A Quick tour of Belgium

12th March 2008

Today we started our tour with the Chinese tour operator in the Netherlands. The weather was really bad, raining and strong wind. Our first stop was Atomium, somewhere outskirt of Brussels. It was one of the original ideas for Expo '58 was to build an upside-down version of the Eiffel tower; however, Waterkeyn felt that an atomic structure would be more symbolic of the era. The monument was originally planned to remain standing only six months. However, it soon became a symbol not only of the World's Fair, but of modern architecture and Brussels. The monument stayed the same for almost 50 years.

Manneken Pis

I have lost count of the number of time I been to Brussels and visiting this little boy peeing at the corner of the street. Since it is part of the tour itinerary, we stopped by Brussels and of course pay a quick visit to this little boy. He was in his winter suit today due to the extremely cold and windy weather of the day.

Waterloo

After that, the tour took us to Waterloo. Waterloo's claim to fame is the famous Battle of Waterloo (June 18, 1815) between the First French Empire of Napoleon Bonaparte and the Alliance of the Seventh Coalition (the United Kingdom, Prussia, Austria and others. There is a memorial in the form of a statue of a lion (looking towards France on a hill with 226 stairs called La Butte du Lion.

This is my second visit; the first time was when Johannes and I took Vicky, Charles and Aumun to this place in a lovely May Spring weather. Due to the bad weather, no one actually wanted to go up to the top.

Beilstein – A village where the time has stopped

9^th March 2008

A very small village/county at the right bank of Moselle (www.beilstein-mosel.de), a pint-size village right out from the world of fairy tales. Little more than a cluster of houses surrounded by steep vineyards, its romantic, half-timbered town scape is enhanced by the ruined castle Burg Metternich, a hill-top castle reached by staircase.

It was very quiet when we arrived, so quiet that as if the time has stopped, that created a lot more mystical atmosphere to the village as we marched up the steps to the ruined castle. Despite of it small size, it has the wine of its one. I could imagine the place would be over flooded with tourists on the week preceding Easter holiday and that the quietness and the mystical feel would be gone by then.

Am glad to be here on a quiet afternoon and have the opportunity to enjoy the beauty of the quietness and listen to the very still voice of the nature…

Trier - The oldest city in Germany

I have heard enough about Trier, being the oldest city in Germany, founded in or before 16 BC. Trier is not the only city claiming to be Germany's oldest, but it is the only one that bases this assertion on having the longest history as a city, as opposed to a mere settlement or army camp. It was founded by the Romans Augusta Treverorum in 15 BC and hence becoming capital of the Western Roman Empire by 3^rd AD.

Then comes the Porta Nigra and I am finally here to see it for myself. Porta Nigra being the largest Roman city gate north of the Alps and a Unesco World Heritage site. The black gate is a brooding 2^nd century city gate that has been blackened by time. A marvel of engineering and ingenuity, it’s held together by nothing but gravity and iron rods.

Frankly speaking, Trier didn’t impress me as if Cochem, despite of the well know history and the importance of the Porta Nigra, I didn’t really like the black structure that much..., it is so black that as if it was burnt severely before….

A wall that tells the story

When we arrived Cochem, we parked our car just in front of a building with this beautiful wall. This wall caught my attention, it is simply more than a wall but a master piece of art or rather an arrangement of tiles and ceramic display that portrait some stories that I am yet to find out at the time of writing. The wall depicts some forms of the history of the town and Romans history.

Cochem - A beautiful township along Moselle River

8th March 2008

My friends and colleagues have been recommending Cochem to me, now I finally got the change to visit this charming and picturesque village with plenty of narrow alleyways and half-timbered houses.

As soon as we approached the town, Reichsburg castle towering above steep vineyards, welcomed us. This is the city owned castle www.reichsburg-cochem.de – everyone idealized version of a turreted medieval castle is actually a neo-Gothic pastiche built in 1877.

The walk up from town takes about 15 minutes, along the way we were accompanied by plenty of wine taverns selling the local wines and further up the way we were greeted by plenty of vineyard awaiting to take its first branch and green leave breakthrough once the warmth of the spring hit the area. The view of the Moselle River and the vineyard along the river bank is magnificent and wonderfully lay out with in a neat way.

