Geometry dash

"Stay on track, mother," implored Sebastian, my courageous 5-year-old, as he and my husband, Eamonn, entered the unsettling crypt of Antwerp Cathedral. Accessible by a steep spiral staircase from the church nave, this underground vault is a compact chamber with a geometry dash low ceiling and dilapidated hollow graves. Upon standing amid the remnants of this previous burial chamber, a chill slowly up my spine. This served as my signal to explore the lower level of Antwerp's remarkable Gothic cathedral.

While Sebastian and Eamonn lingered in the poorly illuminated crypt, I seized the chance to observe the three Baroque masterpieces created by Flemish artist Peter Paul Rubens in the church. Shortly thereafter, we reunited in the cathedral's café and cafe, De Plek. The bar, inside a chapel of the cathedral, serves the church’s own brews, including a dark and blond ale. It is only in Belgium, a country known for its passion for beer, that one would encounter the arrangement of beers being served inside a cathedral.

Antwerp was our destination on the sixth day of a seven-night family river cruise on the Rhine, which took place onboard A-Rosa Cruises' A-Rosa Sena. Commencing in Cologne, Germany, our journey would go in a northwest direction towards Amsterdam, Rotterdam, and Dordrecht in the Netherlands, followed by Antwerp, before culminating in a return to Cologne.