Affinity
Affinity For Travel Joined: July 17th 2008
Logged in: May 26th 2010
Logged in: May 26th 2010
I spend a phenomenal amount of time sending photos, mails, etc to friends & family so often because I love to share . I think it's time for a travel site.
This will not be a play by play droning commentary of my every move.... as thrilling a read as that would be ! LOL! No, this will be photo albums, some adventures & some thoughts.
As I use a Nikon reflex camera, a Nikon digital (numeric) camera & my GSM (cell) phone I will be unable to guarantee the quality of the images posted. I have a wonderful HP scanner/fax/copier.....that can even sing & dance but- the glass needs a proper clean from the underside & I don't know how to get @ it .
There will be images I will appropriately title "Looking Out My Window". This will be a relatively live update of what REALLY is outside either my car or building window. My phone goes online @ every hot spot & @ least one of my pc's is on virtually all the time. My best guess @ this time-there won't be more than a 15 min delay with these pictures to real time. I think that will be rather amusing.
As I'm on the road, I won't be able to give complete or fully informed descriptions of every photo. My time will be well spent "Living The Moment" :) When I get home & winter arrives, I will decipher my post-it notes, journals, photos, café serviettes & update here :)
The first entries are incomplete as I was just learning how long loading time would take, these will be completed as time allows, eventually :)
Travel Blog Posts
A remaining part of the first city wall of Brussels
We decided to spend Armistice Day in Brussels celebrating our freedoms: of education, travel, language.... living. Upon arriving to our destination, we were greeted with the fine scent of warm waffles & Gluwine Mmmmm! Deep Autumn in Europe has arrived. The streets were much more quiet than they would have been for a week day, especially on the Wetstraat ( Rue de la Loi ) Law Street. Normally packed to capacity with ambassadors, members of Parliament, the Prime Minister's cabinet, the European Commission headquarters employees, the staff of the Royal Palace..... hardly a soul to be seen. @ 11/11/11 The 11th hour, on the 11th day of the 11th month, Europe is silent. We teach our children, we reflect. We visit the BoZar ( Beaux-Arts ) Expo. Palace of Fine Arts, with delight :) Le sourire ... read more
Gronn/Grund some of the oldest houses in the city
Tiny tiny country. So small I even neglected to mention it when writing my Ardennes entry :D Ok, it's not as small as Vatican City, which happens to be the smallest country in the world, but it's about 1/4 the size of Puerto Rico, smaller than even Rhode Island. However quite powerful. Over 200 banks, many of them categorized as "Secret" or "Private". While higher in taxes in some areas of business, the many allowances, deductions & exemptions are an interesting draw to many concerning the Luxembourg tax regime. As one can imagine they are presently VERY busy with their attempts to handle the financial crises across the globe. However, while the building slowdown becomes evident in even the more financially viable countries, this little country shows no slowing in bank building. Huge structures springing up ... read more
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Christmas Tree Capitol ! The Ardennes, it's green, REALLY green.....well red, orange, yellow & brown now, but you know what I mean :) One could scarcely guess by looking @ these photos, Belgium is one of the most densely populated countries in the world with a density akin to that of Japan or India ! This statistic must be taken from Vlaanderen (Flanders) as the homes in villages are connected one to another with little to no property (backyards-front yards). Not everyone of course but many. This is far from the case in Wallonia & we are glad of it! The Ardennes took it's name from ancient Arduenna Silva, an enormous forest in the days of the Romans. Stretching from the river Sambre (France/Belgium) to the Rhine in Germany, the forest was named after the pagan ... read more
The Guild houses of the Grote Markt
