Plantin

I have a shameful confession to make.

Up till today I never visited the old city of Antwerp. There is no love lost between Ghent, an old Flemish city, and Antwerp, a Brabant upstart with an attitude.

All I knew in the old city of Antwerp where the cathedral, which I visited twice before, and city hall.

Today, with a couple of very good friends, we visited the cathedral, the meat hall (Vleeshuis), the courtyard of the old stock exchange and found St Paul's church closed.

A splendid well preserved older German priest was pointing around and hammering on the panels (explaining the treasures we never saw) with his umbrella, clearly impressing a younger acolyte who accompanied him. I couldn't see the young one's collar, but I think he was a priest too, maybe the secretary of number one who had certain episcopal traits (in French we spoke about the coup de crosse I think). I couldn't avoid thinking that for some Germans things rarely ever change - they feel perfectly at home in a city they partially destroyed with their - were it V-1 or V-2 missiles ? - long after Antwerp had been liberated. Let's not forget that the objective of the von Rundstedt offensive was the port of Antwerp.

But I'm getting carried away once more by my very well known "love" for Germany and all things German. Yes, I bear a grudge. No, I will never forget !

The Jesuit St Carolus Borromeus church was a fantastic discovery. I like it even better than the cathedral.

And then we visited the Plantin Moretus museum - which just escaped the German rockets as most of the Vrijdagmarkt where it stands was pulverised.

I expected to find a small and dullish museum, but it turned out to be one of the more fascinating museums I ever visited. We spent a long time in there. We had been warned that visitors had to leave by a quarter to five. We came to the reception desk just in time. We wanted to buy the visitors guide and got a none too friendy anwer from an attendant that the shop closed at four thirty because they had to do their accounts.

As a confirmed contrarian, I buy my guides after my visits : I want to be sure that I get some value for my euro. So we went out empty handed but satisfied with the visit nevertheless.

Mister mayor, why do you keep open a world famous museum and frustrate possible visitors from abroad who leave at the last moment and thus cannot acquire the guide or the other available publications any more ?

Are these fifteen minutes really that important to the orderly administration of the city ? A little flexibility would help, but then administration and flexibilty never made a good pair.

And just to be fair, some years ago, the same distinghuised company presented itself at the Gruuthuuse museum in Bruges exactly one minute - I kid you not - after the time at which the last visitors were admitted. We never got in. Well, we eventualy did, a couple of years later.

Keeping open and guarding musea may well be one of the most monotonous jobs on earth, but pwleeeze, a little flexibility never hurt nobody.

Anyway, we already decided to continue the discovery of Antwerp (Rubenshuis, museum Mayer Van den Bergh etc etc) at a later date. A day well spent after all.