A late checkout allowed us to take a leisurely lunch, so I staked
out a table at the highly regarded Passion, which Google said was
1. open from 1030 to 1800 and 2. right next to the tram stop. It
was neither, being closed all week and a block from the stop,
which didn't bother us too much (most Google locations on this
trip have been half a block to two blocks off). Okay, we've had
our share of this sort of thing, and I went down an alley and
found a place that offered a burger, fries, salad, and a pint for
E12, which, believe me, is a bargain. Bonnie didn't want any part
of it, so we went down another block on the main drag and found
La Cave, for which you have to go down 16 steps in semidarkness.
Down in the coolth it's a reasonably comfy and decent-looking
spot, so we sat down. She ordered a burger medium, and I an
appetizer sampler that I figured would be out of frozen Syscolike
bags. I got the better deal. The burger was one of those meatloaf
things only lean, so no redeeming social value; the friets were
kind of okay. My assortment was squid rings, alkali tenderized
and very industrial, bitterballen with lots of nutmeg and little
if any meat, and cabbage eggrolls, okay. Despite this predicted
and gotten mediocrity I still won.

With these delicacies we got quarter carafes of red and white,
both Bordeaux ordinaire so not horrible, after which for my
bitterballen I had a draft Jupiler, better than the bottled by
a mile or ten.

Back to the Marriott to collect our traps and check out; our
keys were wrongly coded, but whatever, that was easily fixed.

Bonnie found us the proper tram stop, and off we went back to
Sint-Pieter, where the famous and ominous sculpture seems to
be gone, and the train to Antwerp, of which there is one every
ten or fifteen minutes for an hour to 90 minute trip, depending
on whether you want to change in Brussels or not. I think you
get a free stopover in Brussels if you wish, but why wish?

The Hampton Antwerp is right opposite the train station on
Pelikanstraat - great location and well soundproofed. They
up- or downgraded me, depending on how you figure, from the
top floor regular size corner room to a low floor suite near
the elevator. Actually a terrific room by normal standards,
with a sunrise view over the rather amazing station, which is
said to be one of the great Victorian-era works of architecture.
My welcome amenity was a glass of wine and a snack (or, as it
turned out, two glasses of wine and no snack). The wine was
ordinaire Chardonnay from the Pays d'Oc, perfectly okay but
nothing special, so we decided to prowl for bars and supper.
The Internet was out for our whole first into the second day.

As with most station environs, there are a lot of eateries,
mostly dodgy. We did find Beer Central, which appealed to me,
so there we went. Outside: bustling, noisy, lots of smoke;
inside, dark, dim, but quiet and smokefree. We chose inside.

I decided I'd had enough Flemish stew for a while and got
Aardappelstoemp (mashed potatoes) with sausage and bacon. Okay,
potatoes come with everything, and I didn't want friets. What
came - about a cup of salty, peppery, buttery mash, really very
good, with a couple ounce slice of what in the US is called
Irish or Scotch bacon, i.e., a very thin smoked pork chop;
quite respectable if salty. And a 6-or-7 oz sausage, rather
underseasoned and underfatted although also salty; exceedingly
meaty with much porkiness in a good way. A side salad of mild
mixed greens, a tomato wedge, and a cucumber slice in ranch
dressing (closest thing available to mayonnaise, I reckon).
With this a Petrus aged red, which tasted quite like cherry
juice, similar to Kasteel red but at 8.9% alcohol somewhat
boozier.

Bonnie, being a contrarian, had a glass of vin ordinaire and
a chicken Caesar calad. I didn't taste these but was given
the impression that there were a lot of anchovies.

On our random walk from and to the hotel we found Five Guys,
the Argentine Steak House, and the Boston Steak House, among
other things. Maybe Lilli would like to come here sometime.
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