Blogs from Antwerp Province, Belgium, Europe

Hooray! Clem bought her ticket today. She'll be flying out on June 23d at 11:30 AM from Brussels Airport, have a short lay-over in Atlanta and land in Nashville at 5:30 PM local time. 13 hour flight in total, not bad!! img=http://i1259.photobucket.com/albums/ii555/anatomyoftheheart/Gilbert%20the%20robot/0bacb3aa.jpg?t=1337430542... read more

In February 2010, Clémence (Turnhout, Belgium) travelled to New York for 10 days, and was deeply affected by it. She kept chatting regularly in American chatrooms, just to keep in touch with that atmosphere. In July 2011, she bumped into Zach (Nashville, Tennessee), who was recovering from tooth surgery at home and killing time. The first conversations were about trivial things, but soon they got more serious and a friendship emerged. After 3 months of extensive talking (we're talking hour long Skype calls, ok.) it became clear there was more than friendship going on. Months went by, and it got harder and harder to be apart. March 21st 2012, Zach landed at 7 AM in Brussels Airport. Clem and Zach have been together ever since, and are planning to go to the stat... read more

Goslings! Right after Clem came home from her exam, and she sat outside to enjoy the nice weather, mom started shouting from the back yard "Look! A little gosling!". Only two minutes later, it was followed by "No! Two! ... Wait! Three!!". Another minute passed, and then it became clear there were six little geese taking their first steps into the world. img=http://a7.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash3/559398_10150780242193881_672328880_9778116_2141334954_n.jpg... read more

Antwerp ~ The centre of the Universe If you’re anything like me, you probably won’t ever have heard of Antwerp. But that doesn’t put the Antwerpians off. They believe they are God’s gift to man, and that their city is the centre of the universe. I’m lucky to know one of these preformentioned Antwerpians, so got a local’s eye view of one of Europe’s fashion centres. It’s one of the biggest cities in Belgium but I’m still not sure if it the capital of Flanders or not. There seems to be a lot of competition between Antwerp and Ghent for the most amazing city award. Antwerp really is beautiful. The myth goes that a giant, Antigoon, used to rule the gates to the city and demanded a fee from anyone wishing to enter. Well, one day ... read more

Gegroet familie, vrienden en collega's, Zoals de meesten onder jullie weten, vertrek ik op vrijdag 24/02 richting Nieuw-Zeeland. Daarom heb ik - met enige hulp - deze blog geopend. Ik zal jullie zo veel mogelijk op de hoogte houden van mijn activiteiten en avonturen ter plaatse. Nee, ik ga niet met vakantie. Het is voor mijn werk dat ik naar ginder moet. DHL is logistieke partner van de Volvo Ocean Race, de grootste en meest prestigieuze zeilrace rond de wereld (www.volvooceanrace.com ). DHL moet ervoor zorgen dat het materiaal van de teams en van de organisatie tijdig op de verschillende stop-overs aankomt. Ik heb het geluk dat ze volk te weinig hebben voor de stop-over in Auckland, Nieuw-Zeeland. Na een reis van ongeveer 36 uur (vanaf thuis tot op bestemming) zal ik in het 'The Sebel ... read more

Today I made a visit at the travel agency. I tried to make an estimate online but there was somehing wrong with the fight module. I already picked out the hotel so that was the easy part. To go back home I want a flight that leaves late in the day. The plan was to come back on June 26 but then there are no eveningflights. So its an eveningflight on June 27 at 9h30PM. Instead of 7 nights in LA it's now 8 nights. (Not that I mind an extra day) The hotel is url=http://maps.google.be/maps/place?cid=9074599822723963070&q=Mayfair+hotel&hl=nl&authuser=0&cd=1&cad=src:ppiwlink&ei=hb83T7HTLY6ROr6-9bAJ&sig2=H7oKh1qlXrtzDC9MIKswkA&dtab=2The Historic Mayfair Hotel at 1256 West 7th Street, Los Angeles, CA 90017. Vandaag heb ik een bezoekje gebracht aan het reisbureau. Ik had al geprobeerd om een offerte te maken op de website m... read more

The last city we visited in Belgium was Antwerp. A small can compact heart with a large square overlooked by a impressive Stadhuis. From every available space flew an EU country flag. In the middle of the square was a baroque styled fountain. Impressive but not to my taste. Antwerp was on the River Scheldt a large wide and muddy river. There were the usual merchants houses with steep rooves and immaculate brickwork. One of the most interesting features of the city was the museum which was the home of printing. Some years ago we watched a programme on BBC2 narrated by Stephen Fry who visited the Plantin Moretis museum and this was put on the list of things to do. It holds the oldest surviving printing press in the world complete with sets of dies ... read more