Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2005/12/20

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Subject: [Leica] Re: Belgium (WAS: October in Paris? thru Belgium?)
From: hlritter at mindspring.com (Howard L Ritter, Jr)
Date: Tue Dec 20 08:05:25 2005
References: <3e4df9e3e4cd17.3e4cd173e4df9e@planet.nl><505CCD59-B695-4A90-A527-8953ECBD010B@ralgo.nl> <43A7927A.60305@planet.nl>

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, 


In reply to: Message from nathan.wajsman at planet.nl (nathan.wajsman@planet.nl) ([Leica] October in Paris?)
Message from bruce at ralgo.nl (bruce) ([Leica] October in Paris? thru Belgium?)
Message from nathan.wajsman at planet.nl (Nathan Wajsman) ([Leica] Re: Belgium (WAS: October in Paris? thru Belgium?))