ANTWERP | LGBTQIA+ bookshop Kartonnen Dozen stops

The last paragraph looms for Antwerp‘s LGBTQIA+ bookshop Kartonnen Dozen as no-one was found to succeed Johanna Pas as co-owner and co-manager. The shop will close on the 29th of October 2022. 

SWITZERLAND 2022 | Sankt Gallen 

After the year 2021 without visiting my sister Florence in Zug in Switzerland, I finally returned to the Confoederatio Helvetica in March 2022. I stayed over a week. More than a family visit, I organised an excursion to French-speaking Switzerland, also known as Romandy, to visit Maxime and the vineyards of Lavaux in the canton…

Inside the KMSKA or Royal Museum of Fine Arts Antwerp

I wanted to write “it’s with much anticipation I finally entered the renovated KMSKA“. But that would be a lie. The opening of the Royal Museum of Fine Arts Antwerp (RMFAA or KMSKA) was advertised as being on 24 and 25 September, with 23 September reserved for neighbours. But no, the whole week was filled…

MEXICO | Teotihuacan 

June 2022. Although I have been in Mexico before, the last time was in 1994-1995. Twenty-seven years later, Oriol and I are doing a classic tour of the United Mexican States, featuring Mexico City (CDMX); Palenque in Chiapas; Villahermosa in Tabasco; Uxmal, Mérida, Chichen Itza, Ek’ Balam, Valladolid,  and a few cenotes (waterholes) in Yucatán…

Vienna’s Furniture Museum 

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,…

1-2 OCTOBER | Culinary festival Smaakmeesters or Taste Masters in Antwerp

On Saturday 1 and Sunday 2 October, the City of Antwerp is organizing the eighth edition of the culinary festival Smaakmeesters or Taste Masters, in different parts of the city. Around a hundred Antwerp catering and specialty shops will allow visitors to taste their mastery for an entire weekend and the city center will once…

REVIEW | Hotel Carlota in Mexico City 

June 2022. Although I have been in Mexico before, the last time was in 1994-1995. Twenty-seven years later, Oriol and I are doing a classic tour of the United Mexican States, featuring Mexico City (CDMX); Palenque in Chiapas; Villahermosa in Tabasco; Uxmal, Mérida, Chichen Itza, Ek’ Balam, Valladolid,  and a few cenotes (waterholes) in Yucatán…