Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2005/12/20
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]I have numerous pleasant memories of Belgium, from my trip across it in August 1979 (to the accompaniment of rich agricultural odors in my un-airconditioned car) to my 2 days there with my 16-year-old son on our way to the finish of the Tour de France in July of this year. We were visiting my nephew/son's cousin, who lives in Brussels, and had the good fortune to be there on National Day. We even stayed in the hotel directly across the street from the outdoor stage on the plaza where the evening's festivities took place. A memorable experience, in all, with numerous new beers sampled as well. I am thinking about attending the LHSA meeting and the other events mentioned on the list recently. I hope certain list members would not be offended if I took delivery not of a new Porsche but of a BMW M5? For sure I would drive it across Belgium on the way to Paris! --howard ----- Original Message ----- From: "Nathan Wajsman" <nathan.wajsman@planet.nl> To: "Leica Users Group" <lug@leica-users.org> Sent: Tuesday, December 20, 2005 12:11 AM Subject: [Leica] Re: Belgium (WAS: October in Paris? thru Belgium?) > Belgian motorways are now among the best anywhere. I especially like the > fact that almost the entire motorway network is illuminated at night. > Foreigners still get confused when confronted with the changing > Dutch/French signs along the E40 but that is about the only problem (for > the uninitiated: the E40 is the major East-West route and it straddles the > language line in Belgium; so, if someone arrives on the boat from England > in Oostende and starts driving east towards the German border, he will be > confronted with signs for Liege or Luik, depending on whether he is in > Wallonia or Flanders. Other city pairs to be aware of include Namur/Namen, > Anvers/Antwerpen, Lille/Rijsel etc). > > As a political entity Belgium certainly does not get much respect--even > from the Belgians themselves! At the recent celebrations of the 175th > anniversary of Belgium's independence a politician said that it was too > bad that the Benelux countries had separated from each other. Can you > imagine a US politician bemoaning the separation of USA and Canada from > Britain--on July 4th? > > But as a place to live, I think Belgium is among the very best. In fact,