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Don Basilio
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« on: 18:59:34, 25-09-2008 » |
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Welcome back, DB!  Get the pics sorted out  I know it is self indulgent of me, but if you insist, if you insist... |
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To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under heaven.
A time to weep, and a time to laugh: a time to mourn, and a time to dance
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trained-pianist
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« Reply #1 on: 19:05:02, 25-09-2008 » |
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Please Don Basilio,
We insist. We want to see holiday pictures. Our favourite past time is to look at friends pictures.
Can you post some? (the more is the better).
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Don Basilio
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« Reply #2 on: 13:59:00, 26-09-2008 » |
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The battery on my camera gave up in Bavaria, and I had not packed the charger, so the last few days I only have memories.
On Tuesday, we had to cross Belgium and decided that going on motorways would be boring. So we bought a map in a garage, and set off into the countryside. This was a serious mistake because
A the road surfaces, even when not cobbled, were lousy. Typically roads were paved with concrete slabs with a ridge between each slab, with a corresponding bump whenever we drove over one,
B at various times we were driving behind a school bus, a horse box, a hearse, a tractor, an open articulated lorry and a very large caravan that could convincingly have been a travelling operating theatre. Our journey to Mechelen /Malines was not smooth or speedy, and those of you familiar with the countryside of Flanders will be aware that we did not have the pleasure of a varied and lovely landscape to appreciate in the course of our moderate progress.
The cathedral at Mechelen /Malines looks rather magnificent from the Main Square and I'm sorry the camera was dead.
We decided to cut our losses and take the Brussel/Bruxelles ring motorway to Oostend/Ostende. (Noticing the bilingual place names is a major element of excitement in Beligian travel.) Our journey to the coast was prompt, but busy.
Sancho: This motorway's a race track.
DB: Would you rather it was a car park?
(Note to Mr Y, if he sees this - I do like Belgium in parts, really I do, it was just an hilariously awful journey.)
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« Last Edit: 14:10:32, 26-09-2008 by Don Basilio »
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To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under heaven.
A time to weep, and a time to laugh: a time to mourn, and a time to dance
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perfect wagnerite
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« Reply #3 on: 14:08:06, 26-09-2008 » |
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Our journey to the coast was prompt, but busy.
Sancho: This motorway's a race track.
DB: Would you rather it was a car park?
Speaking as a regular visitor to the Capital of Europe ... ... It is a truth not generally acknowledged that the good citizens of Brussels are among the worst drivers in Europe. They drive at the speed that Parisians would if their city wasn't gridlocked, with much the same furious demeanour - and, given the Brussels climate, most of the time this is on wet roads, too. |
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At every one of these [classical] concerts in England you will find rows of weary people who are there, not because they really like classical music, but because they think they ought to like it. (Shaw, Don Juan in Hell)
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Don Basilio
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« Reply #4 on: 14:09:34, 26-09-2008 » |
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The view I had in mind is this:  |
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To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under heaven.
A time to weep, and a time to laugh: a time to mourn, and a time to dance
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trained-pianist
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« Reply #5 on: 14:21:07, 26-09-2008 » |
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This is so beautiful. So elegant and beautiful at the same time.
And there are not many people crowding the place.
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Don Basilio
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« Reply #6 on: 14:22:11, 26-09-2008 » |
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And there are not many people crowding the place.
Presumably because the square is an underground car park. It was busy enough. |
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To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under heaven.
A time to weep, and a time to laugh: a time to mourn, and a time to dance
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Sydney Grew
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« Reply #7 on: 14:34:42, 26-09-2008 » |
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Our journey to the coast was prompt, but busy.
Sancho: This motorway's a race track.
DB: Would you rather it was a car park?
