Will Belgium win the Eurovision Song Contest ever again?

In the aftermath of the 2023 Eurovision Song Contest in Liverpool I wrote an op-ed for Songfestival.be, a Flemish fan medium. This is a translation and slight adaptation, as the original was written fit for the Songfestival.be audience. Belgium won the ESC only once, in 1986 with Sandra Kim singing ‘J’aime la vie’.

NMBS / SNCB dons train in rainbow colours for pride

For International Day Against Homophobia, Transphobia, Biphobia, and Intersexphobia (IDAHOBIT) and for Brussels Pride, NMBS / SNCB added rainbow colours to one of its Siemens Desiro Main Line EMUs. The #trainbow refers to Trainbow Belgium, the LGBTQIA+ network at the Belgian Railways, i.e. NMBS / SNCB, Infrabel and HR Rail. 

Plans for a steam train heritage service between Brussels and Mechelen shelved

“If all goes well, Train World will operate steam train between Brussels and Mechelen (Malines), reports Gazet van Antwerpen. The service could start in 2020″, we wrote in 2019. Quod non. Minister for Mobility George Gilkinet (Ecolo) declared in Parliament it’s not happening because it’s too complicated. 

LIMBURG | Bokrijk, an open-air museum of folk buildings heritage

On sunny October 2022 Tuesday, Jeroen and I visited Bokrijk, an open-air folk heritage museum near Genk in the province of Limburg. The Netherlands have the Nederlands Openluchtmuseum in Arnhem, Sweden has Skansen in Stockholm and Belgium has Bokrijk. 

ANTWERP | Traveling exhibition #StolenMemory at Museum At the Stream (MAS)

Watches, jewellery, family photos, intimate trinkets: these are the (often last) belongings of concentration camp prisoners that were taken away by the German occupant during World War II when they were arrested. Arolsen Archives, the International Center on Nazi Persecution, still holds some 2,500 of those ‘personal securities’ and is seeking next of kin of…

Belgium’s Great Spa Town of Europe Spa

After visiting the Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps, Oriol and I decided to have dinner in the spa town of Spa. Yes, the word spa comes from Spa in Belgium, just as the duffle coat is named after the Belgian town of Duffel.