JAPAN | Kanazawa Castle – Kenrokuen Garden – Higashi Chaya District

Autumn 2025. We – Sam and Danny, Michel and Wille, and Timothy – are travelling to Japan for a quite classic tour of the Land of the Rising Sun. We are flying separately as we used miles. On the planning: Tokyo, Kanazawa, Shirakawa, Osaka, and Expo 2025, Hiroshima, Himeji, Miyajima, Kyoto, Nara, Nagoya, Hakone, and…

ANTWERP | Archaeologists uncover 17th-century Fort Piémentel foundations and rare 15th-century wooden structure along the River Scheldt

Archaeologists in Antwerp have uncovered significant remains of the 17th-century Fort Piémentel, alongside an exceptionally rare large-scale wooden structure dating back to the 15th century, during excavations linked to the ongoing Oosterweel infrastructure works. The discoveries are expected to provide valuable new insights into the city’s maritime, military and settlement history.

NETHERLANDS | Leiden in South Holland

May 2025. I have a few days off so I decide to take a train to Leiden (Leyden, Leyde) in the Dutch province of South Holland to visit the Rijksmuseum van Oudheden, or the National Museum of Antiquities. Steve, my former Latin and Ancient Greek teacher in my teen years, says it’s quite good. As…

Flanders highlights Castles of the Brussels Green Belt

Tourism Flanders (Toerisme Vlaanderen), Flemish Brabant Tourism (Toerisme Vlaams-Brabant) and Gaasbeek Castle launched a campaign that puts the rich range of castles on the Flemish Periphery (Vlaamse Rand) around Brussels in the spotlight – not only as cultural heritage, but also as tourist attractions for home and abroad. 

FRANCE | Château de Chantilly

Every year my boyfriend Sam and I gift each other a weekend away as a birthday gift. This year my birthday in September was during our Cruise to the Norwegian Fjords, thus my boyfriend decided to plan my ‘birthday present trip‘ in the month of December 2024. While first looking at Germany and some of…

Visiting the Kraków Salt Mines and Castle

In the Spring of 2018 Ivan and I made a trip through Germany, Poland and Czechia. On this trip we stayed a few days in Kraków and after we had visited the infamous death camps of Oświęcim (Auschwitz) we decided for some lighter items to fill our next day.