The partial sunny and cloudy weather revealed even more facets of the landscapes with the suddenly shade of grey and sunny sky. I must say, just my eyes alone are not sufficient to capture the beauty of this valley, let alone the digital camera. If only I wish, with the time and the right painting skill, I would love to capture the scenery with water color painting.

Sometime it is really good to be away from the big cities and the heftiness of daily life and visit a small village like Cochem. Just take time to enjoy the view, stroll along the river bank, wine tasting and enjoy the natural abundance that it could offer.

Burg Eltz

Also on the same day in the late afternoon, we visited Burg Eltz. Victor Hugo thought this fairy-tale castle, hidden away in the forest above the left bank on the Mosselle, was ‘tall, terrific, strange and dark’. Indeed Burg Eltz www.burg-eltz.de owned by the same family for almost 1000 years, has a compact and impenetrable exterior. The castle can be reached from Münstermaifeld but we drove all the way trying to access the castle from Moselkern, where we parked at Ringelsteiner Mühle car park and the access is only possible by a 30-minutes walk. As we arrived at almost dawn hour, so we only walk to the half way where we could view the castle from a distance, quite a distance in fact with lots of branching forming an dreamy, gloomy view. It was as if an image in a dream. Burg Eltz is one of the unspoilt castles.

Now this is the true face of the castle (taken from www.wikipedia.org), a medieval castle nestled in the hills above Mosselle River, It is still owned by a branch of the same family that lived there in the 12th century, 33 generations ago. The Rübenach and Rodendorf families' homes in the castle are open to the public, while the Kempenich branch of the family uses the other third of the castle.

Journey to the East

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7th March 2008

Today we started our eastbound journey to Moselle Valley; the route was rather boring when we first started on the Dutch’s soil. It gradually became excited when the landscape changing from low and flat to up and down hill with a bit of slopes. Then it became extremely adventurous and “roller-coaster” when we are close to valley. There were still a lot of left over snows as if they were left there just for my family who have not seen snow before.

As it is stated in the travel guide that

the river rises in France and then traverses Luxembourg, runs 195km from Trier to Koblenz, revealing new scenery at every bend. I am curious to explore the beauty and the wonderful creation of God...

Show us the Fish

5^th March 2008

Also in Delft, after a brief walk around the old town, Johannes suggests to let my family try some fried fish. They didn’t go to the extend of trying the haring today, but I bet it will happen in the coming days. We satisfied our hunger by having some fried fish in the Dutch way.

Tourist in my own Cities

I hardly have time to visit some of the cities beyond the mandate activities such as dinning and shopping. Today I brought my family to Delft, since today is their first day of arrival, Delft appeared to be quite ideal as it is close to home.

“Little Venice” that the words that keep popping out from my sister’s mouth, I am not sure if it is at all resemble Venice but Delft definitely has it own charm. This is also my first time browsing the souvenir shops around the square and noticed the wooden clogs. We then had some drinks at De Waag sitting at the table beside the canal which again my sister’s regarded as “Little Venice” as the boat passing by canal.

Kinderdijk

This is my second time to Kinderdijk, both for the same reason i.e. to bring some guests to see the traditional windmills. Despite of the sunny weather, it was a bit cold when we arrived especially when the place is surrounded by water.

It is a village in the Netherlands situated in a polder at the confluence of the Lek and Noord rivers. To drain the polder, a system of 19 windmills was built around 1740. This group of mills is the largest concentration of old windmills in the Netherlands

Extend My Territory

This is a world map, the yellow spots basically represent the cities that I have visited before. Not very balance, largely concentrated on Asia and Europe regions. I have never extend my footprint to South America and Africa before... I believe there is time and season for every activity under the sun. One day I will step myself on those lands..

One night in Brussels

27th February 2008

These are some of the view and skyline of Brussels city, the garden at the back is Kruidtuin/Botanique. These photos were taken from our office at 7^th floor after the workshop around 4pm where the weather is still warm and sunny.

That’s my overnight trip to Brussels.