Last week my mom invited me to go on a boat trip around the port of Antwerp with her company and take atmospheric photos of the event. Of course I couldn't say no! Every child living in this area probably goes on a boat trip around the harbour (sorry, port - it's huge) at least once in their school career and so did I, but that was such a long time ago that a lot has probably changed since then. The entire week before the event we prayed for beautiful weather but failed. Thursday morning the skies looked very grey and cloudy and rain fell down faster than I could blink. I knew it was going to be very cold on that boat so better to dress appropriately: full on autumn outfit, even though technically it was still summer last week. (Outfit details at the end of the post.)
We boarded a smallish ship/boat (what's the difference again?) called Spring sporting a huge black-yellow-red Belgian flag at the rear end. The strangest thing I noticed immediately: there was no steering wheel. I always picture boats with a giant wooden steering wheel with smaller wooden pins sticking out but apparently nowadays there are just a few handles and joysticks that do the job. While the guide was well... guiding the tour and telling things about what we could see around the port the wife of the captain served us delicious little snacks. It was all organized really well so if you're ever looking to go on a boat trip in or around the port of Antwerp check out spring-rivercruise.be! You could even go on a trip for more than one day and sleep on the boat, how awesome is that?!
In between listening to the explanations of the guide and taking photos of the business event I snuck out to the deck when it stopped raining to take a few photos of my outfit. Being in such a beautiful setting it would be a waste not to right? I wanted to be warm and cosy so I opted for a super soft wool cardigan and an equally soft and warm big chunky scarf. To top it all off I put on my favourite pom pom hat to keep my ears warm and avoid getting a headache.
For shoes I opted for my new light brown leather ankle boots. They're so comfortable, warm and very beautiful in a cool kind of way. I had no problem at all walking on the slippery and wet deck of the boat after all that rain, although I was kind of scared that I would slip and tumble into the water a few times but that's just a little paranoia on my part.
I really enjoyed just watching the surroundings. A port is so different from nature as it's all very mechanical and industrial but in a way, seeing the water of the river being used for such huge projects is intriguing and humbling. I kept thinking "how is it possible that humans did all this?!" The port grew bigger and bigger over time, I know that, just like Rome wasn't built in a day. It's a process of setting one foot in front of the other and making progress. But even though I was fascinated by the industrial part of it, on the other hand I would very much like to see what this area looked like before humans interfered and built the port. I bet the beauty of nature here would be even more overwhelming and humbling. Sadly there's no window to look into the past.
At the end of the trip the skies turned blue again and the sun showed itself. The golden glow on the water made us forget all about the rain. I felt refreshed somehow, possibly because of the wind and the fresh air, although a port isn't necessarily the place to breathe in fresh air with all the factories around. Nonetheless I had a fun day and it was a welcome distraction from the stress of daily life.
It's the first time I really post a bunch of pictures of myself on here and being very self conscious and all, it was a big step. I'd love to share more of my life, style, activities and make the blog a little bit more personal with snippets of live humans in the pictures (mostly me). I hope you liked this kind of post, let me know if you'd love to see more in the future.
What I wore:
Trousers - Zara
Cardigan - Vero Moda
Scarf - New Look
Shoes - Cypress
Hat - Barts
