Jan – Mar 2016

Start of the New Year, 2016

A 56-day adventure by Tom Read more

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Trip start
January 9, 2016
Tom Banks Start of the New Year, 2016
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- Day 1
- Saturday, January 9, 2016 at 6:08 PM
- ⛅ 6 °C
- Altitude: 60 m
- Belgium Liège 50.622959, 5.57159950°37’23” N 5°34’18” E
Liège-Guillemins
January 9, 2016 in Belgium ⋅ ⛅ 6 °C
Liège-Guillemins railway station, modern architecture's greatest achievement? I'd probably say so. Light, clean, slick, non-bulky, open, fresh - so many adjectives. It makes a statement, but isn't consciously trying to do so. It's functional, and not show-offy. It isn't trying to be a landmark, but succeeds at it in any case. It's doesn't bully it's surroundings or stick out. Can that really be said of most other examples of modern architecture?Read more
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Tom Banks Start of the New Year, 2016
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- Day 1
- Saturday, January 9, 2016 at 6:27 PM
- ⛅ 6 °C
- Altitude: 103 m
- Belgium Sainte-Marguerite 50.648454, 5.57701750°38’54” N 5°34’37” E
Montagne de Bueren
January 9, 2016 in Belgium ⋅ ⛅ 6 °C
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Tom Banks Start of the New Year, 2016
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- Day 3
- Monday, January 11, 2016 at 9:36 PM
- 🌧 6 °C
- Altitude: 68 m
- Belgium Université Liège / Centre Ville 50.641487, 5.57328750°38’29” N 5°34’24” E
Le pot au lait
January 11, 2016 in Belgium ⋅ 🌧 6 °C
The best pub in the world!
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Tom Banks Start of the New Year, 2016
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- Day 3
- Monday, January 11, 2016 at 9:42 PM
- 🌧 6 °C
- Altitude: 52 m
- Belgium Ourthe 50.632557, 5.57966650°37’57” N 5°34’47” E
Cream with Coffee
January 11, 2016 in Belgium ⋅ 🌧 6 °C
The Belgians like their cream with a little bit of coffee. And,of course, a little waffle.
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Tom Banks Start of the New Year, 2016
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- Day 3
- Monday, January 11, 2016 at 9:49 PM
- 🌧 6 °C
- Altitude: 61 m
- Belgium Université Liège / Centre Ville 50.641895, 5.57187150°38’31” N 5°34’19” E
Liege
January 11, 2016 in Belgium ⋅ 🌧 6 °C
Liege, arguably Belgium's most working class city, sits straddles the Mass (or La Meuse in French) and is Wallonia's largest city. It feels quite remote, surrounded as it is by the hill's of the Ardennes, but Maastricht is only a 15 minute train journey away.Read more
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Tom Banks Start of the New Year, 2016
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- Day 8
- Saturday, January 16, 2016 at 7:52 PM
- 🌙 0 °C
- Altitude: 92 m
- Germany Bergisch Gladbach 50.992309, 7.12862150°59’32” N 7°7’43” E
Bergisch Gladbach
January 16, 2016 in Germany ⋅ 🌙 0 °C
Bergisch Gladbach, a medium sized town just a few miles east of Cologne, is not to be confused with Mönchengladbach. Gladbach, gladbach, gladbach. Many people often use the name gladbach as short hand for Mönchengladbach, although a gladbach is actually the German word for a small brook. So there's really no connection between the two towns other than they both were settlements based around small brooks.Read more
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Tom Banks Start of the New Year, 2016
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- Day 8
- Saturday, January 16, 2016 at 7:58 PM
- 🌙 0 °C
- Altitude: 181 m
- Germany Bensberg 50.967698, 7.16227950°58’4” N 7°9’44” E
Schloss Bensberg
January 16, 2016 in Germany ⋅ 🌙 0 °C
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- Day 9
- Sunday, January 17, 2016 at 10:23 PM
- ⛅ -2 °C
- Altitude: 92 m
- Germany Bergisch Gladbach 50.992309, 7.12862150°59’32” N 7°7’43” E
The Second World War
January 17, 2016 in Germany ⋅ ⛅ -2 °C
Britain is obsessed with the Second World War. 'For a thousand years, men will still say, this was their finest hour,' so wrote Churchill. Well, men have been saying it for the past 70 years and will probably go on saying it for the remaining 930 years.

