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It isn't given us to know those rare moments when people are wide open and the lightest touch can wither or heal. A moment too late and we can never reach them any more in this world. -
Thirded! Gent is my favourite place in Belgium.Originally posted by Maclintick View Post
Fwiw, I found the Waterloo battlefield area fascinating.
Wishing you a wonderful trip, Richard
"...the isle is full of noises,
Sounds and sweet airs, that give delight and hurt not.
Sometimes a thousand twangling instruments
Will hum about mine ears, and sometime voices..."
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Yes, which is why it was the first museum to be designated a World Heritage Site by UNESCO -- a time capsule from the first mass information age 500 years ago, when the business of disseminating views contrary to those of the authorities could be very dangerous for those pioneer printers....plus ça change today, of course, in much of the world..Originally posted by richardfinegold View Post
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Had two glasses of Tripel last night. Whew!Comment
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"...the isle is full of noises,
Sounds and sweet airs, that give delight and hurt not.
Sometimes a thousand twangling instruments
Will hum about mine ears, and sometime voices..."
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Well we have returned. It is 4 AM here as the jet lag is setting in. We loved Belgium and we didn’t do half the things that I had intended to do. We were supposed to spend our last day in Antwerp as a side trip from Bruges but we were having so much fun there (and my wife proclaimed that she had not been given time to explore the shops there). I had also nixed Flanders Fields (Ypres) as I thought my wife would find it to “military “ of a vacation and then she announces on our last day that she would like to go there! We did a couple of private guided tours in Bruges and the local guides were pretty frank about the Flemish-Walloon divide, a lot more so than the larger tours we had in Brussels where the guides had to stick to their scripted spiel in5 languages.
We used Brussels as a base for excursions to Waterloo (my favorite beer was at the Waterloo restaurant, a triple blonde from Waterloo brewery “The Beer of Bravery”) and for a day trip to Ghent, and I could easily spend a few days in that town, which isn’t just a mini-Bruges, as many people here had described it. The (non-Gastronomical) highlight of Brussels was the Magritte Museum. In general, excepting such as obvious masterpieces as the Ghent Altarpiece, the Old Masters Museums dissapointed a bit. Most of the great Flemish Art seems to reside in the Louvre, the Prado, the National Gallery and the New York Metropolitan, part of the heritage of being invaded for the last half millennium.
In general we found the Flemish people to be very friendly, the Wallonians seemed to be Parisian wannabes and could be quite standoffish if not addressed in French (and their French sounds positively guttural to me). We particularly had some issues in the countryside around Waterloo. Perhaps to small a sample size to reach any sweeping conclusions.
I didn’t find the Fries to be worthy of their reputation, but the chocolate and the beer, otoh…
At any rate I am planning a much longer trip to include France and Germany and a few days in Belgium to see the t areas that we didn’t get to.Comment
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It sounds like a decent taster experience, Richard, especially the chocolate and the beer!Comment
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Also had a real live CD shop across the street in Bruges. I only bought one because I had to save room for bringing gifts but it was the first time being in one for yearsOriginally posted by Pulcinella View PostComment
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You certainly packed a lot in rfg and there's always next time. Glad you had such a good time: Ghent is lovely (a long time since I was last there).Comment
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Very glad to hear you had such an enjoyable time, RF. My impression of Flemish/Walloon attitudes is very similar to yours. I don't know if you're aware of this but there are plenty of Walloons who disdain to learn one word of Dutch, so that when they go from say Liège to Antwerp they end up often speaking English - in their own country! (I know this because a colleague of mine is in this very position.) Next time you're in the area, please consider heading off to the Netherlands for a day or two, namely to The Hague where there is also much to do and see. (Stay away from Amsterdam, it's a tourist nightmare!) Consider yourself invited to dinner!Comment
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I love Magritte.Originally posted by richardfinegold View Post
And I echo others' comments on reading about your holiday.
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I was given a look of daggers (and corrected!) when I said to an acquaintance of my sister (via some exchange scheme or other, I think), when I visited her in Brussels (oops: Bruxelles!), that I had travelled from Gent/Ghent; I was told in no uncertain terms that it was Gand! This despite the fact that the people I was staying/working with on a summer placement scheme who lived there pronounced it otherwise.Comment
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For future trips it’s possible to stay in a Landmark Trust house on the Waterloo site, but you’d have to book now for next year I think.
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Actually I’m not sure whether this option is still available, as I can’t find any up to date details about it.Originally posted by Dave2002 View Post
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I was in Amsterdam about a year prior to the pandemic, as a prelude to a Rhine River Cruise. It did whet my desire to see the rest of Holland. Thank you for the dinner invite.Originally posted by RichardB View Post
Speaking of the Pandemic, we have an unwanted souvenir. My wife, formerly a COVID Virgin, has tested positive today. I am negative, but I have had two documented infections previously. Presumably she contracted it on our last travel day, We were supposed to go to New England tomorrow (weather allowing, the latest tropical storm has caused travel havoc on the East Coast) to see her 91 year old mother, so I guess we are fortunate that we will abort that excursion and not expose her, but of course my wife is very disappointed. Hopefully that will be the only effect .
In Bruges the aforementioned guide that we hired is native to the area. He moved his family to Brussels about 4 years ago. They are fluent in French but faced much discrimination. Their child was not allowed to enter the public school because his native language is Dutch. They moved back to Bruges after two years and are much happier
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