Jour 6 - Dinant, Namur

+ Digging into Wallonia today, the French speaking part of Belgium. Dinant is a little town with a big citadel which - bien sûr - we had to visit. By cablecar that we first didn't find. "Ask somebody!" How to ask if I couldn't remember the French word for it to save my life. Anyway, we found it and now I know what it is called: téléphérique.

+ Anyone of you into Jazz? You must be grateful to the man from Dinant, Adolphe Sax, who invented... exactly:

+ Another town - Namur, capital of Wallonia, about ten times the size of Dinant (and the dust and the building sites) - another citadel. Phew...

+ My mum's guide book mentions Namur as a the gourmet capital of Belgium and it led us to a cafe called La Maison des desserts. And it rightfully bears this name *drools*. We bought a little package of a local delicacy, Bietrumé, which is some kind of chewy caramel, made from butter, sugar and hazelnuts, and something I have been craving for since I first saw them: Macarons, very colourful, very tender, very perfumed taste :/.

Jour/ Dag 5 - Brussels

+ Ever been inside an iron crystal? :D Well, I have today, so I can tell you that it's hot (no AC) and a bit like you would imagine the insides of a spaceship.

Ok ok, the solution to the riddle - the Atomium, built for the Expo in 1958 in the shape of a unit cell of an iron crystal magnified 165 billion times. The whole thing was (similar to the Eiffel Tower) supposed to remain there for just six months but well, it's 51 years now.

+ 27 countries in three hours - woohoo!! Try and beat that ;-). Mini-Europe makes it possible. You find miniature buildings and places from all 27 EU-nations on a scale of 1:25, starting with the building of the European Commission in Brussels itself. In the park, I saw some (real) ducks and dragonflies - now imagine the freakishly giant animals if these are 1:25 as well...

Jour/ Dag 4 - Brussels

+ Technically, Brussels is bilingual, French and Dutch. Practically it is mostly French that is spoken and that allows you to get by almost everywhere. Strange.

+ Travelling with my mother is really great but also very exhausting. Great because I get to see a lot of things and places, more than when travelling on my own or with friends because we plan more and she informs beforehand. Exhausting because I have to do all the planning, organising and itinerary forming. And we can never just walk around aimlessly, there always has to be a next destination, a reason to go somewhere, a sight worth seeing. Phew..

+ Visited the Musée du chocolat et du cacao this morning, complete with demonstration and tasting. Yummy!

+ Talked mum into trying a regional specialty, Waterzooi, which was kind of a stew with fish and seashells. I would never eat something like that ;-)

+ Made an observation today or yesterday: Belgium "shuts down" at around 6.00 to 6.30 pm. Shops close, museums won't let you in anymore and even churches start kicking you out. And it doesn't matter much which part of the country you are in.

+ Oh and speaking of churches: they are beautiful, no doubt. But as soon as I enter one, I feel my church allergy breaking out again, thinking how the priests must have squeezed the money to build these churches out of poor believers centuries ago.

In case you miss me

or Belgium for everyone or Look, tdm, I can, too ;-)

I'm travelling Belgium for a week from today with my mum and plan to write a little travel diary.

Day 1 - Brussels:

+ four hour journey - rain, shine, rain, shine, rain, shine!!!

+ "You can park in the yard, no problem", that's what my friends told me the first time I visited them at their new place. And so I did today when we arrived before them. Left and at our return an hour later, my little car was blocked by a huge vehicle. First argh. Later, when we were to move on to the other place, there was a hand-written note on the windshield: Private parking space. Last warning! Big argh!! Interestingly, I never got a first or second warning :/

+ Took my laptop with me in order to transfer photos from my camera every night. And just for the heck of it, I checked if there was one or the other open wireless network around - and yay! there are :-) So I hope to write something here every day.

Dag 2 (aha!) - Oostende, De Haan, Brugge

+ Lovely beach, sunny weather but Oostende is a relatively ugly place. Plus there is construction going on all over town. Someone asked the following question:

(So much of digging and still no treasure?)

+ "There is Dover!" "Where?" "Over there! (pointing to the horizon)" "Oh yea, now I can see it, too" So what if we just saw a far away containership..

+ We both don't like fries, normally never eat them, but in De Haan, we decided that at least once, we should have the Belgian national dish. All the food in this "friet kot" was deep-fried, add the famous chocolate and beer to that and you are surprised that not every Belgian is rolling instead of walking.

+ Went on a boat tour along the canals of Brugge and had a very entertaining captain: "To the left, you see a brewery. The water used for this beer comes from the canal and the beer is destined for export only.". "Now we are passing the lowest bridge in Brugge, please don't stand up. By the way, this is where I lost my hair."

+ Oh, and a little footnote: Somehow there is a wrong connection in my mind. It thinks that you can get sunburned only during actual beach holidays, not on a city trip. Alas ...

Dag 3 - Antwerpen, Gent

+ The most brillant part of Antwerpen is the Diamant Museum. I want all of them, or at least a pair of little diamond ear studs, half a carat each, from one of the numerous jewellery shops in the "diamond area" - for the modest price of 2650,- €.

