No surveying last weeks we're having our summer holidays at the Belgian coast.
A company is doing some dredging work near the coast, have not seen a surveyor around yet.
some more pictures of Nieuwpoort
we also visited Oostende, here we found the 'Mercator' and old training ship built in Scotland around 1930, it's a museum now.
And I tasted my first Corsendonck beer here,
a little more bitter then the Palm I drink usually but very taste full.
I've already finished this Michael Connelly, and also the latest Lee Child, two of my favorite writers. Just started Connelly's Nine Dragons now.
A lot of tourists in Oostende, you can visit the city in a carriage.
And we went to Ghent, where we have been surveying lately.
The GRAVENSTEEN is the Dutch name for the 'castle of the count'. The counts of Flanders had castles built in the principal cities of the county. Because they had to maintain law and order, they continuously had to move from one city to the other. Therefore, they disposed of a castle in most cities where they wanted to stay for a few months. The castle of Ghent is the only one which survived the centuries more or less intact.
Archaeological excavations have proved that three fortified castles constructed in wood must have stood on the site of today's Gravensteen. Already around the year 1000 the first stone castle must have been erected here. Parts of this, such as the chimney and the fireplace, can still be found in the walls of the lower floors of the main tower.
the pillory at the market square before the castle
chr.
I'll have to see if Palm is available here for a taste comparison.
Nice pics, thanks for sharing.
Mooie foto's Christof!! Schitterend kasteel!
So...when can you pick us up at the airport?? Wendell and I will be there shortly. (Wishing!!) 😉
Nice photos.
You even got some sunshine!
I have some old 100 franc notes from my last visit, long ago.
You could get a good beer with one of those. Probably worthless now with the euro.
I remember the "pommes frites" too but I should be able to remember the name in Flemish. It bothers me that I can't. I used to know it!
Thanks
Great pictures! I was in Belgium way back in 1984. I'm way overdue for a visit...
> I've already finished this Michael Connelly, and also the latest Lee Child, two of my favorite writers. Just started Connelly's Nine Dragons now.
Okay, I'll have to ask. "Blind Vertrouwen" translates into English as "Blind Trust", but I don't recognize the title. Which Michael Connelly novel is it?
Kent,
I did some cut & paste and an automatic web translation from dutch to english ... it starts like this :
At the lookout point on Mulholland Drive is the lifeless body found by Dr. Stanley Kent. If Harry Bosch is investigating, he discovers that Kent had access to virtually the entire inventory of radioactive substances from the hospital in LA. And the fact that recently a large quantity of lethal material disappeared. What initially looked like a routine examination, suddenly shows a significant and especially urgent matter. Now that national security is involved, others claim that case. In an attempt to save the country for a terrorist attack against Bosch is relentless anti-terrorism, the FBI and his former lover Rachel Walling...
Some other of my favorite writers are Clive Cussler, (Douglas) Preston & Child (Lincoln), Michael Crichton and James Paterson.
And for Carl Zeiss our 'pommes frites' are 'frieten or frietjes' in dutch.
chr.
Beer Leg Reading Club
for the contemporary US mystery genre,
you may like to try
James Lee Burke - he deals with New Orleans and the Louisiana bayous in locale.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Lee_Burke
Kent mentioned him recently.
I liked Dixie City Jam and Cadillac Jukebox
and
Carl Hiaasen who has South Fl for his locales.
He can be very humorous in his stories also.
Double Whammy and Stormy Weather come to mind.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carl_Hiaasen
I haven't read both for a while so I may hit the library to see what they have to offer.
Hiaasen is now also writing mystery novels for younger readers also.
Oh
and the beer and the scenes look cool and refreshing.:-)
Beer Leg Reading Club
And if you like those guys....may I suggest John Sanford and Chuck Logan? Both Minnesota fiction/mystery writers...they are among my very favorites.
Tom Bryant PLS
Saint Louis MO
>
Thanks, Christ. So you're reading "The Overlook". It's interesting that its title was translated as "Blind Trust" into Dutch (or Flemish). Is it because in the low countries there is no word for "overlook" (a point on high ground with a view for miles)? :>
Kent,
I noticed that most books get a different title when they are translated in dutch ... probably a marketing issue ... I suppose we europeans look at a somewhat different angle. It' s a pity it also takes up sometimes more than a year to get it translated and published in dutch.
A strict translation could have been 'uitkijk', 'vergezicht' or 'panorama'.
I've noted your suggestions and will have a look at the library. I've already read two Sandfords and liked the main personage, can't remember the name for the moment ...
chr.