There's something special about touring, shopping, visiting & living the Antwerp experience with bona fide Antwerpenaren :) It's taken me years to get to know this city & it's people. Antwerp is so multifaceted, has so much to offer, there's so much to tell. I'm going to break it down into bite sized pieces & try to stick with the history & fun of each entry in a limited style. The photo of the elephant, in my last entry, is part of the Elephant Parade. There are 71 elephant statues distributed all over the city of Antwerp until the 1st wk of November. These statues, designed by dozens of Belgian & Thai artists, are intended to raise awareness of the plight of the Asian elephant. Bernaerts will auction the statues off & the finances raised will ... read more
Notre Dame
Home of the Couque De Dinant! Probably one of the most popular souvenir's of the area. An unusually large cookie, tasting of molasses but made only from flour & honey. Created in the XV century by a people who suffered from famine, disease & destruction, this "cookie" was a staple food. Think of the hardest, most stale, biscuit you've even eaten & multiply it by 20 :D ! DO NOT chew the cookie, it has the potential to break your teeth. One should let it "melt" in their mouth. It is petrified squared :D Delicious, really LOVE this cookie! It is said that these cookies had a dual purpose. During more prosperous times when the cookies were made out of tradition & not from need, the cookies were made to throw @ neighboring village town-folk with ... read more
Visited by European royalty, aristocracy & statesmen
Café of Europe! Spa.... Ville d'Eaux, has given rise to the word we all know today. Where Pouhons (source, water wells) run abundant. A French speaking village where the world's first beauty contest was held in the 1800's, once home to English/Catholic dissidents & now Circuit National de Francorchamps- Formula One Grand Prix. It is considered to be one of the most challenging race tracks in the world & a favorite to many race car drivers. Michael Schumacher made his debut here in "91" & began his winning streak the following year from this track. In the early 1900's the German Army ( Deutsches Heer) established it's Headquarters in Spa & shortly thereafter the members of the Entente ( with Poland, Germany & the then Czechoslovakia ) held the Spa Conference. With it's history dating from ... read more
Maison Kammerzell- Léo Schnug 1427
Straßburg: Grande île, originally known as Argentorate with it's history spanning 700,000 years. This celtic civilization of Rhénanie was ideally located in the middle of the Rhine trench. The waterways aided in north-south access from Italy to Holland from the Middle Ages to the Renaissance (12-13th centuries) & is a fine example of Catholic/Protestant co-existence with Franco-German culture. Gorgeous city! An island on the Ill (ILL) river surrounded by the Vosges Mt's & the Black Forest, one would never know, without being told, it's one of the most atmospherically polluted cities in France. While the mountains & forest block the movement of wind, there is no visible smog, the river appears clean, the scent of the city is fresh... a proper looking city comparable to any in Switzerland as far as I'm concerned- A real feat ... read more
Welcome to downtown Luzern!
Luzern, gateway to the Alps! Little is known about this amazing town before 1178, other than the Alemannic movement after the fall of the Roman Empire. Which I find incredible but considering the inhabitants were Benedictine Monks, maybe not so hard to believe. GORGEOUS, very Swiss (probably a good reason for that :), relaxing, bustling, a delight for the eyes & soul. The style of EVERYTHING is more than impressive & wheels of cheese SO HUGE in shop windows, it's laughable :D I'm talking a good 3' in diameter :O!!! Yes, the cheese is also Swiss ;D & it has the honor of it's own festival ! One medieval square after another surrounded by the frequently hazy & slightly snowy Mt. Pilatus & Rigi. William Tell, the counts of Habsburg, art, architecture, finance, festivals, carnivals throughout ... read more
La Torre di Pisa
What can I say about the leaning tower...other than it leans :D Fascinating & simply splendid to see even if just for a few minutes while enjoying breakfast & en route to more adventures. Why it leans is a bit of a mystery, to some. Hmmm, my best guess; Well in the language of Old Prussia, Pisa means "swamp". While there are the mountains on one side & the Tyrrhenian Sea on the other, there is little doubt this massive feat of engineering, weighing in @ +/- 14,500 metric tons, had one HUGE disadvantage. Newton had yet to discover the Law of Gravity (we won't get into Kepler's basic behavior of gravity :) So here we have an enormous 8 story structure made from granite, every variety of marble in every style of architecture-Composite, Ionic, Grecian, ... read more
