Travel: Friends abroad

[godfry n. glad]

About two weeks ago, I sent my friend off to Costa Rica with a trip to the airport. She's since emailed me about her experience getting acclimated to the culture while she does her volunteer work in a foster home in a small city in northwestern Costa Rica. She and three other volunteers are helping take care of 27 children, all younger than 12, some with some serious emotional problems from neglect and abuse.

Then, this week, I heard from an old garbage haulin' buddy of mine. She's left what was a temporary post teaching mathematics and physics at the Unversity of Canberra (I think) and she's set off north across the continent. Her first email came from East Timor, after she's crossed from Australia. She was headed on to Singapore and north. I think she's got crossing central Asia in mind, because she told me she had it in mind. I hope she goes through Bali....I'd like to hear about Bali.

godfry scott wanderlust

[livius drusus]

I have an economist friend working for the EU in Brussels right now. She loves it, for some reason. I suspect it's the 6 weeks paid vacation, although she claims it's the beauty of the city.

[godfry n. glad]

Really? An economist friend in Brussels?

When my wife and I went to Brussels, we stayed with our attorney friend and her economist husband. He was there representing the U.S. Treasury in talks on the as then unreleased Euro. He was an American advisor overseas.

And yes, Bruxelles is beautiful. I don't know how they've managed to do it, considering the city has been rolled over by two German juggernauts in the last century, but the city looks distinctly pre-20th century. Then, the Art Nouveau architecture is prominent there, too. Beautiful sculpture. And explosive means of human destruction is readily available in Bruxelles, as well. Brugge, not but an hours drive away, is a medieval city, complete with city walls, from the ...13th century? It was once a coastal port. It is no longer, thanks to siltation. I highly recommend a visit to Brugge.

I understand that Belgium has an opera as part of their national liberation mythos. That's gotta count for something with cultured people.

It's just a short train ride from Amsterdam, too. That's gotta count for a lot to the likes of us.

[Shaguar]

I am not keen on Bruselles (sic) but I think Bruges is a very underrated city.

[JoeP]

I have had some good times in Brussels, mostly involving large quantities of Duvel and police raids. But Bruges is wonderful. Certainly not underrated by me.

[livius drusus]

Really? An economist friend in Brussels?

Yessir. She was one of my bestest friends in high school and got an econ degree from La Bocconi -- one of Europe's finest Universities, particularly notes for its Business school -- in Milan. She then worked for the UN in Vienna, for The Economist magazine in London and finally settled in Brussels a few years ago.

And yes, Bruxelles is beautiful. I don't know how they've managed to do it, considering the city has been rolled over by two German juggernauts in the last century, but the city looks distinctly pre-20th century. Then, the Art Nouveau architecture is prominent there, too. Beautiful sculpture. And explosive means of human destruction is readily available in Bruxelles, as well.

I've never been, myself, but from what I've seen the architecture is lovely. It never fails to amaze me how much beauty has survived two world wars in Europe. Blitzes, occupations, firebombings... how was anything left standing, really?

Brugge, not but an hours drive away, is a medieval city, complete with city walls, from the ...13th century? It was once a coastal port. It is no longer, thanks to siltation. I highly recommend a visit to Brugge.

Now Bruges is very much on my must see list. I love medieval cities and the history of merchant associations, guilds, etc. is a fascinating study for me. Some of the best sources we have about medieval society can be found in the paperwork documenting all that buying and selling. I also am a particular fan of the history of textiles, and Bruges is a motherlode when it comes to that.

I understand that Belgium has an opera as part of their national liberation mythos. That's gotta count for something with cultured people.

He he... I seem to recall you exempting yourself from that grouping.

It's just a short train ride from Amsterdam, too. That's gotta count for a lot to the likes of us.
It's like the mothership calling us home. ;)

[godfry n. glad]

[quote]And yes, Bruxelles is beautiful. I don't know how they've managed to do it, considering the city has been rolled over by two German juggernauts in the last century, but the city looks distinctly pre-20th century. Then, the Art Nouveau architecture is prominent there, too. Beautiful sculpture. And explosive means of human destruction is readily available in Bruxelles, as well.

I've never been, myself, but from what I've seen the architecture is lovely. It never fails to amaze me how much beauty has survived two world wars in Europe. Blitzes, occupations, firebombings... how was anything left standing, really?

Oh, indeed, I've the same feeling. Either large parts of Bruxelles must have escaped extensive damage, or the post-war Belgians have done a lot of loving reconstruction. (What the Russians have done with St. Petersburg is also amazing, considering it withstood a 900 day siege, including daily shelling, where a good third of the population died, most of starvation. Talk about loving reconstruction....it took thirty to forty years.)

Brugge, not but an hours drive away, is a medieval city, complete with city walls, from the ...13th century? It was once a coastal port. It is no longer, thanks to siltation. I highly recommend a visit to Brugge.

Now Bruges is very much on my must see list. I love medieval cities and the history of merchant associations, guilds, etc. is a fascinating study for me. Some of the best sources we have about medieval society can be found in the paperwork documenting all that buying and selling. I also am a particular fan of the history of textiles, and Bruges is a motherlode when it comes to that.

Oh, good. Considering I've heard you ramble on about medieval stuff. Brugge would be an ideal location for you. You might also find this book (http://www.amazon.com/gp/reader/0195067746/ref=sib_dp_pt/102-6295507-1052138#reader-link) to be an worthwhile source on the place of Brugge and Ghent in the trade of the 13th century. When we went there, my wife was just getting into bobbin-lacemaking. Belgium, and Brugge in particular, are centers of the worldwide modern bobbin-lacemaking culture. She was like a pig in slop. The button stores were a big attraction to her, too.

I understand that Belgium has an opera as part of their national liberation mythos. That's gotta count for something with cultured people.

He he... I seem to recall you exempting yourself from that grouping.

Oh...I dunno...I can see reasons for uprisings at almost any opera. :D

It's just a short train ride from Amsterdam, too. That's gotta count for a lot to the likes of us.
It's like the mothership calling us home. ;)

Ah, yes... To breathe freely in the indoor air of Amsterdam!

A side perception here... When we were there, we took a two night trip to Amsterdam. I enjoyed it immensely and would go back in a blink of an eye. But my feeling at that time was that Amsterdam was a major city culture as it might have been designed by a college drop-out, while Bruxelles was more a major city culture as designed by a conservative businessman who collected antiques. Bruxelles, though quaint, was clean and orderly....Amsterdam was not.

godfry

[godfry n. glad]

Hey... I just got mail from my haulin' buddy. She's in Phnom Penh, visiting another ol' haulin' buddy; he teaches at UPP. She likes it that everybody is eye-level (she's 5'2"); thinks she could get used to a world scaled to her size. We'll see.

She says it on to Vietnam and then hop to India....dunno where in any of these places.

What a life...

godfry n. envious (even though that is fungal country)

[godfry n. glad]

Hey... I just got mail from my haulin' buddy. She's in Phnom Penh, visiting another ol' haulin' buddy; he teaches at UPP. She likes it that everybody is eye-level (she's 5'2"); thinks she could get used to a world scaled to her size. We'll see.

She says it on to Vietnam and then hop to India....dunno where in any of these places.

What a life...

godfry n. envious (even though that is fungal country)

She's just reported in from Vietnam, having floated down the Mekong on a trade boat. She's travelling alone and loving it. She has no language skills in any of the area languages and is getting by with body language, hand signs and pantomime.

That's a bit beyond my comfort level. She seems to dig it.

godfry n. glad