Almost next door to where I live I have walked by the Indian restaurant of Palais des Indes. From outside this looks like everything you imagine from an Indian place. This evening I decided to try the place because of a sudden urge for Indian food. It turned out to be buffet night, called the Maharajah Buffet . I am not sure if this buffet night is an everyday occurrence but the waiter made it seem as special. In order to not confuse the kitchen on such a night I decided to follow the crowd and go for the evening special. The buffet consisted of three parts; one warm, one cold and a dessert. I stated with the warm enjoying myself with jasmine rise and a yellow curry seafood dish which I must say that I enjoyed so much that I had to visit it twice! I tasted also tasty meatballs and the white chicken curry; all good. The cold buffet consisted mostly of different salads and some semi warm dishes like Makhanwala; shredded chicken stepped in yogurt and red spices, and some kind of potato samosa. The dessert was a multitude of different cakes and fruits; all in all making me a very full and satisfied customer. Apparently the owner Shirine Bandali created the restaurant on suggestion of the many friends she received every month at her home, where she was preparing a large selection of Indian specialities to make them familiar with the Indian kitchen. Unanimously, they suggested her to open her own Indian restaurant. With the help of her husband, she found a location, where an Indian decor was created. They have been built the restaurant with warm and colourful interior but also a flavour of Bollywood. In the entrance two big wooden sculpted antique doors, originally from an Indian Palace are separating the different parts of the restaurant. And BTW I had an Indian Kingfisher, which I found beeing a tasty beer

Zo, is me dat even een leuk steeds terugkerend evenement in ons buurlandje Belgie. Ik was er nu voor de 3e keer denk ik. Wat een artiesten komen voor je optreden. Het is geweldig zoals dat alles maar op je pad komt. Ik heb er van genoten. Zelfs al was het in de regen. Al wordt dat op dag 3 en 4 al wel wat moeilijker. Je wordt toch moe. Je sjouwt de hele dag rond, het was een dik half uur lopen naar onze tentjes op het voetbalveld. Waar overigens alles wel heel goed bevalt. LEkker rustig, fijne ambiance, valt me telkens mee, dat die douches nog niet in elkaar gestort zijn. Op de heenweg naar het festival, elke dag een smoske ham kaas en een gekookt eitje bij de bakker onderweg. Heel lekker. Plesant ! dat is het in Werchter rond die tijd. Ik heb genoten van deze traditie, deze ambiance , de mensen en muziek. Ik heb gelachen met mijn vrienden, en gedans met mijn lief. Gedronken, oja, heerlijk al die kriek, bij de muziek! Maar als ik volgend jaar ga, dan ga ik iets korter, want ik was toch al bij dag 2 al moe! Kan ik nog fiek blijven dansen en lopend naar huis!

83m high belfry will be found here in Brugge which is the central part  of the main wing of the 13th century.

Bellfries symbolised  the deep human  urge for freedom and democracy.

The bellfry is accessible tower that provides  a fascinating view  over the whole of the city, showing the spatial relationship between the trade  of the market place and the administrative buildings around the center square.

Here you will see the following::

-administrative building "Burg" square with its town hall

-Country house / landhuis

-Griffe /recorders house

-Proosdij /Provost´s house

This place has been inscribed upon the World Heritage  list from UNESCO Convention for its exeptional universal  value of cultural sites for protection.

After talkng to some travbuddys, sayng that 'brugge' is so good, I thought I should go see it. Aftr droppng 'jamie' of at the airport, I took the train to 'brussls.' There we took the train to 'brugge' for a day.

After we had made connections from Lille, France Kortrijk and Hazebrouke, Belguim, we arrived late into Brugge. We had called a hotel to see if we could get accommodations, but never could find the place. So we went to a bar instead. Neither of us could remember the name of the place, but we will never forget its "Happiest" customer. Arturo was a gentleman we met who was singing and relished to tell us stories of all kinds. Needless to say Arturo was a little "tipsy", but kept singing and expounding, "Everybody's Happy!",  in his thick accent. What a character. He kept us entertained until closing time, bid us "adeiu" and wandered out into the crisp night. We walked back through a park that seemed to have all kinds of nocturnal activities going on. Thinking we should get along we went back to the train station and found it locked. It was about 4am, so we sat out front and Darla snoozed while I watched the night turn to twilight. At 6am the doors opened and we bought tickets to Amsterdam. Though it would be stopping in Brussels, it would continue on to our destination. The train was at its platform so we boarded and passed out immeadiately. We missed alot of countryside through Beguim and the Netherlands, but needed the sleep.

