Tournai

I spent the holidays in Monster (NL) this year. I'm flying back to Rome tomorrow. However for once that I stayed more than 2 days I took the chance to travel to Belgium. It was the first time I really came back to Belgium since my graduation in Nov 2008. I felt kind of "at home" :) In fact my network is mainly splitted between 2 countries: Belgium and Italy.

I went to visit a couple of friends in Tournai. Tournai is south of Belgium, close to the french border (Lille) meaning I had to cross the whole country but it was easy. It is just 3h20 from The Hague and you only have to change trains once, in Bruxelles. Yes, Belgium is quite small crossing it from North to South will take you about 2h only! If you are between 12-25 years old you can take a Joung Benelux ticket, what is about 40% discount on the regular price. I used to travel between Belgium and the Netherlands every week-end when I was studying... and nothing really changed.

It was my second time in Tournai (I had slept once there in a young hostel for the wedding of the same friends I was visiting). Tournai is one of the oldest town in Belgium and I think it is worth the visit. Have a look!

- Une rue piétonne du centre -

- Le Beffroi-

- L'ancien Hôtel des Postes -

- La Cathédrale -

- La Halle aux Grains -
désolée pour le camion, je ne pouvais pas attendre qu'il parte pour prendre la photo...

- L'Escaut passant à Tournai -

ce canal part de Cambrai, traverse la Belgique dont Tournai/Gand/Anvers pour se jetter dans la mer du Nord aux Pays-Bas

Agrandir le plan
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G'art

G'art is wordplay between GARE (station) and ART (art).
These pictures were taken at the Bruxelles-Midi station the "international" station.

- Voies 6 & 7 -

- Les horaires -

- Réparation expresse d'essuie-glace (et le train est parti à l'heure) -

- Indications de sortie en quatre langues -
(la Belgique est un pays trilingue)

- Voyageurs sur un quai -

- le Thalys en gare -

La Belgique

Stéréotypes belges....

Les Frites



Les Gaufres





La Pluie Bruine



manque le chocolat :)

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White Xmas

Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord.

Luke 2,11

Dec 26, 2009.

My brother took the plane early this morning for the Alps. He is going skiing. I'm staying for one more week. The sun is back and the snow is melting after a white Christmas. (see the picture of my parents garden a few days ago). We will most probably go to the beach today! :)

If there is one thing I wish everyone could record about Christmas it is that this is the celebration of the birth of God. However Jesus didn't stay an helpless child all his life ("le petit Jésus"), He is a God that lived a humanly life and finally died on this cross because it was the only way to save me and you.

It is much more than eating, giving presents to your loved ones or family gathering. It is all nice but won't give a purpose to your life. Believe me! (and it is not religion either)

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This morning a little one from the first grade made a drawing on my notebook. So cute! And she just writes in a phonetic way: stupenBa instead of stupenda or belline shortcut for bellissime.

- Sei stupenba. Lo sai le tue scarpe sono belline. -

ps for non-italians: the message was just about beauty and .... shoes :)

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Micah 6,8

I like the following verse I read this morning. Summary of life principles in one sentence!

Il t'a fait connaître, ô humain ce qui est bon;
et qu'est ce que le Seigneur réclame de toi, si ce n'est que tu agisses selon l'équité, que tu aimes la fidelité, et que tu marches modestement avec ton Dieu?
-Michée 6,8-

He has told you, O man, what is good;
and what does the LORD require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?
-Micah 6,8-

PS/Micah is the name of a prophet and the name of a book in the Bible (old testament).

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I pinguini a Roma

The question is....

Have you seen the pinguins (in Rome)?

" Cavoli se fa freddo a Roma....De piu. Tant'e che ho visto i pinguini stamattina davanti al portone di casa....Non vedo l'ora di concederermi una bella oretta di Hammam e un the' verde fumante....Non voglio altro!"

It's a way to say the weather is becoming freezing cold... even though the thermometer shows 10°c, ok maybe 5°c in the morning?

:D love u my dear

ps: I couldn't find the red fishes
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Great Jon!

Jonathan Dumont is WFP's Emmy award-winning head of television communications. He can be found chatting to Hollywood types on the set of WFP's latest PSA or begging reluctant embassy officials for a visa but is most at home peeling leeches off his legs in waist-deep mud. :) presentation by himself, I guess...

