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Ghent, Belgium - yr 1 hm 6
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    7 августа 2024 г.
    Ghent, Belgium - yr 1 hm 6

    Czechia -Training Through

    6 августа 2024 г., Чехия ⋅ ☀️ 77 °F

    I’m not sure if can count Czechia as my 32 country or not?. Passing through it on a train and staying 2 hours in Prague hardly qualifies as a visit. It looks hilly and woodsy, and very active green farms. And of course a gothic church.Читать далее

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  • Ghent, Belgium - yr 1 hm 6

    4 countries before dinner

    6 августа 2024 г., Германия ⋅ ☀️ 70 °F

    Hungary, Slovakia, Czech Republic, and Germany, it’s been 10 hours since we left our Airbnb in Budapest and we’re into our fourth country. We made it onto the Euro sleeper train and into our cabin for the night. It’s cozy and nice. And now, we are training through Germany at Sunset. It’s interesting to look out the window, because it’s definitely looks like a different country.

    Traveling through Europe is a kick .    Читать далее

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  • Ghent, Belgium - yr 1 hm 6

    Ghent The First Hours

    7 августа 2024 г., Бельгия ⋅ ⛅ 72 °F

    We arrived safe and sound to our Airbnb. It’s not bad, but certainly lacks any charm. There is zero art on the walls, and the layout is a bit odd. There is a balcony patio with two chairs and a table but you need to go through the room with the shower and sink to get to it. Don’t worry, the actual toilet is in a little room barely large enough to hold the toilet, so there’s that.
    We took a quick walk around, got our bus card and called it a day.    Читать далее

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  • Ghent, Belgium - yr 1 hm 6
    This Belgian candy translates to noses. So sweet...Venice or Ghent?Most castles protect a city from invaders, this castle protected the royalty from its citizensOne of several passage ways, where anyone with a spray can can paint anything they want at any time

    Walking Tour

    8 августа 2024 г., Бельгия ⋅ ☁️ 73 °F

    We took our introduction to a new city a different way. We downloaded a walking tour. It was a good introduction to the history of Ghent and covered the “old” part of town. We don’t live in the “old” part so we will need to that area on our own.Читать далее

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  • Ghent, Belgium - yr 1 hm 6
    Entrance to beer garden & concert
    The Afro/french/reggae bandBeer is good, cheese is betterI love these passage ways to the next blockThe Belgian Red Cross on hand for a bandaidThe neighborhoodI wonder if we could use these urinal/port a pots on a job site in California?Woman's on the left and you pay .50€. Men on the right behind the glass is freeWeird creature things on the window ledgeA sit dow. Pizza HutAt gate to pedestrian bridgeOther side of same statue

    Patershol Festival Day 1 of 3

    9 августа 2024 г., Бельгия ⋅ 🌙 68 °F

    Sometimes we stumble upon the most interesting things. Today it was a three day festival of Patershol. If you’d come into this neighborhood 15 years ago, you’d have been able to pick up a home for back taxes or 1€. Today the neighborhood of Patershol is vibrant, car-less, and full of restaurants. For the next three days it is also full of live music, food carts and plenty of beer. We discovered a band playing French zydeco, and African reggae in English. We made friends with our table mates who turn out to own an American WWII restored Willy jeep, and were happy to give us a list of the best Ghent restaurants.

    We left tapping our feet and with hearts in awe of the places we find ourselves.    Читать далее

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  • Ghent, Belgium - yr 1 hm 6
    We think this is newer than it looks
    I like how you can see all the different patch and infillsEvery building is brickThey come in many colorsHorizontal next to vertical and again horizontalSome how they got tangles to make a columnZoom in around the windows. The angles are so intricateThe long vertical lines and the brick forward, and the colorI just like this corner market. Looks like Sesame StreetThese bricks look ceramic

    Belgian Brick Work

    10 августа 2024 г., Бельгия ⋅ 🌙 73 °F

    I am the daughter, grand daughter and great grand daughter of brick masons. As such, I can’t recall a time when I didn’t notice brick and block work. In Ghent I am amazed at the workmanship of the brick. At first I thought it was only from decades ago, but today I saw two guys working mortar and placing brick by hand on a facade.
    This post may not be interesting for some but dad, I know you’ll like it and that’s enough for me.    Читать далее

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  • Ghent, Belgium - yr 1 hm 6