Still, while Britain is obsessed with WWII, it is by no means not a unique obsession. Take yesterday for example. I travel to Bergisch Gladbach, spot a bookshop on the high-street and take a customary browse. Bergish Gladbach: small town, small bookshop. The history section was but a single bookcase. Yet how much of that bookcase was dedicated to the Second World War? At least 60-70%, I'd say.

The recently republished Mein Kampf; a Hitler biography or two; histories of the Holocaust; books about the run up to the war, books about it's aftermath; a book about war children, another about the Hitler Youth. For anyone wanting to read about anything even remotely relating to the Second World War, this little bookshop in Bergisch Gladbach has all the bases covered. With just a single book on Bismarck, one book on Waterloo, a handful on the First World War, it seems that the rest of history is being slightly neglected.

Goebbels famously called for a total war. Today Germany suffers from a total obsession. It's not just in the bookshops but in the newspapers, on the streets, in the pubs and in the supermarkets - it permeates all of society. Not that that is necessarily an unhealthy obsession, but an obsession it is.Read more
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Tom Banks Start of the New Year, 2016
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- Day 22
- Saturday, January 30, 2016 at 11:02 AM
- 🌧 8 °C
- Altitude: 10 m
- Belgium Gentbrugge 51.02932, 3.7581351°1’46” N 3°45’29” E
Moscou, Ghent
January 30, 2016 in Belgium ⋅ 🌧 8 °C
So I was at first surprised to find out that there is a Stalingrad in Paris. And again, surprised to find out there is a Moscou in Ghent. Moscou, a neighbourhood in Ghent, was named so because of the presence of the Russian army in the city in 1814 during the Napoleonic wars. Before the Russians arrived, the city had been under administrative control of Napoleon. So that's just another thing that is the way it is because of Napoleon. He really did leave his mark!Read more
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Tom Banks Start of the New Year, 2016
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- Day 22
- Saturday, January 30, 2016 at 11:09 AM
- 🌧 8 °C
- Altitude: 7 m
- Belgium Scheldeland 51.054342, 3.71742451°3’16” N 3°43’3” E
Vleeshuistragel, Ghent
January 30, 2016 in Belgium ⋅ 🌧 8 °C
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- Day 22
- Saturday, January 30, 2016 at 11:14 AM
- 🌧 8 °C
- Altitude: 5 m
- Belgium Scheldeland 51.056722, 3.72103351°3’24” N 3°43’16” E
Gravensteen, Ghent
January 30, 2016 in Belgium ⋅ 🌧 8 °C
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- Day 22
- Saturday, January 30, 2016 at 11:19 AM
- 🌧 8 °C
- Altitude: 12 m
- Belgium Scheldeland 51.057267, 3.72594251°3’26” N 3°43’33” E
Vrijdagmarkt, Ghent
January 30, 2016 in Belgium ⋅ 🌧 8 °C
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- Day 22
- Saturday, January 30, 2016 at 11:22 AM
- 🌧 8 °C
- Altitude: 17 m
- Belgium Scheldeland 51.052987, 3.72714651°3’11” N 3°43’38” E
Saint Bavo's Cathedral, Ghent
January 30, 2016 in Belgium ⋅ 🌧 8 °C
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- Day 22
- Saturday, January 30, 2016 at 11:26 AM
- 🌧 8 °C
- Altitude: 9 m
- Belgium Scheldeland 51.054217, 3.7245351°3’15” N 3°43’28” E
Poeljemarkt, Ghent
January 30, 2016 in Belgium ⋅ 🌧 8 °C
