't Schoon Verdiep - Antwerp City Hall

't Schoon Verdiep - Stadhuis van Antwerpen aka Antwerp City Hall,

Born in Antwerp, ..... lived in the suburbs of THE happening town of Belgium, .....practically passed by this particular building every single day during my early teens, and ow yeah, mum and pop getting married in that very same building.....ofcourse am talking about City Hall of Antwerp,......but somehow, I have never ever set foot inside this grand old building.

Always found it a bit odd that this building has been attracting so many tourists and honestly a bit queer....I don't want to be seen as a photo-snapping Japanese tourist too.

Until......

As luck would have it, discovered that Els A., a former high school classmate, works as a civil servant for the City of Antwerp, and more specifically, her assigned work place is ...yeah, you guess it right, ....City Hall !!!  "Smashing ;-)"

A kind word and a gentle enquiry, and Els A. arranged an exclusive private tour for our humble family.

I knew that the building was old, but I didn't expect it to be THAT old, ....a bit of googling and found out this renaissance styled building was erected in the late 16th century....wow, we are talking about 500 years of history.  

Not surprising though that the building is stuffed to the brim with tons of memorabilia, exquisite and fine pieces of art,....honestly, our household was in awe of such magnificent display of richly history.

Especially this particular floor, where all the official rooms are located, is simply gobsmackingly beautiful.  No wonder the locals call it " 't Schoon Verdiep", literally translated as "the Beautiful Floor". 

If I remember correctly, Els A. guided us through all the rooms except the mayor's office,...guess would have been asking bit too much, after all, it IS the mayor's office ;-) (the lad deserves some bit of respect and he can make do without an intrusion from us lot). Nonetheless, managed to snap a picture of his front door (better than nothing!! :-p)

A big thumbs up for Els though, even though she is not a qualified guide, she managed to squeeze in anecdotes about the history of the building of which we were totally unaware of, making our visit thus more exciting and expanding our knowledge, inclusive mine.

Undoubtedly, moment supreme was the councillors' meeting room.  It simply oozes history, standing and sitting there, we got a feeling of being immersed in the rich history of this UNESCO Heritage listed building.

SPQA : The Senate and People of Antwerp....or is it Jess & Laetitia rule?

In short, we were totally awestruck.....in a positive way ofcourse.

Well, got that sorted out, wife and kid now realize where I come from....the Big A...not Apple but Antwerp :)

Big thanks and hugs to Els A., thank you for the memorable tour from the three of us....our heartfelt thanks x

A for Awesome? Nah, make that A for Antwerp & A for Anthoni ;-)!!!