Yes, quite. He obviously has some issues, and I don't mean the soi-disant urination one !

I have issues? Are you going to let us all know how my understanding of gezellig is wrong? I was told by a Dutch person that it meant "cozy, being inside with friends, having fun". That's wrong? No, you got issues.

The Germans mostly travel through Belgium only to get to France.

And for the waffles.

He comes across like someone who wants to travel and has spent some time looking at travel websites and Google Street View.


Or


That this is his first trip anywhere. That he was born and raised in the same small town in Somewhere, USA and this is his first time outside that town.


After all, I can't imagine being in Bruges and not cycling over to Ypres and taking in the cycling routes and history there. It would be a flat-as-a-pancake day ride of about 110 km, or you could stay a few days there.

You can't buy a kilo Muesli for only 1.5 euro a kilo at most, if not all, US supermarkets. Plus the Muesli produced in the US is not the same as in Europe. Imports might be the same. I say might because I have found that food manufacturers often change formulations to meet different markets. I spoke with a large US food manufacturer who told me they do not export their delicious products to Europe because Europeans have "different palate". I was like "Really?

I can imagine that. He doesn't strike me as being interested in that sort of thing.

Yes, how would you anything about me? I could be sitting in my mom's basement in Baltimore, Maryland just making all this up. Smart people can tell that what I have said here is all true and is my opinion of Belgium.

What's so great about Ypres? I like the sea and flat land. I don't want to be all somber visiting towns famous for their horrible WWI pasts. Outside of Niuepoort I saw a young man crying at a WWI memorial. I do respect and honor all those who sacrificed for peace throughout history but I'm here to enjoy myself and feel good. I will however look into the towns in Wallonia suggested earlier. If it's flat, that's where I'm at.

"similair assessment". What are you in the CIA? What's there to assess? A person is providing their experiences in bicycling in in Flemish Belgium. Why would they make it up? I would agree I'm not an expert here so some things I will get wrong . This is my last post. Actually I will post once more when the website is up. It will be a separate new posting.

No ... true.


And if I were in Belgium for 3 months, I'd be on a train to Paris for at least a week of it!! I mean, if you're in Europe, you might as well see some of it!!

He's pretty close. Just like 'lekker' it's one of those few words that get's it's meaning extended over time, and there is 'lekker gezellig' too, but he wasn't taught wrong.



Officially it's Santa with a christmas tree. It was quickly nicknamed 'Kabouter Buttplug' by the Rotterdammers, who have a reputation for nicknaming.

I believe they're quite tall, about 2nd or 3rd in the world or something. There's quite a variety in average body size in Europe, not just per country, but also per region. It can be a quite different impression within a 100 or 200 km travel. I never noticed anything about their hairstyles either, maybe it suits their turn up noses better.

I can. I've never visited any of it either, not in Belgium and not in the Alsace. It's one of the most stupid uninteresting wars in history with only a lot of depressing stuff to show for.

I believe he just got carried away with his discoveries whick clouded some of his observations and made him jump to a few conclusions too many.

Btw. In another Flanders topic I pulled an ode to Flanders by Jacques Brel called 'Mijn vlakke land' (better than the French version imo) through Google translate and changed a few words. I believe it came out rather well. Here.

Sure, officially its a Christmas Tree, if you look into the artist and his work, you know it really isn't. He did a similar thing to Paris, who actually pulled down the exhibit.

And agree on the war stuff. I've been to Normandy and Auschwitz, past those day trips the war stuff simply doesn't interest me. I'm not a military history buff, seeing what is now a giant field where a batle took place simply isn't worth my time the way it may be to someone else. I'd much rather spend my time in old churches and art nouveau buildings if I want history, the architect is far more intriguing to me. Same goes for most art museums, they just don't interest me the way the culture of a bustling town market does.

I know, it's no secret anymore. But it got it's nickname in couple of days, it took other public art in Rotterdam like 'The Railroad accident', 'The Kings Turd' and 'The Thing' much longer to earn one definitive nickname. It's controversial but mainly because it's ugly,

It's not that I'm not interested in history, but WWI isn't the most interesting war, wars aren't necessarily the most interesting part of history, and battles aren't the most interesting part of wars, and battle fields probably the most uninteresting remains of the battles. It's a bit like watching a piece of sea because there was a naval battle there in the past.

I can enjoy museums for different reasons, rain is one of them, and skip a visit for different reasons. But once after visiting Bruges and Ghent I went to Beaux Arts in Brussels to check out their collection of Brueghel the Elder and Hieronymus Bosch. Besides beeing really interesting (weird) painters, they painted the ordinary people and the morals of the time in which those cities flourished, and to me such a match adds to a trip. Btw Flanders has a lot of little, weird, and amateur museums, a lot of them without a website or other ways to find it. 'Let's make a museum' is part of today's people's culture.

So you're not interested in the story of the resurrection of Ypres, for example? Nor the fact that Belgian farmers are still finding unexploded shell and so forth from this 'war to end all wars'? Imagine what the Cambodians, Laotians and Vietnamese must think of this, their war is far more recent, and the leftovers far more lethal.

Not particularly, at least in the realm of "what am I going to spend limited vacation time on". Just not something I am interested in. Farmers finding UXO is pretty much old news to me, I regularly listen to the BBC, it seems some urban center being evacuated because of such is at least a once a month occurrence. TBH, it is about as interesting as a construction crew hitting a water main.