    Patershol Featival day 3

    11 августа 2024 г., Бельгия ⋅ ☀️ 75 °F

    Today the entire neighborhood turned in to a garage sale. People could get a space and then fill it with the things they wanted to sell. Only catch was that everything you wanted to sell had to be hand carried to your assigned spot. After all, cars are not allowed in the neighborhood so unless you can carry it several blocks, you won’t be able to sell it.
    The things we saw for sale included clothes, small Knick-knacks, glasses, games and baby things. Not much different than what we’d find at a small yard sale. Missing? Large furniture and things new or near new. Also power tools, gardening things, pots and pans and high cost items. We pondered if this is because people don’t have garages to store their extra stuff, so they don’t have extra stuff. And Also not many yards so gardening things aren’t needed.
    We did pick up a new coffee maker. More on that in another post.    Читать далее

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  • Ghent, Belgium - yr 1 hm 6

    Bruges

    13 августа 2024 г., Бельгия ⋅ ⛅ 81 °F

    Bruges, looks like Ghent only
    Smaller. And fewer bikes and people and students and stores, so yea, the same.
    What is actually the same is they are both towns on the canal with historic buildings dating from the 1400’s and a history that goes back further than that. We did another audio walking tour so we could go and stop at our own pace.

    For late lunch we stopped at a South African restaurant. I had the Bunny Chow, which wasn’t rabbit but was instead chicken stew with apricots served in a bread bowl. It was so yummy.    Читать далее

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  • Ghent, Belgium - yr 1 hm 6

    Antwerp - Meet up and tour

    15 августа 2024 г., Бельгия ⋅ ☁️ 77 °F

    Wow! What an unexpected city. Antwerpen (Antwerp) was energized and active. Even though it was a holiday ( the day of ascension) where many shops were closed, there was a street festival that spanned many blocks.

    Our “tour guides” were Nancy and Gerald whom we met through the Go With Less Facebook group. They have opted to make Antwerp a home base for their travels and jump between Europe, the U.S. east coast and Thailand. Yes, we will be talking to them again when we start the planning for our South East Asia leg. For today they gave us a very comprehensive walking tour of their city.

    It was a joy to have the tour and, once again, talk to other nomads about this lifestyle and share tips and tricks.

    Yes, we will meet again.    Читать далее

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  • Ghent, Belgium - yr 1 hm 6

    Antwerp to Delft

    16 августа 2024 г., Нидерланды ⋅ ☁️ 66 °F

    I am taking a solo adventure for a few days. After our meet up in Antwerp I’m traveling on first to Delft then overnight in The Hague.

    I really love train travel and although I have my hotel booked for all three nights, the time to get there is open. I opted for a morning train from Antwerp to Delft. Easy transfer from track 12 to 8 and my train left 2 minutes after I arrived in Rotterdam and I’m off.

    ~Travels with Pam    Читать далее

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  • Ghent, Belgium - yr 1 hm 6
    A weird time travel story of their beginningsTea cups everywhereThey also make architectural tilesPottery formsLooks like the Olympic guy but is the delft characterThe design is transferred to the piece and the. Baked. The yellow disappears.Looks like the queen from Alice in WonderlandMy favorite design.The design and the pieces have different patterns and look interesting when stakedGood thing it's 25% off of 314€ for the one cup2The painter in the background painting while the tours look on

    Delft Factory

    16 августа 2024 г., Нидерланды ⋅ ☁️ 68 °F

    My mom was an incredibly creative person. She had talent with everything that she could touch with her hands. One of her passions was ceramics. With her in mind I stopped at one of the greatest ceramic manufacturers in the world Delft. I took the tour and it was amazing to see the history of Jo the process, the color and the designs.

    I didn’t buy anything, although many items looked great, also the cheapest thing that I wanted was over €200. I’m not sure if I have expensive taste or their things are very expensive?

    My mom would have loved this stop.

    ~ Travels with Pam    Читать далее

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  • Ghent, Belgium - yr 1 hm 6

    Mauritshuis Gallery in The Hague

    16 августа 2024 г., Нидерланды ⋅ ☁️ 72 °F

    I love viewing great works of art with my own eyes. Pieces I have seen in books are one thing, but viewing them in person is better. I like to see how the pieces are hung. Are they displayed alone, on a wall, framed, what else is in the space, what is written about it?

    The Mauritshuis Museum is full of Dutch master works from Rueben’s to Vermeer and Rembrandt. Most iconic was the Girl with the pearl earring.

    When I went the museum was very, very , busy and at first viewing, the Girl with the pearl earring, felt similar to viewing the Mona Lisa with 8 layers of people deep. But magically the room cleared and I had a chance to stand in front of it. I’m always surprised at how painters can make a spotlight appear in one area of a painting and the rest be in the dark. Amazing. I’m glad I came.

