Jun 08
Life update part 1
2006 at 06.06 am posted by Veerle Pieters
Time has been going so fast lately and I can’t really believe that @Media 2006 is next week already. So much has been happening in our life in such a short time so high time for bit of life update I guess. Since we are back from our trip to Austin (SXSW) and Washington DC in March we have been burning the midnight oil.
Vacation time
So I’m actually very much looking forward to the last 14 days of June. Next Wednesday my best friend Cindy lands in Belgium and will be here for the remaining part of June. Perfect timing for our Summer break. We have set up a hectic program. For starters we leave the same day that she arrives for London to hook up with some old friends and my talk about “Good Design vs Great Design” together with Jon Hicks and Cameron Moll. After London back to Belgium for one night and in the morning we are off to Paris to explore the city of light and to conquer the Eiffel tower ;)
Next on the list is Normandy for a few days. You know the Internet can be such a great tool to help plan all kinds of fun stuff. I discovered such a cute hotel in Honfleur in an old cider house from the 17th Century.
Belgium what to show a visitor from the US?
All other remaining days I’ll try to be a great host and try to be a little more patriotic (we Belgians aren’t really) and try to show in what beautiful country we live. My favorite city Bruges is the first one on the list. It was ages ago that I was a tourist in Bruges too. We are going on a boat trip on the canals, a carriage will take us on a tour.
Let’s hope the weather gods are with us so we can explore our coast too. Maybe Antwerp for a girlie shopping day and some sightseeing in Ghent too. Any fellow country boys and gals out there with more bright ideas on what to do if you had some time to kill with a friend from the States here In Belgium? Much appreciated ;)
23served
1
Well, it’s the Sinksenfoor in Antwerp this month so if you do come over it’s definitely the place to be for thrill seekers.
And when you’re there you’re in the cultural heart of the city with several major museums (fine arts, modern arts, photo) a whisker away.
Adrenaline and culture, what else do you need? ;-)
2
I’m not belgian but I enjoyed my stay in Ghent quite a lot. And otherwise just hop across the border for a visit : )
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I think it’s “God bless Belgium” time!
4
Time to kill in Belgium? Wouldn’t it be a nice time to give a try to our famous belgian beers… or to a nice “Peket” in Liège/Luik? ;-)
5
Well… Visit an old brewery, go kayaking on the Lesse and listen to the concerts on the “Fête de la Musique” (21-25/06 in Brussels and in the French Community) :)
6
Gent is a very nice looking city, with a lot of culture!
7
Don’t forget to let her taste some fine Belgian chocolate! Or french fries, beer, ...
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I must admit I left Belgium 10 years ago, but I noticed Brighton Pier in the UK is very popular among Americans. So I guess you even don’t have to drive too far.
Also ‘Het Gravenstein’. Americans love old stones. Remember their history is younger so I guess Belgium has quite a lot to offer.
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Brugge, Antwerp, Leuven, Gent, Brussels, Oudenaarde ( :) ), Oostende, Knokke, ...
And let her get a taste of good Belgian sweets: go to Jef Damme in Gent of Rogge in Oudenaarde and buy some amazing sweets-sugar-godness. Or go to Boldershof in st-Martens-latem.
And how about our weekly markets?
Damn, so many ideas, so little time to write ...
10
What about the smallest city in the world…. “Durbuy”. It’s realy small, realy old (protected), surrounded by nature. There are some of the best restaurants out there… You can Hike, Mtb, Kayak on the ourthe, do some climbing or go spelonking (100 feet under)visit Krishna-temple… . Stay one night at “la passerelle” ( don’t forget to leave your bussines card there.. they need a web-facelift”) and visit (Liege or ) Namur on the way back the next day.
Should I write more…
11
You just missed the Leuven in Scene event… but even without the event you should show them the city hall: http://www.flickr.com/search/?q=leuven&z=t
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Not much to see in Deinze ... de Brielpoort is just dull; de Brielmeersen is nice, but only for like 1 minute; the “shopping centre” (markt, tolpoortstraat, gentstraat & kortrijkstraat) isn’t that much shopping, ... hmmz, can’t think of anything to actually do and see in Deinze. Maybe a swim at Vosselare Put if it’s not too cold?