As I'm looking ahead to Germany next year (non biking trip), war sites (beyond maybe the Berlin Wall) are pretty much off my radar. The Nordschliefe and Templehof airport turned park are far more interesting ways to waste time, to me, than spending my day looking at buildings that once had military significance.

You might want to consider the "Topography of Terror" exhibit in Berlin. It is pretty sobering. On a tour 2 years ago our route went through Berlin and then into Poland. We were planning on riding east to Warsaw then south to Auschwitz before heading for the Czech Republic. After our experience in Berlin we did not feel the need or desire to experience the place. We took a different route to the CZ.

Every country and culture has a history, and that sadly includes wars. I lived in Germany for several years and only went to one "war" site, Dachau, which in some ways was pointless since everyone knows the story. I'm interested in architecture and history, so buildings and museums are a part of holiday pleasure, whereas spending hours burning by a beach is not. Probably if you are French, English or German, the WW1 sites would be interesting too, beccause it is very much part of their history and had a profound effect on their culture. A plus is the sites are in good cycling territory, though Verdun is a bit too hilly for our intrepid OP .

I've visited Bruges and passed by it several times, but the last few times didn't bother with the historic bit. As with so many places on the planet it's become a theme park so you might as well go to Disneyworld.

I'll put it on the list of places to check out! Auschwitz wss one of the places of military interest I have actually visited, but I did it while I was going to school in Prague on a weekend. I probably would go out of my way on a trip to visit it tho.

Yep, everyone is just different in how they enjoy vacations. I know some prefer to pound out the miles on tour, whereas I'm happy in the 55ish range. I personally can't stand beach holidays, while some love them. Others prefer a booked minute by minute itinerary, whereas I'm more of a go with the flow with only loosely defined stops. It is why I don't get hung up too much on what people prefer to do, the OP finds my stopping and taking in the bar culture in France and Belgium as pointless as I do looking, as Stadjer said, at a sea where seventy years ago two ships where shooting at each other that may be a mecca for a military history buff

Next time you're in Ho Chi Minh city, have a look into the War Remnants Museum, you might change your mind. It's a sobering reminder: the US pulled out of Vietnam over fourty years ago but their legacy lives on.

If I'm ever there and find myself with time, I'll put it on the list. Probably would rather spend the time viewing temples tho.

If I'm quite honest, I went to numerous war museums/exhibits as part of my Central European History class while living in Prague. I've been to the Museum of Military History in Vienna, where the Archduke's bloody uniform and car are exhibited. The Kosovo Museum in Pristina had an exhibit on the Balkans war when I was there. Czech Army Museum in Zizkov was visited a few times. Toss in a couple places in Normandy, the Royal Armory in Madrid, the Jewish Ghetto, and probably two dozen small places dedicated to everything from resistance fighters to the destruction of a mining town during the Thirty Years War to Viking raiding parties and Hadrans Wall, and the most memorable thing with the exception of a concentration camp is the Archdukes car. I'm just to the point of if I've seen one, I've seen 99% of what's out there. They're great if that is your passion, I just get little out of them. War sucks, I don't need to use my vacation to remember that.

Now, point me towards a good military aerospace museum, I'm all ears. The Prague Aerospace museum on the Air Force field outside Prague was one of the coolest places I've been, showcasing numerous Soviet era civilian and military aircraft you just dont see in the USA

Make time. It's called the ongoing effects of Agent Orange.

National Museum of the United States Air Force, Wright Patterson Field, Dayton OH. Superduper!
https://www.nationalmuseum.af.mil/

More sobering reminders:

How long ago did Belgium pull out of The Congo? Or France from Algeria? I don't know if there are any museums dedicated to the colonial experience.

Good books to catch up on the subject are, King Leopold's Ghost: A Story of Greed, Terror, and Heroism in Colonial Africa, by Adam Hochschild and A Savage War of Peace: Algeria 1954-1962, by Alistar Horne.

I can see that at the VA if looking at debilitating illnesses were a pasttime of mine. Again, may well be a place military history buffs (or peaceniks) may enjoy, not likely a place I care to spend my vacation. If I really wanted to see the horrors of war, I'd go to a war zone again. Did I mention there was still fighting going on in Kosovo when I decided to go there on vacation, and mothers were still praying at the wall of the missing (if they have even stopped a decade on)? Lets make it the Rakine state this time.

Been on my weekend road trip list for a while, need to get off my butt and go do it!

It certainly is, especially considering it is located on the site of Gestapo HQ on Prinz-Albrecht-Strasse. I swear you still hear the screams of the prisoners being "interrogated" in the basement at that location.

Another sobering monument in Berlin is located at the Grunewald Train Station Track 17 which was one of the major sites for the deportation of Berlin's Jews. There are metal plaques marked with the destination and number of Jews on each weekly transport to the Final Solution. Even as late as Feb 1945 the deportations continued though the Nazis were hard pressed to find many more Jews left in Berlin.

See, that is the sort of thing that intrigues me far more than my fiftieth WWII museum showing me the exact same artifacts. I dunno the history of this display, but if I had to venture a guess, it was a way to remind thousands of commuters on a daily basis that while their morning trip may be mundane walking over that platform, the beginning of it also may have been the beginning of the last train ride for thousands of Jews? Those are the sort of memorials, at least IMO, that are far more potent than a stuffy museum 95% of people are at put of a feeling of obligation.