The Eleventh Commandment

On the day after Halloween, All Saints' Day, which is a holiday in many European countries, we drove to Everberg, Belgium, to visit Przemko and Sasha. As always, we had fun--too much fun and too much Belgium beer, which is stronger than German beer and much, much stronger than American.


While in Belgium, we revisited Antwerp, which is fast becoming one of my favorite European cities. We visited the Diamond Museum, located in the thriving Jewish quarter, and there are not many thriving Jewish quarters left in Europe. It reminded me of parts of NYC, and this is one reason why I'm so fond of Antwerp.


The other is Het Elfde Gebod, or the Eleventh Commandment, a cafe cluttered with religious paraphernalia. A place like this in the US would piss off the Christian Right for being irreverent. I thought it was a great place to spend a religious holiday.

Speaking of Halloween, I am starting to appreciate Halloween here in Germany more and more. I never really liked Halloween. As a kid I didn't enjoy Trick-or-Treating, and as an adult, I didn't care for Halloween parties, with the exception of Halloween on State Street in Madison, Wisconsin--from the University of Wisconsin's campus up to the state capitol, it was wall-to-wall revelry. In Chicago, the month of October rivaled December in yard decor and hype. Every house in our neighborhood was decorated with spooky stuff, and it seemed like we spent practically everyday leading up to Halloween visiting haunted houses/forests, pumpkin patches and parties at school and at every extracurricular activity. (Another exception was Holly and Matt's Halloween Party--that was truly fun!) In Germany, Halloween is a relatively new holiday, so there are very few spooky decorations, although decorated and carved pumpkins are common, few parties, and Trick-or-Treat only lasts about one hour. And the kids come home with a reasonable amount of candy, so I won't be throwing away old candy six months from now.