there was at least 2 taxi stands there.

But to begin at the beginning, we trammed into the city and began wandering towards the famous antique section in Oever at the end of Hoogstraat, where I was curious see what Tara made of Belgie's antique selection.

It turns out she found it relatively impressive, meanwhile I felt a frisson of fear about being introduced to this world of delicious 'stuff' but then it came to pay and voila, the shop's money machine didn't work. Much to my shame we learned that the city only has 3 automatic money machines in the area and they were all a few blocks from where we were ...

We set off in search of, only to be distracted by a cute little hat shop. The terrible perils of wandering in the city here ...

Lunch was a light affair with much conversation at Het Elfde Gebod and later, Axel's place was reached by a city taxi, the last one left at the taxi stand near the Hilton Hotel.

The madness and mayhem reached a crescendo at my place late afternoon ... little Miss Four danced for us and Jessie cooked one of her exotic chicken dishes. Seeking some peace, Tara and I fled heading for Central Station and the Thalys.

It was truly delicious to spend time with Paris Parfait , to talk American elections, life and art. Thank you so much for taking the time Tara and see you with that van one day soon. xo

2 comments:

paris parfait said...

Di, it was a wonderful time! Thank you so much. I can't wait to come back to Antwerp - the antique shopping is fantastic! I will write about the visit and post photos after the Arc is over (and I get to wear that hat!). Thanks for being such a wonderful hostess! xoxox

Di Mackey said...

I look forward to reading about how the hat goes at the Arc ... it was a work of art and I was sorry not to have photographed it. xo