After lengthy and costly renovation works, the Antwerp City Hall will reopen for duty by the summer of 2022. Without shops on the ground floor, as no-one seems interested.
Month: December 2021
The Major Flaws of domestic tourism in Belgium
The COVID-19 pandemic really is a game changer in the way we live and in the way we travel. Last week, we summed up the excursions and getaways we did in Belgium, our home country, and in the Netherlands. Domestic travel was ‘a thing’ in 2020 and 2021 for obvious reasons. But on a mass…
SWITZERLAND | GoldenPass Montreux – Gstaad – Interlaken without changing at Zweisimmen thanks to dual-gauge trains
From 11 December 2022 the Montreux Oberland Bernois Railway (MOB) in Switzerland will offer a service from Montreux in canton of Vaud to Interlaken in the canton of Bern. This route, famously known as the GoldenPass Line, now requires a train change at Zweisimmen in Bern as the gauge differs. But new rolling stock will…
Centraal Museum Utrecht
July 2021. A week after my Eindhoven escapade featuring the DAF Museum and a night at Hotel Mariënhage, I travelled to Utrecht for a culinary weekend with Steve. At that time, the Netherlands were very liberal concerning coronavirus countermeasures. That was both concerning and liberating at the time.
International Railway Union working on facilitating night trains, but very aware of the many challenges
Enthusiasm for night trains is on the rise. At least on paper, the night train offer in Europe is expanding. But there are quite a few challenges. Yet, the Union Internationale des Chemins de fer or UIC is optimistic. “The infrastructure is there, so it should be made full use of at night”, says Philippe…
Berlin 2021
Autumn 2021. In theory we could travel to other continents, but destinations we had in mind such as Japan or the United Kingdom were impossible to plan ahead. Instead we organised a rail trip to Eastern Europe, travelling to Berlin, Gdańsk, Wrocław, Karlovy Vary, Pilsen, Bratislava, Poprad, Vienna, Linz and Salzburg. By travelling to Germany,…
ANTWERP | 2023-2024 Park Gedempte Zuiderdokken to have grass and water
Recently the preparatory works for the second part of the park on the Gedempte Zuiderdokken started. That is the construction of the central part above the former Schippersdok. The works will end in the spring of 2023. AG Vespa posted an update.
Queer in a hostile world: more likely to be arrested for looking gay than for actual homosexual acts
Arrests and prosecutions for consensual same-sex sexual acts, or for diverse gender expressions, have continued unabated across the world in 2021 and in previous years, a new report by ILGA World revealed in an elaborate report.
Discovering Belgium and the Netherlands in COVID times
March 2020. The world learns the words coronavirus and COVID-19. Lockdowns, travel restrictions, restrictions of other kinds, social distancing and other new dynamics which have become more or less natural since. No foreign travel meant staying in Belgium. So in 2020 and 2021 we did quite a few domestic excursions to still our hunger for…
St. Martin’s Cathedral Domkerk Utrecht
July 2021. A week after my Eindhoven escapade featuring the DAF Museum and a night at Hotel Mariënhage, I travelled to Utrecht for a culinary weekend with Steve. At that time, the Netherlands were very liberal concerning coronavirus countermeasures. That was both concerning and liberating at the time.
Trip By Trip 