Hi there, How are you all enjoying the summer (or the winter for you guys the other side of the hemisphere)? Soon I will be back at work so I decided to update my blog before being immersed in my job tasks. What have I been up to the last 2 months? Well, I was in Portugal in July where I could enjoy the Atlantic coast of Alentejo, the region above the touristiest region of Portugal, the Algarve. The coast of Alentejo is lovely: there is no mass foreign tourism, and even for the Portuguese, the adherence is mild (except in [View Full Entry]

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Oh dear, has it been that long? What happened? Were have I been? I guess I have a vague idea. I was hibernating! It was really a very cold winter the last one. I went 2 times to Portugal during the start of the year, as I couldn’t stand the cold in the Netherlands. Most of the Dutch people were loving it: they could skate on natural ice after 12 years of “mild” winters. I though nothing could shock me anymore in the Low Lands, but when one day I met a colleague in the elevator, who told me that just [View Full Entry]

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... like the old book says ... Ok, I admit it, I am a little bit in a gloomy mood, I guess is not the best time to write my BLOG: God knows what I might end up writing!*(**) There is a time to look for something and a time to stop looking for it I guess. Sometimes it is right in front of us, but we are so in the look-for-something/ (more) mode, that we do not realise that the time to stop searching has arrived. But well, let me talk about less dramatic things. I went to the island [View Full Entry]

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Oh my God, I just realised I have been away from my blog for almost 6 months!? It’s a record! I wish I could say I have busy travelling, but most of the time I have been working hard, and receiving with a smile the pleasant surprises and twists that 2008 has brought me so far ;-) Let me recall: I ended 2007 with a flash of luck, I almost lost the train to Antwerp, which luckily happened to be delayed (ufa!), and I started the year, yes, in peaceful Belgium, away from the craziness of the fireworks of the Low [View Full Entry]

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My autumn was anything but monochromatic: it was full of trips of many colours … and short sizes (mostly combined with work). I tasted a 4,5 euros (!) cappuccino at Thessalonica’s boulevard … of course I stayed there for as much time as possibly staring at the sun with my Silhouette sun glasses getting a return of my money in vitamin D stocks, while drinking the water that accompanied it. Talking about glasses: what do the Danish Queen Margrethe and Elton John have in common? They both wear Lindberg glasses! I visited Oxford, incl [View Full Entry]

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Summer Paradise! So, how was that summer? Hope you had the chance to get out of the Low Lands/England, ´cause from what I hear there wasn’t much summer around there. If however you didn’t yet, and is now time to plan a warm break, I know just about the right place: Fernando de Noronha island in Brazil! Yes, I was on that piece of Paradise this summer! It’s an ecological archipelago of 21 islands with tourist entrances being limited and charged with an eco-tax depending on the duration of the stay. It is loca [View Full Entry]

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Përshëndetje! (just learned how to greet in Albanian ;-) By definition it is summer, but there is not much of it to be seen in the low lands … except on 13th of April, the day of Rotterdam’s marathon, which had to stop after 26 marathoners were taken to hospital (fortunately the professionals had finish it already, so there were prizes to be hand over). I got though some sun in Portugal in May! I had the chance to ride in the new metro of Oporto, which goes till the airport! ( Nothing utterly especial, because that is how it [View Full Entry]

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So, how have you been? I’ve been away from my blog, I know ... One of my 2007 resolutions was ‘to make more time to myself and my friends,’ thus I wont be updating my blog every month, but I’ll have time to go for a coffee in the weekend (just send me an email) ;-) 2007 started among friends (excellent!) with Raclette (the national dish of Switzerland, after fondue of course …), coffee and home-made ‘olliebollen’ in peaceful Lausanne. The highlight of January/February was Rotterdam’s International Film Festival. The movie I wont forge [View Full Entry]

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Another day I was reading my horoscope of 2005 (!) and I was told that according to the stars my favorite season is Autumn ... uuum ... I am not really convinced but sure when the first cold wind blows I recall the nice days at the beach ... maybe that’s why this season is so nice: it’s perfect to recollect all the warm moments we had in the summer (it could not be the winter, because by then my memory has frozen and I can only long for the seasons ahead!) So, it is autumn, and I fortunately I had [View Full Entry]

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It was about time to talk about September, right? Sorry guys but in September I got a neck/back minuscule injury and therefore was restraining myself from typing … ok it is not the whole true, but I can give you the number of a great physiotherapist, if you need one*! In September I took a week of domestic holidays and was a bit here and there: went to the Japanese Summer at Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam, S.M.A.K. in Ghent where I got in touch with Rene’ Heyvaert and I agree with their folder’s description that his work cannot easily be [View Full Entry]

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