I had my first outside-Brussels adventure on Sunday and made it to Antwerp with V. and H., two other au pairs. We arrived at the beautiful Central Station (where part of “The Chocolate Box”, an A&E Hercule Poirot Mystery, was filmed!) However, as soon as we walked outside, we became convinced that an ice age had begun. We warmed ourselves in the painter Rubens’ house, which is a very cool museum. Did you know that back in the 16th century beds were super short because it was thought to be better for your digestive health to sleep in a half-seated position? Neither did I and I think I would rather have poor digestion, however I had to resist crawling into Rubens’ four-post canopy bed.
After the museum, we needed fuel to warm ourselves up and we stumbled into the first thing that was open, a restaurant called Berlin. It reminded me a lot of Reservoir in Montreal and we ended up spending three whole hours in there. I wish I had taken a picture of the hot chocolate I ordered, but before I could even think about it, half of it was down my throat.
What did we talk about for three hours? As au pairs, we all run into the same issues:
V: “What do you guys do to not get bored all day?”
H: “I talk to the dog”
Me: “I talk to the nanny-cam” (H and V think I am ridiculously paranoid, but if I was a parent and had just hired a complete stranger, I would totally have a probationary nanny-cam period)
Boredom, how to keep kids sane, how to keep parents sane, and the incredibly tricky problem of boundaries are always coming up. Not that I’m bored; I’ve been able to read so much, I’m learning Dutch, and I’m training for a half-marathon. But sometimes I would like to step out the front door and not see fields for miles. I want to see an Arts Cafe or an Else’s or a Romados. Or a particular 6”4 man.
After we left Berlin, we had just enough time to walk along diamond row. I personally don’t find diamonds that impressive, unless they’re set in a massive choker collar chandelier-esque contraption. Anyways, there were A LOT of diamonds that were very pricey. Some of the tiniest ones could have put me up at a chateau in Montreux (where I’m headed next week) and kept me fed on A LOT of fondue for 3 days. Life would be so much more fun if I could be a master thief.
