Fitness Club Membership in Belgium

According to an article in "De Morgen" on 21 November 2007, page 12:

- Only 5% of Belgians are enrolled members of a fitness club. This is the lowest rate in Europe with an average 7.8% and 16.4% in neighbouring Netherlands.
- There are 500,000 members of which 400,000 are in Flanders
- 80% (532) of 679 fitness clubs are in Flanders whilst 147 are in Wallonia.

This shows enormous growth potential and business opportunity.

The research was conducted by Fitness Organisatie.

Business Cards in Belgium

Finding a supplier of affordable but professional business cards in Belgium has been a challenge. The local shop charges a minimum of 125 € and I really only wanted a small quantity at low cost.

I was therefore delighted to find Print 24 who offer a choice of designs, colours and font sizes with a great offer of 250 colour business cards for FREE with just 7.95 € postage and packing. They have lots of designs and colourways to choose from.

If you want to order some cards, just visit Print 24

Mr. Bean, Rowan Atkinson in Brussels

This short film is rather chaotic but it is a bit of fun - Rowan Atkinson playing the part of Mr Bean on his visit to the Mannekin Pis in Brussels.

Beautiful Photo of Bruges - Brugge

Isn't this a beautiful photo of Bruges (English/French) or Brugge (Dutch)?

Week van de Smaak 2007 - Vlaanderen and Brussels

The 2nd Week van de Smaak (Week of Taste) will run in Flanders and Brussels from 15-24 November 2007. This is a Flemish festival dedicated to gastronomy - well eating and drinking in general with more than 700 organisers of more than 1,200 events.



There are tastings of world cuisines such as Italian, African, Turkish food - not forgetting streekproducten from the different areas in Belgium, demonstrations in hotel and catering schools, masterchefs, events in breweries, wine tastings, cookery classes including some for children, talks on typical foods, guided tours and various other events.

Here are some unusual items I spotted:
* "De Vijf Smaken op Zijn Brussels", a discovery of Brussels cuisine meeting at Sint Katelijneplein at 14.00 on 17 November.
* "Niet Elke Pater is een Trappist" discussing the differences between Trappist and Abbey beers, Brussels on 14 November, beers tasting included in the 10 €.
* How about a talk on sprouts (spruitsjes)?
* The Dag van de Geuze will be given by De Lambikstoempers in Halle, Vlaams Brabant on 24 November.
* Ecological cooking with pumpkin, Kortenberg on 16 November.
* Spanish tapas and sherries, Everberg on 17 November.
* Spices and drinks in the Middle Ages, Overwinden on 25 November.
* Blindfold dinner, Leuven on 20 November.
* Marzepan, talk at the Suikermuseum in Tienen.
* International pancakes workshop in Antwerp throughout the festival.
* Reading of Poetry about food, Antwerp on 18 November.
* A meal from the time of Keizer Karel in the 16th century, Rijmenam on 21 November.
* Belgian beers tasting, Hemiksem on 21 November.
* Pizzas cookery class for children, Putte on 21 November.
* Tea and coffee tastings in Turnhout.
* Children cooking with syrup, Borgloon on 21 November.
* Nostalgic cookery class, Bree on 22 November.
* Bangladesh cuisine tasting, Genk on 17 November.

A Dutch language class in Brussels will offer typical dishes from their homelands with explanation. There are a couple of film events about chocolate.

Some mayors are doing their bit by cooking for the public such as in Laakdal on the 18th when the mayor will be cooking spaghetti; in Genk, pasta on the 23rd and on the 18th, the mayor of Kalmthout will cook Italian fish soup.

The Flemish bookshop Standard Boekhandel are running a free tasting of Jenever all day on Saturday 17 November in all their shops. Throughout the festival they will display tasting tabels with gastronomy books at special low prices. Marc Joye's book "Feestelijk met Bier" is available for just 5 Euros with a coupon in the brochure. The coupon also gives a discount on cooks about vegetables, desserts and wine.

Some Spar supermarkets will have cookery demonstrations and tastings.


A special feature this year is EETiKET, about children (aged 6-12)and restaurant culture. The idea is that children should enjoy going out to eat and be welcome in restaurants. More than 90 children-friendly restaurants in the brochure welcome children and a section of the website is aimed at schools.

Looking ahead, the lovely town of Lier south of Antwerp will be bidding for the title "Stad van de Smaak 2008" with Oma's smikkelport, a turn of century menu, local products on the Zimmerplein (don't miss the Zimmer Tower), wine tastings, a culinary quiz, Moroccan pizzas, Portuguese specialities and more. Kortrijk hold the title in 2007.

