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

(12z) Don't blame animals for the climate crisis

Image
In today's society, many people comment how animals are a main contributor to climate change. However, we should stop blaming animals for the production of too much methane as they are victims because of the industrialised meat industry and habitat loss due to human activities, and thus the resulting climate change. Animals release methane, but are not responsible for climate change As usual, nowadays many people in comments under articles about climate change accuse animals that they produce too much methane and, although animals release methane (a potent greenhouse gas), humans are mainly to blame as we pack animals together so locally animals produce high levels of methane. Therefore, we should condemn the practice of today's meat industry, an industry whereby animals are considered to be things that are locked up with too many animals in cages that are too small so animals can't move. Therefore, they are given antibiotics to prevent they become ill and thus to prev
Read more

Extreme left joins extreme right over Ukraine. Hard to understand

Image
Russian journalist Dmitry Muratov analyses 2023's Russia Russia's Nobel-winning journalist Dmitry Muratov, whose newspaper was closed by the authorities, speaks about Russia's war in Ukraine . Does president Putin have a support base he asks? He answers himself: an enormous one of mainly elderly people who see Putin as their own grandson as they are pleased he wishes them each year "Happy New Year". Many of those elderly wouldn't mind sending their real grandchildren to die for Putin. In contrast, many younger people oppose the war against Ukraine, and many of them are now even imprisoned. So, he hopes the future of Russia will be different.  But yes, while Russian propaganda tries to convince Russians that even nuclear war may be something positive, there are also people in the West who create their own propaganda to justify their support for Russia, and condemn Ukraine because it wants to remain a free democracy, and therefore opposes Russia's invasion.
Read more