Named after Marc Chagall the painter. We found this place right after getting of the train. Classical music and reproductions of the artist's work flowed throughout the space. The seating and charm of the room was quaint. I ordered a beer and a plate that was basically a meat medley: venison, pork sausage and chicken, cooked just the way I like it. Venison medium rare, sausage crisp and chicken baked and moist. It came with sauteed, seasoned potatoes and mixed vegetables. Over all it was very hearty and filling for a big guy like myself.

This was the first time for me and my boyfriend that we went to a castle!! It was so cool and the view was beautiful.. The staff is very friendly and are not only talking in French, but also in English. If you book it on a website it's much cheaper than when you book it @ Chateau du Lac.. In the room there is a note that the rooms cost about € 300 per night!! Can you believe it.. And we booked it for only a € 120!! hihi... You have a restaurant in the castle but it's a bit expensive, so we went to the little Chinese restaurant on the other side of the road.. You can also take a walk around the lake.. Now that's romantic!!

Very friendly people, great breakfast, good location.

Besides being a fantastic Sunday with great weather it was the day of the market in Ixelles.  The police had been out since Monday setting up signs that parking was strictly forbidden this Sunday, I actually didn’t know why but had decided that I would find out by taking a stroll.

All the roads leading towards the place Chatelain were blocked and filled up with different stands and BBQ’s. The atmosphere was naturally wonderful due to the weather and the relaxed minds of all the people visiting.

I walked down to Place Chatelain and bumped into a lot of surfer stands and people walking round with no hurry, the people just wanted to enjoy themselves. All the BBQ stands were full but w managed to find a small but good place to eat.

Situated not far from Place Chatelain you can find this very nice little restaurant specialized in Spanish, Mediterranean, Tapas food. The restaurant is seldom crowded but this does not indicate that it is not a good restaurant. The price level is very fair usually less than 25 Euro. The restaurant is fairly small, there is only space enough for 30 people. The restaurant is kept in a laid back style in red dark colours. The service there is very nice and you are always met by a smile; even late when you are asking for one more last beer before closure. The kitchen is good, nothing over the hill but as a good evening diner in a casual atmosphere, this is definitely the place to be. I have been there now more than a couple of times and have been satisfied every time. They have a very good and cheap chilli con carne and their tapas are good as well. Once we were a lot of people celebrating a birthday in the rear end of the restaurant where they had done a tapas buffet and that worked brilliantly. They have occasionally live music and dance events as well, so you never know what to expect when you arrive there.

Situated on the everlasting building site of Place Flagey you can find one of the most popular bars in Brussels. Café Belga is a must for students and expats especially on a Friday evening or a Saturday noon. The cafe is fairly large and in the summer it get even much larger when the outdoor area is being used. The furniture are the classical Belgian cafe chairs and tables from the 50thies or 60thies. Friday evening has either DJs laying or different live bands playing. You can get a selectinon of Belgian beers there as well amongst the best ones are: Vedett, Duvel, Orval, Chimay, Chouffe, Barbar, St-Feuillien, Delirium, Tremens, Triple Karmeliet, and many more... The bar naurally serves other things than beers like different wine bottles and alcohol, fresh fruit juices, hot and cold soft drinks. You can also try their famous "Cocktail Belga" (vodka, canada dry, syrup of violet)!.

Getting There:

Take bus 282, direction Mechelen (I think that's what it is) and stop at 'Kerkhof'. Cross the street and go up Kerkhofstraat until you see the sign for paintball (Kerkhofstraat will then become Abeelstraat or something to that end).

Really, this is how a field should be. I couldn't complain - great rental equipment (Empire Mini's and Empire gear), pretty affordable, it's actually accessible by public transport, and it's absolutely beautiful. Admittedly, there are pillars getting in the way of play on the field and they had my rental gun capped at 10bps, but otherwise, it's pretty damned good. Ollie Lang held a clinic there just a couple weeks ago, and he was very impressed.

The teams were pretty good too, being incredibly dedicated. Grafiti, the home team which also runs and owns the field, do practices at 9am every Sunday, and are usually done by lunch. I guess that's the advantage of having your own indoor field year round...