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- Day 22
- Saturday, January 30, 2016 at 11:28 AM
- 🌧 8 °C
- Altitude: 36 m
- Germany Krefeld 51.338761, 6.58534251°20’20” N 6°35’7” E
Krefeld
January 30, 2016 in Germany ⋅ 🌧 8 °C
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- Day 22
- Saturday, January 30, 2016 at 11:30 AM
- ⛅ 9 °C
- Altitude: 43 m
- Germany Deutz 50.939582, 6.96970950°56’22” N 6°58’11” E
Cologne from Above
January 30, 2016 in Germany ⋅ ⛅ 9 °C
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- Day 22
- Saturday, January 30, 2016 at 11:33 AM
- 🌧 8 °C
- Altitude: 43 m
- Germany Graf-Adolf-Place 51.216535, 6.77660651°12’60” N 6°46’36” E
English Speakers Are Welcomed
January 30, 2016 in Germany ⋅ 🌧 8 °C
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- Day 23
- Sunday, January 31, 2016 at 5:43 PM
- 🌧 7 °C
- Altitude: 15 m
- Netherlands Venlo 51.371554, 6.16519351°22’18” N 6°9’55” E
The Maas at Venlo
January 31, 2016 in the Netherlands ⋅ 🌧 7 °C
The Maas at Venlo. One of Europe's great rivers. Other towns and cities I've visited that the Maas flows through are: Roermond, Maastricht, Rotterdam Liege. It flows also through Namur and heads deep into France.Read more
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Tom Banks Start of the New Year, 2016
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- Day 23
- Sunday, January 31, 2016 at 5:49 PM
- 🌧 7 °C
- Altitude: 18 m
- Netherlands Venlo 51.370375, 6.17240351°22’13” N 6°10’21” E
Stadhuis in Venlo
January 31, 2016 in the Netherlands ⋅ 🌧 7 °C
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Tom Banks Start of the New Year, 2016
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- Day 23
- Sunday, January 31, 2016 at 5:54 PM
- 🌧 7 °C
- Altitude: 18 m
- Netherlands Venlo 51.370375, 6.17240351°22’13” N 6°10’21” E
Flags in Venlo
January 31, 2016 in the Netherlands ⋅ 🌧 7 °C
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- Day 23
- Sunday, January 31, 2016 at 5:57 PM
- 🌧 7 °C
- Altitude: 35 m
- Netherlands Stalberg 51.352796, 6.19540651°21’10” N 6°11’43” E
Tasty Tom
January 31, 2016 in the Netherlands ⋅ 🌧 7 °C
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- Day 32
- Tuesday, February 9, 2016 at 12:22 PM
- ⛅ 11 °C
- Altitude: 33 m
- France Stade de France 48.924569, 2.36013748°55’28” N 2°21’36” E
France vs Italy - 6 Nations Opener
February 9, 2016 in France ⋅ ⛅ 11 °C
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- Day 32
- Tuesday, February 9, 2016 at 12:24 PM
- ⛅ 11 °C
- Altitude: 45 m
- France Place Joachim-du-Bellay 48.863831, 2.34915648°51’50” N 2°20’57” E
Sunday Brunch in Paris' 1st Arr.
February 9, 2016 in France ⋅ ⛅ 11 °C
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- Day 32
- Tuesday, February 9, 2016 at 12:25 PM
- 🌧 6 °C
- Altitude: 57 m
- Germany Altstadt Sud 50.934177, 6.95478550°56’3” N 6°57’17” E
1
karneval 2016 köln
February 9, 2016 in Germany ⋅ 🌧 6 °C
I wonder how long it took to wash off the green paint. looked a fun day but a bit cold
3/5/16Reply
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Tom Banks Start of the New Year, 2016
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- Day 45
- Monday, February 22, 2016 at 10:17 AM
- ⛅ 10 °C
- Altitude: 42 m
- Germany Bahnhof Düsseldorf-Hamm 51.212662, 6.74285751°12’46” N 6°44’34” E
Abandoned Düsseldorf - Hafen
February 22, 2016 in Germany ⋅ ⛅ 10 °C
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