Old stuff

On one of the greyest, darkest summer days so far Jeroen and I headed off for the day to the mediaeval city of Gent (in East Flanders, Belgium). Ostensibly the trip was to actually collect a rare Prince CD from some Belgian guy who collects/sells that kinda stuff (!!!!), BUT that process was only to take 5 minutes so we had the rest of the day to be tourists.

The weather just added to the dark mystery of the city. As you can see in the photos, all the buildings look REALLY old. And walking around the castle, smack bang in the middle of the city centre, was a bit like walking around a movie set! The castle has been in existence in that spot since the 800s; and has undergone various transformations and served different purposes throughout that time, the main one seemingly to be the centre of torture and executions for wayward citizens. As we wandered through the various "rooms", they ALL appeared to have been used as a torture chamber at one point in time :-/

Apart from sightseeing, we managed to stuff our faces with a late breakfast of eggs and biodynamic breads at the Brooderie and drink the obligatory Belgian beer on a not-so-sunny terrace :-) Being so close to a real castle we indulged in a Kasteel beer - damn that stuff is strong, and one was more than enough! The Belgians must giggle about the watery, insipid beer we drink here in NL.

On our wanderings through the beautifully cobblestoned streets we came across a store that seemed to have found a niche market ;-)) and on our way home spotted a bus from Germany that speaks for itself!

Driving there and back I was also reminded that despite the existence of the EU, not all countries have merged into one amorphous Euro-state with the same laws and conditions. The road system being a perfect example - the surface of the freeway in Belgium was really crap BUT they do have every inch of their freeway system lit up! Apparently it is the only country in the world that has lighting along all its roads! The "border" of NL and Belgium is marked by a distinct and immediate difference in the quality of the road surface, (you can actually see on the road where Belgium starts and NL finishes ;-D) and the lightpoles start/finish (depending on which direction you are driving!) with a definate abruptness at the border.

Alli xxx

Impressions of Gent

Via Gladiola

It's a madhouse outside our front door at the moment!! Our street has been renamed Via Gladiola for the day, and I have NEVER seen soooooo many gladiolas in my life! Yep, it's the intocht of the 4daagse (the last few hundred metres of the 4 days walk) for tens of thousands of walkers. They all finish their 4 days by walking down our street and receiving bunches of gladiolas (and a medal) for their efforts :-)

There are 101 brass marching bands, walkers from every corner of the globe, people in crazy costumes and lots & lots of beer! Basically it is one gi-normous street party :-D

Right in the middle of it all (around 1.15pm this afternoon) it absolutely bucketed down for about 2 hours non stop. Thunder and lightning and flash flooding were all happening - just what you want when you are limping home on the last leg of 200 kms hey?! But that was then, this is now - the rain has gone and the sun is shining!

Now I can almost say I am a true Nijmegenar ;-)) having experienced my first 4daagse. I say "almost" because I think I have to actually DO the walk to be truly integrated. Who knows, maybe next year!

Alli xxx

Latest 4daagse photos

...and the fireworks from last night :-)

Alli xxx

The summerfest (& summer!) has begun

Saturday evening saw the start of the week-long zomerfeesten here in Nijmegen. It coincides with the 4daagse (4 days walk/march) which begins on Tuesday, and it has also perfectly coincided with the return of summer weather here, finally!!!! Saturday was a warm, sunny 30 C and we had a relaxed BBQ on our balcony with Niek, Marlene, and Maurice (especially flown in from Melbourne ;-))

That was before heading off into the city centre to enjoy the free outdoor music, dance to a fabulous, energetic performance by Stijn (a Belgian electronic popster, who, coincidentally, is known to Jeroen via the Prince forum!!!), drink a few beers with friends and end up at a techno party in the Old Cave - literally an old cave/tunnel/sewer thingy!! I still can't believe how bloody hot and dark it was in there!

Apparently this year's start to the week's festivities was the biggest ever, with over 150,000 people in the "city" on Saturday evening. It's the one time of the year that you can expect to hear English, French, Japanese, Italian and just about every other language in between spoken on the streets. People travel here from all over the world just to walk - for 4 days!!! Go figure. Hopefully the crazy weather here doesn't get so crazy again that the whole thing has to be cancelled as it was last year. Our street becomes via Gladiola again for the day on Friday, when all the walkers finish their 4 days by walking past our house, and we even have a star spangled "walk of fame" this year (see photo above).

Friday also sees a festival-closing performance by favourite local boys, de Sjonnies (here right), a funky, tongue in cheek cabaret style trio.

Further updates to follow during the week :-)

Alli xxx

Is it really July?

So much for summer! Haven't seen real blue sky or sunshine for at least a month now :-( Today has been really windy and the heating was even on at work at one stage this afternoon! And it seems to have been raining every day for weeks. Most streets have been looking like the above photos at some stage. I don't even remember the last time it was over 20 C yet I persist in wearing my flipflops (thongs) in the pathetic hope that it will encourage warmer weather ;-)

Now I know this is only my second summer here, but I REALLY hope this is not normal summer weather for NL! Bring back the excessive heat and humidity of last summer. The only redeeming factor I can think of is the fact that it still doesn't get dark until at least 10.30pm (oh, and the Summer Fest is just over a week away - yay!)

Sorry for the whinge, but I had a not-so-good day at work today. Must have been a bit too tired to concentrate properly. Everything that could go wrong did go wrong! I'm so happy it is the weekend :-)

Alli xxx