Enjoy the photos. Note, you can always see the rest of them at my flickr address (they're sort of arranged by day):

http://www.flickr.com/photos/25775184@N08/

-andrew

Natuurlijk waren we ook vandaag weer vrij bijtijds ons bed uit. We hebben ons ontbijt netjes weggewerkt en daarna was het weer spullen inpakken en wegwezen. Het eerste doel van vandaag was Brugge, en hier waren we al om een uur of half tien. We parkeerden vlakbij de Grote Markt, dit was dus een prima oriëntatiepunt om de auto weer terug te vinden.

Op deze Grote Markt stonden al een aantal aardige bouwwerken, waaronder een toren die je kon beklimmen. Deze klim was 366 treden hoog, en tegen de tijd dat we boven kwamen waren we behoorlijk buiten adem. Het uitzicht was schitterend mede doordat het vrij helder weer was. We hebben hier dus even heerlijk genoten voordat we de terugweg weer aanvaarden.

Eenmaal weer op de begane grond aangekomen besloten we eerst de inwendige mens te verzorgen en dat werd hoog tijd. Na de koffie of thee liepen we weer wat verder en zo kwamen we bij het stadhuis terecht, dat ook zeker niet een te verwaarlozen optrekje is. Je kon het ook van binnen bezichtigen, wat we dus ook deden, en zeker de Gotische Zaal was zeer de moeite waard.

We liepen weer terug naar de auto over de braderie en juist vanwege deze braderie duurde het vrij lang voor we eindelijk Brugge uitreden, want het was een drukte van belang.

I did a travel blog about waterloo, it’s linked to this. When I was writing the summary I started thinking it was more like a review. So I just copied and pasted the summary from my blog to here. I’d had been to the waterloo battlefield before when I live in Germany. This time I went with the family. This trip we went on 7 May 06. We’ve been back since but I didn’t take my camera that time. The actual battle happened on 18 Jun e1815. I could go into the details of the battle but this isn’t a history lesson, it’s a travel blog. There are several things you can do and/or visit here but unfortunately there aren’t any remains of the battlefields left. The whole battle ground is now farm land, unlike some of the WW 1 and WW 2 battlegrounds in Belgium and Northern France. The best and most obvious thing is the Butte du Lion. A huge mound was constructed using ground taken from parts of the battlefield. Take the 226 steps up the statue of a lion and a map and view of the entire battlefield. Next to the Butte du Lion is the panorama. It displays paintings that show the battle. Across the street is a wax museum with several of the main characters form the battle. The wax figures are dressed with uniforms from each side. It’s ok but a little pricey I think. After those 3 things we took the train of tour tram thing around the battlefield. A nice little ride and the guides tell you where many things happened but once again, there isn’t much left and I have to use my imagination a little. On this trip we didn’t visit Napoleon’s final headquarters but I did go there the first trip. It’s a small little museum and worth the time and money to see in my opinion. Over all it’s a nice time but if it’s battlefield remains, like bunkers and trenches, then I recommend Verdun, Ypres, Vimy Ridge, or The Somme or another WW 1 and WW 2 battlefield. But if you’re a history nut or looking for something else to do in Belgium then this is for you.

I’d had been to the waterloo battlefield before when I live in Germany.  This time I went with the family.  This trip we went on 7 May 06.  We’ve been back since but I didn’t take my camera that time.  The actual battle happened on 18 Jun e1815.   I could go into the details of the battle but this isn’t a history lesson, it’s a travel blog.  There are several things you can do and/or visit here but unfortunately there aren’t any remains of the battlefields left.  The whole battle ground is now farm land, unlike some of the WW 1 and WW 2 battlegrounds in Belgium and Northern France.   The best and most obvious thing is the Butte du Lion.  A huge mound was constructed using ground taken from parts of the battlefield.  Take the 226 steps up the statue of a lion and a map and view of the entire battlefield.  Next to the Butte du Lion is the panorama.  It displays paintings that show the battle.  Across the street is a wax museum with several of the main characters form the battle.   The wax figures are dressed with uniforms from each side.  It’s ok but a little pricey I think.  After those 3 things we took the train of tour tram thing around the battlefield.  A nice little ride and the guides tell you where many things happened but once again,  there isn’t much left and I have to use my imagination a little.   On this trip we didn’t visit Napoleon’s final headquarters but I did go there the first trip.  It’s a small little museum and worth the time and money to see in my opinion.