ANTWERP | 2026 Sinksenfoor attracts 700,000 visitors

Sunday 28 June marked the final day of this year‘s Pentecost Fair or Sinksenfoor in Antwerp. The country’s largest fair was held at Spoor Oost for the tenth time since 23 May. Despite the extremely hot weather, the fair was able to welcome more than 700,000 visitors. Last year, the fair received 800,000 people.

DENVER | Visit of the Colorado State Capitol

September 2025. After Oscar came to London in June 2024 and I joined him there for a day, I’m now going to his hometown of Denver in Colorado. My second trip to the United States in 2025, after visiting my uncle and aunt in Wilmington, North Carolina. No, Denver is is not on foreign tourists’…

VILNIUS  | Palace of the Grand Dukes of Lithuania and Gediminas’ Tower

August 2025. We’re travelling to the Baltic States: Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, and more specifically their respective capitals Tallinn, Riga and Vilnius. Are they interconnected by rail? Yes, but not in the most straightforward or userfriendly way possible. The Rail Baltica project should remedy this. Unsurprisingly though, this megaproject faces political and budgetary hurdles. It…

66 countries criminalise gay sex

The number of countries where consensual same-sex sexual relations are illegal has risen to 66 following the adoption of a new anti-LGBTQ law in Niger in June 2026, marking a reversal after years of gradual global decriminalisation. Specialist on the subject is the blog 76 Crimes. When Colin Stewart started that project, the list contained…

France’s Intercités: a long-awaited renewal for the ‘forgotten’ rail network

For decades, France’s Trains d’Équilibre du Territoire – commercially branded as Intercités – have played second fiddle to the high-speed TGV and regional TER networks. These conventional long-distance services, encompassing both day and night trains, were established in 2011 to consolidate routes previously operated under brands like Corail Téoz, Lunéa, and Interregional.