A Free brochure is available in public libraries, Standard Boekhandel and Spar supermarkets with activities divided into provinces and listed under town names. You can also find details on the website.

Click here for info

Echt lekker!

For travel to Belgium, visit Eurotravel

Leonardo Da Vinci Exhibition in Brussels

We visited the Leonardo Da Vinci exhibition on view at the Basilica Koekelberg in Brussels. This is one of the most complete exhibitions ever on one of the greatest thinkers of the Renaissance, Leonardo da Vinci .

The exhibition, Leonardo - The European Genius, will run until 15 March 2008 at the Koekelberg Basilica, the fifth largest church in the world and the largest Art Deco building ever constructed.

It is presented in four separate themes:
– Leonardo the man from Tuscany to the Loire Valley
- Leonardo the artist with sketches, paintings, sculptures
- Leonardo the engineer with reconstructions including machines and bridges
- Leonardo the humanist with his mysterious reversed writing and collection of codices by the master.

As such, the exhibition presents all the different aspects of his work and the legacy that he left behind to Renaissance art and science, through to the modern day.

There are original works including the Codex of the Flight of Birds and Leonardo's only self portrait, many of which have been lent by major museums worldwide. Obviously, the Mona Lisa "La Giconda" is too fragile and valuable to be lent. The original "Last Supper" is a fresco in Santa Maria delle Grazie in Milan but the copy in Belgium's Tongerlo copy is apparently so faithful to the original, that it was used as a model for renovation of the original. Interest in the Last Supper has been heightened by the novel "The Da Vinci Code" and reference is made to this and the possible significance of Mary Magdalene. The semi-nude portrait of Mary Magdalene holding a veil over her bare breasts had been unseen for fifty years when it was found five years ago in a private Swiss collection. It had previously been attributed to Da Vinci's pupil Giampetrino.

Leonardo (1452-1519) was also a famous engineer and the exhibition shows 45 working models based on the master's designs and all built to scale, including a parachute, helicopter, sailplane, automobile carriage, floating bridge, a double-hulled boat and a 20 metre swing bridge that has never before been built. My children loved seeing these models and wanted to borrow a book about Leonardo's inventions from the library.

This exhibition is spread over 3,000m² so there is plenty to see, interspersed with short videos which set the scene of the various locations in Leonardo's life. Over 100 original works from other artists are also displayed giving context to themes and subjects including Raphael, Michelangelo, Canaletto, Albrecht Dürer and Hieronymus Bosch.

An interesting fact is that Leonardo was left-handed and developed backwards mirror writing so that he did not smudge the ink. Many facsimile copies of his original notebooks are on show.


I most enjoyed the section on the Vitruvian Man. Leonardo (1492) based this on studies made earlier in the 1st Century calculating the exact proportions of every part of a man's body to another. Extremely detailed measurements and calculations were made of this average sized man.

Leonardo -The European Genius site is www.expo-davinci.eu
Entrance price: 10,00 € adults, 8,50 € 6-18 years, Free 0-6 years
Walkman audio guide available in choice of four languages: 2,50 € (recommended)

For ways to travel to Brussels visit Euro Travel http://www.eurotravel.ws

Remembrance Day - 11 November 2007

Today is Remembrance Day - L'Armistice - Wapenstilstand. I heard that the oldest British survivor of WWI is 109 years old.

This year marks the 90th anniversary of the Battle of Passchendaele (old Flemish name, Passendale in English), a First-World-War offensive that became a symbol of the violence of war in its most gruesome and senseless form. In remembrance of the 500,000 soldiers who lost their lives, the municipalities of Zonnebeke, Heuvelland, Messines and Ypres have marked the anniversary with a series of events coinciding with the phases of the original offensive. The events, have taken place over five weekends between June and November. The last, this weekend, remembers the Canadians.

Fought in 1917, the Battle of Passchendaele, also known as the Third Battle of Ypres (Ieper), was one of the major battles of the First World War. British, ANZAC and Canadian soldiers fought against the German Army for control of the Belgian village in a battle that lasted three months and claimed the lives of over 500,000 soldiers.

The British soldiers could not pronounce Ypres or Ieper so they looked at the French spelling and called the place "Wipers".

Memorial Museum Passendale 1917
The Long, Long Trail
BBC: Battle of Passchendaele
Wikipedia - Battle of Passchendaele

Appropriately, this poem was written by a Canadian officer:
IN FLANDERS FIELDS

In Flanders Fields
The poppies blow
Between the crosses row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.
- Canadian Luitenant-Colonel John McCrae in 1815 (1872-1918)

In flanders Fields Museum 057 23 92 20 Ieper

This video shows real footage of the battle accompanied by Iron Maiden's song.