Speaking as a regular visitor to the Capital of Europe ... ... It is a truth not generally acknowledged that the good citizens of Brussels are among the worst drivers in Europe. They drive at the speed that Parisians would if their city wasn't gridlocked, with much the same furious demeanour - and, given the Brussels climate, most of the time this is on wet roads, too. It was even worse in the sixties. There was only one motorway (Brussels - Ostend) and most of the other main roads had cobbled sections. Large bits of shed tyres from lorries were everywhere. Before eight in the morning a queue of hundreds upon hundreds of ancient lorries would line up just outside Antwerp ready for the "go" signal on the road to the south (there must have been some law forbidding them to travel in the hours of darkness). In those days it was not considered necessary to take a driving test; your Belgian simply turned up at a post office, filled in a form, acquired a vehicle, and began "on the road" training that way. They preferred large American motors; probably because they went better over the cobble-stones rather than out of any instinct for self-preservation. As recently as the early eighties we still found driving in Brussels a nightmare, largely because of the "priority on the right" rule. Almost every day we saw horrific accidents there. We believe that whatever accident statistics are kept in Belgium must be doctored, and that the real figure is much higher. A great deal of heavy drinking goes on too, and one often sees people hardly capable of walking collapse into their motor and speed off. Thankfully we survived, but northern Americans in particular, we noticed, even less accustomed to the conditions than we, very often came to grief! |
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pim_derks
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« Reply #8 on: 15:04:38, 26-09-2008 » |
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I don't like Belgium at all. There is no sense of "order" in that country. It's not the place to be for a Dutch puritan like me.
(forgive me for that little rhyme)
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« Last Edit: 20:28:44, 26-09-2008 by pim_derks »
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"People hate anything well made. It gives them a guilty conscience." John Betjeman
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Don Basilio
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« Reply #9 on: 15:17:36, 26-09-2008 » |
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Our twenty minutes on a Dutch motorway from Aachen past Maasricht were smooth and uneventful.
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To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under heaven.
A time to weep, and a time to laugh: a time to mourn, and a time to dance
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Don Basilio
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« Reply #10 on: 14:00:59, 27-09-2008 » |
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An Iron Curtain is coming down over Europe (W Churchill, 1948) This is what it looks like now: This is the back door into Slovenia (formerly part of Yugoslavia) from the town of Cormons in Italy. As Slovenia is now in the EU, there is no active customs post. A yard up the road you see the speed limits for Slovenia. |
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To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under heaven.
A time to weep, and a time to laugh: a time to mourn, and a time to dance
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Antheil
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« Reply #11 on: 14:19:26, 27-09-2008 » |
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Goodness, we have moved on rapidly. I thought as it was Saturday it must be Belgium!! I have an real affection for Belgium and in particular frites and mayonnaise from the roadside vans! I went to some pike eating festival but that must have been Luxembourg on second thoughts. Great fun. Trestle tables and steins of beer and waitresses in drindles. A huge grinning fish with teeth and a mountain of chips and mayonnaise.
I must admit, doing the WW1 journey, cemeteries, etc., how sad it all was. But the Ardennes, wonderfull hills, bit like South Wales, had relatives there who used to stay with.
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« Last Edit: 14:21:02, 27-09-2008 by Antheil »
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Reality, sa molesworth 2, is so sordid it makes me shudder
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Don Basilio
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« Reply #12 on: 14:32:57, 27-09-2008 » |
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I've got no photos of Belgium or Lux, but here is Slovenian landscape with figures  The village is called Medana, only a few miles from Italy, and already a character of its own. Here is a view of the church, with the Adriatic possibly in the background  |
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To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under heaven.
A time to weep, and a time to laugh: a time to mourn, and a time to dance
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trained-pianist
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« Reply #13 on: 14:58:10, 27-09-2008 » |
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Everything is so beautiful. I love Slovenia. They tell me that I will be able understand some Slovenian.
Thank you , don Basilio. You look so beautiful on that picture. I am so glad you posted the pictures.
I am glad now that so many former East block countries joined the EU.
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richard barrett
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« Reply #14 on: 15:02:35, 27-09-2008 » |
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I am glad now that so many former East block countries joined the EU.
And why is that? |
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