A new independent analysis has laid out the most comprehensive roadmap yet for expanding direct high-speed rail services between London in the United Kingdom and mainland Europe. The #CrossChannelRail Final Report, published on 17 November 2025, is the result of an unusually detailed investigation that included visits to sixty-three stations across the continent, technical assessments…
Month: November 2025
REVIEW | ‘Universal Tongue’, on dance, at Museum Aan de Stroom (MAS) until 4 January 2026
The Museum at the Stream (Museum Aan de Stroom, MAS) in Antwerp is currently celebrating the universal language of dance with ‘Universal Tongue‘, a monumental video installation by Dutch visual artist Anouk Kruithof. Running until 4 January 2026, the exhibition immerses visitors in a dazzling mosaic of dance from across the globe, showing how movement…
HOTEL REVIEW | Scandic Front in Copenhagen
I turned 44 in June. I have this tradition – when possible – of not being in Belgium for my birthday. From Sweden in 2013 to the Châteaux of the Loire Valley in 2014, Lake Orta in 2015, Rome in 2016, London in 2018, North Carolina and Virginia in 2019, England in 2022, and Rotterdam…
BELGIUM | Naming towns and cities: municipalities with Dutch, French, English and other translations
15 November is Dynasty Day or King’s Day in Belgium. 15 November being the name day of Leopold, the name of three of the seven Kings of the Belgians. To mark this occasion, and inspired by a Belga News Agency post, let’s take a look at names of villages, towns, municipalities and cities in the…
Winter in Antwerp 2025-2026 from 5 December to 4 January
From Friday 5 December 2025 to Sunday 4 January 2026, Winter in Antwerp will once again immerse the city in a warm and enchanting winter atmosphere. The City of Antwerp announced the plans today in a press release.
Rail should be functional, not fine art: EU leaders call for standardisation and lower costs
European Union Agency for Railways (ERA) chief Oana Gherghinescu has called for a radical shift in how Europe builds, funds, and manages its railways, stressing that rail should be functional, standardised, and affordable — not fine art.
Subsidies for night trains? “You cannot fix this until someone builds more sleeper and couchette carriages”
“I’m so tired of these arguments about small pots of money (or not) for night train operations. You cannot fix this until someone builds more night train carriages”, independent railway commentator Jon Worth posted on Bluesky. That last sentence in all caps. “Because then we can start to run night trains that aren’t with knackered…
REVIEW | ITA Airways The Hangar Lounge Rome
March 2025. We’re embarking on a train trip to Sicily. We fly from Brussels Airport to Leonardo da Vinci Rome Fiumicino Airport with ITA Airways. Then we take an Intercity Notte sleeper train by Trenitalia from Roma Termini Railway Station across Italy to Syracuse. Yes, the train is loaded on a ferry to cross the…
ANTWERP | KMSKA looks through the eyes of the master in its new exhibition ‘Magritte. La ligne de vie’, from 15 November 2025 to Sunday 22 February 2026
In a unique lecture at the Royal Museum of Fine Antwerps Antwerp (Koninklijk Museum voor Schone Kunsten Antwerpen, KMSKA) in 1938, René Magritte explained how he arrived at his iconic visual language. Almost ninety years later, the exhibition ‘Magritte. La ligne de vie‘, from Saturday 15 November 2025 to Sunday 22 February 2026, will bring…
European Sleeper to operate Paris – Brussels – Berlin night train route from March 2026
European Sleeper, the community-owned Dutch night train operator, will run a Paris–Brussels-Berlin night train connection by the end of March 2026, stepping in to fill the gap left by the cancellation of ÖBB’s Nightjet service.