    Oh, and the other great works of art were impressive also.

    ~Travels with Pam    Читать далее

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  • Ghent, Belgium - yr 1 hm 6

    The Hague

    16 августа 2024 г., Нидерланды ⋅ ☁️ 72 °F

    When you hear on the news that something happened at “The Hague”today, typically, what they mean is something happened at the Peace Palace, this criminal court building, in the Hague. it is open for tours but infrequently, and only when nothing is happening inside and it’s a very imposing building. Although admittedly, it also looks like something out of Harry Potter. I only got to stand at the fence, but still at the end of the day, next time I hear of some foreign policy event, or some foreign war crimes case, happening at The Hague at least know what it looks like.

    As part of my 2019 Masters, from Drexel, I took several courses in peace building, if it was possible to get a masters, minor, I would have had enough units. International law has always intrigued me, another reason to come to the Hague.

    ~travels with Pam    Читать далее

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  • Ghent, Belgium - yr 1 hm 6

    The Hague - Beach

    16 августа 2024 г., Нидерланды ⋅ ☁️ 68 °F

    If you knew that The Hague has a crazy beach scene raise your hand!

    I had no idea and stumbled upon it while taking the tram the wrong direction from the Peace Palace.

    It’s only about 10 minutes from the main town. The beach is long and beautiful.

    Having a strand shouldn’t really surprise me, after all most of the Netherlands is below sea level and the entire countries claim to fame is that their engineers have perfected land creation from below the water level.

    An Aperol Spritz, fried shrimp and bitterballen sitting by a fire and over looking the water seems like a fitting way to cap off a day.

    ~Travels with Pam    Читать далее

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  • Ghent, Belgium - yr 1 hm 6

    Hermitage/H’Art

    17 августа 2024 г., Нидерланды ⋅ ☀️ 72 °F

    The hermitage gallery in Amsterdam is (was) a branch of the hermitage in Moscow. However, since Russian invaded Ukraine the hermitage in Amsterdam changed its name to H’Art.

    Full of interesting art and they had a headset to listen to specially curated music to go with viewing the paintings. Slightly odd but it added a unique depth.

    The outside eating area had a giant screen and great chairs

    ~travels with Pam    Читать далее

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  • Ghent, Belgium - yr 1 hm 6
    Of Amsterdam with imagined people, especially photographic in design, but painted
    The art is presented creates a feelingIconic landscape of AmsterdamThis desk is one with secret compartments. Also it reflects the interest of the man who commissionedFamous art of rooms of famous art. Instagram paintingAnother art of artThis event never actually happened and is made up, the Dutch were some of the first to do thisRembrandts famous Night Watch is getting a cleaningA library within the museum of books on artI discovered some art, like this piece, was intended to be hung high up so the perspective is tippedVan Gough self portrait. Reminded me of viewing the Mona Lisa.

    Rijksmuseum

    17 августа 2024 г., Нидерланды ⋅ ☀️ 73 °F

    This is where all of the Dutch masters literally hang. Not Van Gough, that’s a different museum that was sold out.

    Yes, this museum was crowded, a Saturday in vacationing August will do that, but there were many times and places where I was alone with the art.

    My first art love is impressionist, but the Dutch Masters were some of the first painters to move from painting only people to painting landscapes and situations they made up in their minds. Basically moving from painting static, real people to painting invented and contrived things.

    These painters created floral arrangements made of flowers that don’t bloom at the same time. Saint Nicholas day parties with funny situations.

    I’ve discovered a new favorite kind of art, paintings of rooms, filled with other peoples art. Or, Paintings that became famous because their content is rooms displaying famous works of art hanging on walls and this itself is now a famous pieces of art. Like an early instagram post, “I was in this room of art and this is what it looks like!”

    ~travels with Pam    Читать далее

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  • Ghent, Belgium - yr 1 hm 6
    The Dam. Very much the center of Amsterdam political life
    Electric boat, and two electric cars in front of canal homes.Many people.... all dressed and all touristsHard to see, but the brown building on the left tips out to allow for goods to be hoisted upClosed now, for 15€ a guest purchased a banana and the waitress would "do things" with it. PThe closest i came to public sex. And yes here there were women. Note the AED signA museum of pot, not for sale, but the history and cultivation

    Red Light District— not so red anymore

    17 августа 2024 г., Нидерланды ⋅ ☀️ 73 °F

    I think the first thing people think about when coming to Amsterdam is seeing the red light district. Scantily clad women in windows, strutting their stuff, and selling their wares. Not to mention the opportunity to buy and use any drug you can think of, legally, and in the open. And bondage, homosexuality, leather, condoms, dildos, S&M… If you can think of it, it should be in Amsterdam‘s red light district.

