Blogs from East Flanders, Belgium, Europe - page 12

There's something you should know about Gent. I don't know if the rest of Belgium is like this, but everything is closed on Sunday (except for museums, and bars, and the movie theater...OK, so not everything is closed, but a lot of stuff is. Leave me alone). Anyway, on this particular Sunday I was bored, it was drizzling outside (it drizzles quite frequently in Belgium), so I decided to walk around. I moseyed through a couple of markets, including the Sunday junk market. I bought a few used books, one of which was a youth hostel guide from 1966. I also bought a scarf for 5 Euro's, and my friend Christina told me it looks like a Burberry (how's that for a bargain?!). Then I bought a cool WC (water closet) sign as a souvenir. After ... read more

For the first two weeks I was in Belgium I participated in the Renewable Biomaterials Intensive Program. It was a ten day series of lectures on various aspects of green chemistry, sustainability, renewable materials, etc. The course was amazing. Professors from all over Europe and the U.S. came to lecture, and a very wide range of topics were covered. Everything from supercritical fluid extraction, to biodiesel, to biodegradeable plastic cups, to wood preservation without the use of arsenic. I've been involved with renewable resources, biodiesel specifically, for a couple of years now. After attending the intensive program, I feel like my knowledge base about not only biofuels, but also renewable materials in general, has been increased dramatically. There are many wonderful things going on in the field of green chemistry, but there are also a lot ... read more

On the Ground in Gent Well, I finally made it to Belgium. I honestly thought I'd never actually get here. I left Little Rock, Arkansas at about 11:00 AM on Thursday January 4, flew to Atlanta where I had about a three hour layover, met up with Caroline at the airport, then left U.S. soil at about 6:00 PM. The flight was rather uneventful. I had whiskey on the rocks to celebrate my departure (Crown Royal because they didn't have any decent bourbon), and settled in for the 8 hour flight. I had an aisle seat so I only got about two hours of sleep on the plane because my head kept flopping around. Then about an hour before we landed I discovered that the headrest folded out on the sides to give you something to ... read more

Once again the menu above does not give enough choices...most frustrating. The Passchendale Museum and Tyne Cot Cemetery are incredible. A lovely home, rebuilt post WWI in the 12th C style of its origin, was turned over to the government to be made into a museum and it is lovely. The organization of the rooms allows for easy flow of people and a sequential understanding of events in the Ieper (Ypres) area from 1914 to 1918. Historical and anecdotal books are available for sale, too, which is nice for us history buffs. Today a couple of classes of schoolchildren went through, ate lunch on the lovely grounds, played on the playground, and filled the air with the laughter of freedom, an appropriate sound in those surroundings. Tyne Cot is the largest British cemetery in the world. ... read more