Just take your visitor(s) to Ghent, always does the trick here ;)
Show them “the regular tourist stuff” on day 1 (general city walk along Gravensteen, Belfort, Graslei, Dulle Griet, St. Jacobs, ...), and then on day 2 show them the more hidden and other interesting places that set a holiday mood (don’t forget the pubs!) and day 3 might be some regular shopping in de veldstraat, postplaza, etc.
Other classics to visit are Bruges, Ypres, Brussels, Antwerp, ... though Ghent really has a lot to offer.
B!
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get her and come over here ... (berlin)
*g*
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Yes, come to Antwerp and go shopping in the Kammenstraat or the Nationalestraat :) But Antwerp offers a lot more than shopping alone. So be sure to pass by in Apetown!
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Why don’t you take her to RockWerchter?
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Well… you’re very close to The Netherlands, so…
No, just kidding :-)
I’d say: don’t forget The Ardennes, how about La Roche/Bastogne/Libramont, it’s quite nice up there, especially this time of the year!
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Hi Veerle,
This is in answer to your post but in reverse. I have never been to Belgium but really would like to one day so any suggestions here will help me out in the future!!
On a slight side note I noticed that you have the XHTML valid icon at the bottom of your pages. As I know you are using Expression Engine for your site I took a sneaky peaky at this page and unfortunately it doesn’t validate. Easy fix though and I know from everything that you write and do that you probably have just been too busy to fix it at the moment.
The problem stems in the comment form. It has a name=“comment_form” in it which the validator does not like at all. I took this out of the file in EE for my contact form as I had exactly the same problem. I’m pretty much guessing you will be able to do the exact same thing with this form as well though.
The line you will need to comment out is in :
admin (or whatever you called it) -> modules -> comment -> mod.comment.php
It should be around line 1681.
Hope that helps and once again can I congratulate you on an absolutely fantastic site. Really has opened up a lot of peoples eyes to what awesome designs can be achieved with careful thought and planning.
Keep up the excellent work.
Best wishes,
Mark
18
Not much to add here ;-) Only, Bramus!, Mad Meg (De Dulle Griet) hangs in Antwerp (Mayer Van den Bergh). Incidentally, there is a wonderful Bruegel exhibition in the Royal Library in Brussels now of his (breathtakingly beautiful) original prints. A one time chance to see these all together!
19
Mark Bowen said:
Most cities recommend here already are a definite must. Our coast has some beautiful pearls too like De Haan, that is one of few cities that still have the old feeling going. Close to the coast you have Damme where you can stroll and eat great food.
Yeah I know about that and I sometimes forget to change it back when I update to a new version. I just updated to 1.4.2. I don’t do it like you suggest but modify core.functions.php on line 452 and change
$data[‘name’] = “name=’”.$data[‘name’].”’ id=’”.$data[‘name’].”’ “;into
$data[‘name’] = “id=’”.$data[‘name’].”’ “;I should make a note on the admin start page so I won’t forget anymore ;) Thanks for letting me know.
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Hi Veerle,
Not a problem, anytime. The EE community is, in my mind, simply the best community of people who all help each other out. You have given me loads of inspiration just by my looking at your site and if there is ever anything I can do to help out people that have helped me out in the past either directly or indirectly then I will do my best to do so.
Thanks again for such an awe-inspiring site.
Best wishes,
Mark
21
wish I was able to do cool stuff like this :(
*wanders back to my unix server that wont boot*
22
Bruges is lovely. I visited for the first time this year and managed to grap loads of photos.
23
Check out the tourist guides from USE-IT, they can point you to those special places in Antwerp and Ghent you would never find otherwise.
If you are planning to visit Antwerp, be sure to check out the Plantin Museum. I visited it for the first time in February and I was astounded. If, like me, you love typography this place is a must visit, not to forget the beautiful state the building is still in.
Otherwise, have fun!
http://www.use-it.be/
http://museum.antwerpen.be/plantin_moretus/
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