Visit from London: Allan

During Easter weekend, I had a friend over from London. He is Allan and he came over from Thursday evening till Monday evening. He is a good friend and we had a good laugh.

The evening he arrived, we went to a bar (Plattesteen) in central Brussels. There I let him try a gueze, a typical beer from Brussels. In the meanwhile we where make fun and of course we gave each other a brief summary of life from the past months.
The other days I showed him around Brussels. We went to the Atomium where we went to the top floor. From here there is a great view over the city Brussels and surrounding regions. Unfortunately it rained for a brief time quite heavily and the sky was very grey when we were upstairs. But most of the day it was dry and even sunny, but cold.


Allan in front of the Atomium and a view from the top of it. For those who are brave: they can go and stand on top of the building and slide down.


We also walked quite some distance while we saw the best-known monuments of Brussels such as the Palace of Brussels, the High Court, the Grote Markt (very famous region in the heart of the city).

Allan found it unbelievable that he could have a pee against a church (a toilet is build against it). I explained that it is very important people don't have to go to far.

He also loved "Manneken Pis", a small boy peeing the whole time.

In the evenings we went out for a meal and later for a drink. On Saturday, Allan encouraged me to talk to a guy. The problem I have in Brussels is that most people speak French, a Language I don't really speak and understand. Therefore, it is quite difficult talking and thus meeting people.



Me and Allan at the Grote Markt (also known as Grand Place). It was just not dark, the best time to take photos.





On Monday evening I visited my parents who were just back from a weekend in the Ardennes where they were for a culinair weekend. That was a fun evening at my sisters place. The next day I woke up early because I had to leave for Berlin, my next post.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

(18l) Belgium, king Leopold II and Congo

Image
Leopold II in Congo Belgium has a terrible human rights track record because of its second king Leopold II (1835 - 1909) during whose reign millions of people in Congo died. People may say he is not personally responsible but the same can be said of Hitler. However, Leopold II could have ruled only Belgium but this he considered too small and thus he lobbied to gain Congo for himself and succeeded on the condition he would treat its people correct, something he refused to do from day one. Therefore, he is responsible as he actively searched for this expansion to enrich himself so he could enlarge his own glory in his kingdom Belgium with neglect of his "subjects" in Congo. And people in those days had already a conscience because the king had to replace the first ambassador who refused to collaborate to expand the king's personal property.   To have an impression of the terror Leopold ii allowed in Congo is a picture in this article that shows a black father who l...
Read more

(05d) PM Merkel is against Eurobonds - I agree to some extend

I'm having again Internet after almost a three months break. Finally, back to the world. Many European politicians (and certainly economists) want to introduce Eurobonds and as I understand it, the EU may take some (most, all?) of the debts of poorer European countries and spread it over Europe so that both strong and weak shoulders will carry the problems. Of course, it is only understandable that Europe wants to help countries that are in need (as it should do because they are members). But, as the German PM Angela Merkel (a woman who thinks differently than most men and wants other solutions then the usual ones), I am against spreading debts because it will weaken every country that take some of the debts (it is similar to banks using savings of people to pay off their debts so that when people want their money the banks can't give it anymore (I wonder whether rating agencies threat some countries well so those countries are prepared to take responsibilities to save count...
Read more

Buildup of Tensions in Societies Throughout the World

Image
We notice worldwide tensions are growing within societies. This is mainly as a result of growing inequality but also other factors are involved such as a virus and climate change that destroys crops so people start to migrate as essentials become rarer and thus more expensive compared with what people earn. The result is likely that increasingly people in places where the migrants move to will demand a closing of their borders. Let's discuss. Financial crisis 2008-2009 While inequality was growing as a result of what many people earned versus rising costs of products, this accelerated when the financial crisis was organised just over ten years ago. As a result, people lost work and many even their home such as in the USA so poverty increased although the rich became richer. But, while house prices dropped because many flats and houses became available, those with money were able to buy them cheaper and sell or rent them out to make money when property prices rose again. The problem...
Read more