+ Ouch ouch ouch ouch ouch! My shin hurts after i missed the last step of stone stairs on Thursday :(. How do you know if you've broken something?

+ ".. en twee postzegels voor Duitsland aub." "Wow, u spreekt goed Nederlands!" "Dank u, ik heb het ooit geleerd." "Heel goed, echt!" *pats own back*
I'm always amazed when I understand people speaking Dutch, they understand me and don't even have the urge to switch to English or German. This was the first open compliment I got, so apparently my Dutch isn't as rusted as I was afraid it might be :D

ACHEMA 2009

The book fair, a music fair, an art and crafts fair, that's where you would expect to find me. But the ACHEMA? The 29th International Exhibition-Congress on Chemical Engineering, Environmental Protection and Biotechnology? Hmm...

Have I all of a sudden discovered my long dormant interest in natural sciences and engineering? Not really. But still, I went to that fair, feeling a little bit out of place from the beginning and earned quite a few looks - admiring, disapproving, plain curious - it's hard to say. The men-women ratio at the fair was about 9:1. And then I wasn't dressed like your typical congress attending business lady, in costume or pantsuit, nor like one of the few female students, in worn out jeans and T-shirts. So you can imagine that I stood out a little.

I walked through the endless corridors, from one moving walkway to the next, escalator up, escalator down, trying not to lose orientation until I reached Hall 9, the engineering hall. Because - and now we are coming to the purpose of my visit to ACHEMA - that's where the friend I was going to meet had his stall. I roamed around the stands at H21, hoping to see my friend. When I had surrounded the area twice without having seen him, but not without being watched intensely and with slight suspicion, I messaged him to learn that he would be back in 15 minutes.

What followed was a quarter of an hour well spent. I was strolling through the aisles, amazed by the passion and earnest all these people were displaying. Shocked by my own entire and complete ignorance, and deeply amused about slogans like "We bring plastic in shape" or for some sealing device "Nothing may come out". Not so funny now but on the spot, I really had to work on not bursting into laughter. So (not only because of this) I was relieved to finally see my friend..

I'm sure you read this, so I want to say thanks again, it was great meeting you, and you also provided me with an experience I normally wouldn't have had ;-)

Ground Rules

I haven't written much lately. I started writing this blog because I wanted to have a place to puke out my thoughts and emotions in order not to run amok in "real" life. I wanted a valve. But then a few people started reading my blog and commenting on it. And that made me all conscious. It's just like on TrekLens where I take ages to decide on a photo to post because people started watching me.

My sister reads my blog, one friend tagged me, another one advises me not to publish too personal stuff, one person thinks he knows me because he has read a couple of my posts. I know you all mean well but I will go back to square one, follow the rule again that I made when I started this thingy: If you like what I am writing, I'm happy. If you don't, I couldn't care less.

So if what I am writing doesn't make sense, appears useless or foolish to you - I don't give a damn.

Symbolism

Push

The end of something,
The start of something new.
Maybe. I hope. I want.

It's been so long I took a risk.
Or have I never?
Was I too scared, too lazy?

This time it's different.
I go for it, I want.
Out of so many passions follow one.

Inspired

A cloud, a plant, reflection on a wave, a song
The forms behind which inspiration hides.
A brush, a pen, a key, a string, a hammer
The instruments to tease her out.

With curiosity and passion you I beckon
You cave, not always but more yes than not.
"In dreams I'll come, if you can't see me, sleep
Wake up and you will feel the shades of mine."

Random Thoughts

I think that for everyone, there is one person (at a time) who loves you and one person whom you love. Ideally, it's the same. Often it is not..

Is love an "upgrade" to friendship or is it just a different feeling? How come that the transfer from friendship to love is very possible, love to friendship however extremely rare?

Is friendship the base for everything? Could I love someone with whom I can't imagine to be friends?

I have heard from several people that loving means to be happy when the loved person is, even if it is without you, that love is your personal thing and doesn't really have anything to do with the other. Is it, really? Am only I so selfish that I want him to be happy with me? It's not that I'd want him to be unhappy if he doesn't love me, I would just stop loving him after some time.

What is love anyway? The all consuming passionate "I can't live without you and would rather kill myself than trying" feeling from the movies? I seriously doubt it (or to say it with Sheldon "I hardly think so"). Maybe it is much more silent and has many different ways of expressing itself. Someone who bears with your moods. Who travels 200 km by train to drive you back in your own car because you have fallen ill at your friend's place. Who does your taxes for you. Who makes an effort to please your parents. Who doesn't criticise but supports all your attempts.

If I were proposed for marriage, white gold ring with solitaire sapphire surrounded by little diamonds (Libran after all) included, would I squeak and jump at his neck or would I think: What a waste, think of all the photo equipment I could have had for that money?

When do you stop being a child? When are you allowed to take your own decisions, however risky they may be? Without answering to anyone, especially not your mother? When will you be trusted to have enough common sense to do the right thing even far away from home?

Questions over questions... and you say you feel interrogated - when I don't even have answers to myself..