    Like many, I was adventurous, and did a walking tour of the red light district, I wasn’t stupid, I didn’t go at night, I went during the evening, about 4:30 in the afternoon.

    Sorry to tell you, I didn’t see one naked person, no one in leather and no one using heroin purchased from a street vendor. I’ve seen more of that on the streets of San Francisco.

    Instead, I saw other tourist, who like me, were looking for the gritty red light district. Too bad for all of us, as we were probably 15 or more years too late for the show and the neighborhood has turned into the tourist red light.

    There were a few remnants of the former debauchery of the area but not what I expected.

    I also hesitated to take many photos of things so as not to seem to creepy.

    ~travels with Pam    Читать далее

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  • Ghent, Belgium - yr 1 hm 6
    Lawn edger by hand, he is working in clogs which seemed to be his "work" shoes
    Whey beer... yes whey.Holocaust Memorial

    Netherlands Tidbits

    18 августа 2024 г., Нидерланды ⋅ ☁️ 72 °F

    Things I learned on my tour.

    First lesson, Nether Lands means low lands. Most of the country is either below sea level or at sea level.

    Road tax is high and based on the size of the car and the type of fuel. Roads are nice and smooth and open.

    Windmills are used to lift and remove water. Unlike some other places where wind is used to turn mills or crush grain.

    After August the wind starts up, it is a very windy country most of the year.

    I never realized that the blades of a windmill actually have material on them to help them catch the wind, and they are scooped like a sale, further increasing their wind resistance. Most windmills in the Netherlands are for lifting and removing water, some, like the colorful windmill in these photos, it’s actually used for grinding pigment for paint. According to the sign view, windmills are used today for this purpose, but it was the same purpose, and created the same paint, used by the Dutch Masters. One of the other things I like about these images, is the man trimming the grass, with the mechanical trimmer. He doesn’t even need to bend down, and he’s even wearing clogs.

    And you can make beer from cheese whey. Whey is the floating water that comes during the cheese making process. The curds sink and become cheese, the whey floats and can become beer. It didn’t taste like cheese but was a bit tart.

    ~travels with Pam    Читать далее

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  • Ghent, Belgium - yr 1 hm 6

    Zaanse Schans

    18 августа 2024 г., Нидерланды ⋅ ☁️ 72 °F

    The #1 iconic Holland village. The guide said it is home to 75 people, but they all must work in this tiny Disneyland.

    There were examples of windmills, Dutch wooden shoe making, and cheese shops, all with demonstrations and all with gift shops.

    My 6 person tour group arrived early, thankfully, and for a few brief minutes we had the place to ourselves. After that, huge tour buses came in and it was wall to wall people.

    The windmills here turn, not to pull water, but for practical and economic reasons. One crushes natural herbs and minerals for very high end painting pigments, another crushes spices and a third just spins for the enjoyment of the tourists.

    This is where I learned that in Holland, windmills are for drawing water out of the land, they basically keep the area dry. Almost 10 months of the year the wind is strong enough to keep the whole country afloat and “in-flooded”. Luckily the other non windy months are also the driest months of summer.

    ~ travels with Pam    Читать далее

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  • Ghent, Belgium - yr 1 hm 6

    Giethoorn - Netherlands

    18 августа 2024 г., Нидерланды ⋅ ☁️ 73 °F

    When most of a country is below sea level having a home on a canal is fairly common. The neighborhood of Giethoorn is one such area that takes its canal life to a new, very calm, level.

    The roofs are thatched, there are no roads, and except for all of the tourists in boats, appeared to be quiet and peaceful.

    Restaurants and ice cream were common as well as art galleries. This is one of the towns worth returning to in late September and spending a month of quiet wandering.

    I made two new friends Anna and John from Saint Malo, France.

    Anna was a woman unintentionally beautiful, styled and photogenic. I’d love to get to that level.

    ~travels with Pam    Читать далее

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  • Ghent, Belgium - yr 1 hm 6

    Maastricht to Aachen

    20 августа 2024 г., Нидерланды ⋅ ☀️ 73 °F

    We have friends in San Francisco who met while at university in Maastricht, Netherlands. They have said how wonderful the city is so we thought we’d visit.

    Of course we had to turn it into an adventure so we continued from Maastricht on to Aachen.

    Some of the university students had returned to campus so there was a vibrancy and energy.