On the road is a video blog from the field showing daily life and sometimes amusing adventures:

http://www.wfp.org/on-the-road/myanmar

I dedicate the first one of the myanmar serie to Jeremy "change takes a long time: Russia is still named as USSR in the Myanmar system, 18 years later!"


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Roman blog by Anne-Claire

Link to a friends travel blog in Rome (in french)

http://anne-clairelaromaine.blogspot.com/

Among others, I like this post: http://anne-clairelaromaine.blogspot.com/2009/09/saturday-night-fever.html it confirms my observations about cultural differences:

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Trois choses très importantes sont à savoir lorsqu'on sort avec des romains:

1) Ils sont toujours en retard d'en moyenne une heure alors soyez patients!

2) Ils ne savent pas tellement se repérer dans les rues de Rome. Prévoyez quelques détours avant d'arriver à destination! Le preuve en image:

3) Les romains sont très gentlemen et considèrent les filles comme des petites choses fragiles: ils vous accompagneront toujours!

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IT- Perugia in winter

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For the last italian week-end of a friend we decided to visit Perugia. Perugia is the main city of the Umbrian region (central Italy). By train it takes 2h30 to 4h depending on the type of service and connections. We decided to go by car as our third friend brought his car from Belgium. It was actually a bad idea because instead of arriving at 12pm as initially planned we arrived at 3pm. It was in deed a long week-end for italians as the 8th of December, a public holiday was on Tuesday.

- The white spot in the background of the above picture is Assissi as seen from Perugia -
Perugia is an old etruscan city and is build on a hill, the most ancient parts of the city on the top the newest ones in the plain. Small winding streets where not even a Smart can drive.



Perugia is one of the prettiest city in Italy and it is my italian first love. It was my first contact with Italy given that I learnt italian at the University in Perugia. (It is the city of my first times: where I had my first coffee, my first aperitivo, my first italian GBU, my first italian friends & where I lived the last world championship final between France and Italy, open air and then the victory of italians!) Coming back after two years during the Season Holidays was as nice as in my memories.

Perugia is famous for its chocolate and a small shop where I used to live in July 2006 and I said was selling the best mousse au chocolat ice cream is actually the best chocolate craftsman of Italy! However no icecream is sold in the winter period so we had to compensate with hot chocolate.

Season lightning.


What I like in Italy and especially in Perugia is that at night streets are crowded. At midnight, 1am, people are strolling along the corso, the main street of the old town.

- The mythic fountain (Fontana Maggiore)-

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The sartorialist

The Sartorialist is a street fashion - picture blog. I found the link on the facebook profile of a friend. But it is not the first time I hear about it. This guy (sorry he didn't write his name in his biography) started shooting normal people on the street and publish the pictures on the web through a blog with the purpose of giving inspiration to fashion designers.

http://thesartorialist.blogspot.com/

I don't know why fashion, dresses, fabrics have always been one of my passions. Not for me but just for the beauty of it! I am not a fashion victim and I'm not looking forward working in that environment because it is not the place where I feel right. But I'm still lucky enough to make my living with my other passion that is quite the opposite... supply chain, logistics, moving and tracking food around the world!

°<>< good night guyzzz!

Soirée Foie Gras (de canard)

Amateur de foie gras, écoute la critique qui te fera passer toute envie "Mais ça sent le whiskas ce truc... je te jure... ça ressemble à du pâté pour chats ... et ça a le même goût!" Bon, perso je n'ai pas de chat et je n'ai jamais essayé de manger des boîtes de conserve pour chats mais je sais que ça se fait.

Vendredi dernier nous nous sommes autorisés un petit dîner "de luxe" avec foie gras. Deux de nos amis n'avaient jamais goûté et n'étaient pas très motivés...

Mais ce fût tout de même une soirée super réussie!

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IT - Palais Farnese

Le palais Farnese est le siège de l'Ambassade de France à Rome. Une des plus belles au monde dit-on. Et un samedi je suis finalement tombée dessus par hasard.

- le palais farnese -

- sur la place -

- la vue arrière -

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