Easter Chocolates...

... but where? Belgium is famous for its chocolate, so we decided to head to Antwerp for a day-trip and look around. We got up early and said goodbye to Heikki.



With his food bowl loaded, we left him and headed out to the trams. Cue obligatory self-portraits.



The public transport in Europe is excellent, though expensive.



The train ride is about 2 hours, and is very comfortable. Travelling by train is a nice way to see the countryside.



Antwerp Centraal has 3 levels of trains all coming and going, as well as a beautiful interior endings on the glass dome over the whole place.



We headed out the main door, past the huge inflatable monster that was in the square (plein). It had techno music and kids screaming inside.



We headed to the zoo and spent the morning looking around.



Guess what the first bird we find is? Kiaora to the little brown Kiwi. As Kiwis are nocturnal we didn't actually get to see him in the flesh, but it was nice to know that he was there.



Nieuw-Zeelander! Love the interpretation of what a New Zealander looks like - wearing a check shirt and chewing on a piece of straw!



So what are we named after? Lots of Dutch think we are named after the Chinese gooseberry - I don't think so!



The gardens in the Zoo are beautiful. The top spire is where Princess will read her books, once we move in...



This bamboo water feature is a bit like the Cuba mall bucket fountain, with each bamboo tube filling with water, then tipping out. The bucket fountain is waay cooler, sorry!



Ca-caaaw!!?



Kiaora to another Nieuw Zeelander. This guy was cheeky!



This animal is a Dutch native (we think), and its odd looking. We shouldn't speculate on how they came about, but ...



... they do have these animals ...



... and these. Say no more!

We said hello to the chimps.



This little monkey was cute.



Hrmph!



This owl was snapped mid-ruffle; a very grand (any maybe wise) owl.



The penguin enclosure had a map with a neutered map of NZ - where has northland gone?



We wandered around and saw all the animals, then headed in to the city to visit our next attraction.



This is the outside of Rubens Huis.



The internal courtyard.



A statue. Stat-you bro?



Toolman looking cool.



The garden has been there since Rubens lived here.



A beautiful building. No photos allowed inside sorry.

After that we went looking for some chocolate. There are lots of shops! Unfortunately it was also very busy, so it was hard to get a good feeling for all the variety on offer. The visual treat was excellent!



So much nice food!



We spent ages looking at all the shops, and ended up just getting pre-packed sets with lots of flavors.



We walked around the streets and looked at the architecture. It is very similar to what we have seen of Holland, and the countries share languages (and beers). Still very pretty! We saw this guy jamming on the street with a novel technique for wheeling his piano about.



We went to a diamond museum (again, no photos) and learned about Amsterdam and Antwerps' rivalry for top diamond town honors, and all the techniques used in production. Antwerp has lots of diamond shops.



As the sun was setting it was time to hop our (warm) train back to Amsterdam Centraal. We get back to Amsterdam, and its SNOWING! OMG!



Toolman got to cycle home in a snow shower a week before, but this was the first time we both saw snow in the city! Very pretty.. and cold.



It didn't settle much, but some places were collecting piles.



It was even snowing the next day, when we inspected our chocolate heist.




Before.



After.