    From Ghent, Belgium to Maastricht, Netherlands, then Aachen, Germany a fun trip.    Читать далее

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  • Ghent, Belgium - yr 1 hm 6

    Spa Day

    21 августа 2024 г., Германия ⋅ ☁️ 59 °F

    One of our special splurges is a day at the spa. Finding these spas requires searching for many combinations of words.

    In Budapest it was called a bath. California was a Finnish Sauna. Germany its a Thermal Bath.

    However it is named we enjoy our day.

    The Thermal Bath in Aachen, a Germany is interesting as there was a clothing and no -clothing sides.

    We had reserved a Hamman bathing experience, so by default we were on the no-clothes side. Apparently the Germans have a strong sauna culture so naked spas aren’t unusual. And we have done this in the past so it wasn’t too crazy for us either.

    We enjoyed the Hamman, hot tubs, wet sauna, dry sauna, I had a coffee scrub and Marc did a “popsicle” Aufgass. An Aufgass is a bit like a sauna show, with a sauna master who leads the group of sauna users in song, dances, and some sauna rituals.

    The Hamman is a bathing event where you are scrubbed with bubbles and soap and splashed with water, all while layout on a heated stone slab. It was wonderful.

    Even lunch is inside the facility where you can eat (while wearing a cozy robe) and drink great food.

    After lunch we ventured to the bathing suit side and enjoyed their larger pools and tubs. The “suit” side had a pool with a current so you could float/swim and the water carried you in a circle. Imagine A lazy river with the speed turned up.

    After 7 hours of luxury we called it a day and took our squeaky clean bodies back to our hotel.    Читать далее

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  • Ghent, Belgium - yr 1 hm 6

    Bruggge-Procession of The Golden Tree

    25 августа 2024 г., Бельгия ⋅ ⛅ 68 °F

    Imagine a parade that tells the 800 year history of the City in vignettes, floats, horses, singing 10,000 props and costumes. Thousands, literally thousands, of people are in the parade, and the parade lasts 2 hours. If you can fathom all of that, that it is called the Procession of the Golden Tree Parade in Brugge, Belgium. It is so huge and labor intensive, it is only held once every five years.

    When an event of that scale pops up in a nearby city, obviously it is worth attending. It was also excellent that Marc’s brother, Eric, and sister-in-law, Susan, were visiting us, with Eric and Marc heading one direction to a military museum, Susan and I headed out to the parade.

    Susan is a great traveling companion which made the 3 hour wait for the parade to start zoom by, not to mention we made new friends, Felix and Ingrid from Dusseldorf Germany.

    “The Pageant of the Golden Tree takes place every five years and is inspired by the festivities to celebrate the marriage of Charles the Bold and Margaret of York in 1468. The Golden Tree was the symbol of the chivalric tournament that was held on the Market Square as part of these celebrations. The modern day procession involves more than 2,000 costumed participants, several ‘giants’ and various decorated floats.”

    ~Travels with Pam… and Susan    Читать далее

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  • Ghent, Belgium - yr 1 hm 6

    Atlantic Wall - WWI & WW2 Bunkers

    26 августа 2024 г., Бельгия ⋅ 🌬 66 °F

    The Atlantic Wall is the German beach bunkers and shore defense built to keep the allies off the Europe continent.
    My brother Eric and I spent most of the day exploring this museum of the wall along the Belgium coast. Germany first built bunkers here in World War One. They were modernized and greatly expanded during World War Two.
    These bunkers were never attacked from sea or land. That is part of the reason they are so well preserved today.    Читать далее

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  • Ghent, Belgium - yr 1 hm 6

    Boat Rental

    26 августа 2024 г., Бельгия ⋅ ☁️ 72 °F

    As Ghent is a city of canals, and we had an actual licensed, certified and trained military Captain, we did what tribes have done for eons, we rented a boat and went in search of bounty.

    We sailed the canals…. Ok, maybe not sailed, but we motored the canals. The river Leie to be even more exact.

    With Captain Eric taking the helm we all boarded, cast off the lines and we were off for our 3 hour tour. Unlike the S.S. Minnow, our plan was to go out 1.5 hours and turn around. To save you the concern, yes, our merry protagonist crew ultimately returned safely. All 40 fingers and toes intact.

    The canals were very pretty mostly because of the beautiful homes that were large, manicured gardens and green, but also because the majority of the trip the canals were remarked un, or under, developed.

    We all took turns at the helm and we followed the over-arching rule of “no pirate maneuvers or games”.

    It was a great afternoon and a nice way to wrap up our visit with Eric and Susan who headed back to the States the next day.    Читать далее

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