A day off to honour the Day of Peace

Today almost everyone in Belgium has a day off. Because today is the day that World War 1 ended.
Every year there are a lot of things going on to remember the ones who died on the battlefield.
I always find it very impressive to go "Ypres" to see the massive wargraves.
(More information can be found on this wikilink : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ypres)

In Ypres you can also go and visit the Flandres Field museum. A must-do If you want to learn more about the war. (http://www.inflandersfields.be)
The name of the museum is taken from a famous poem written by a canadian surgeon who worked in Ypres during the war and wrote a lot of poems about the war.
(After watching a friend of him die)
His "Flandres Field" poem became a big symbol of the war in and around Ypres.
I always found the poem really moving.

-----
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.

----

a great videoclip in the city YOU love the most...

A couple of weeks ago when I was couchsurfing in Verona, my host showed me this great videoclip of Arcade fire.
It's a video supported by google chrome (so you have to install this browser before watching it!).
But I find it amazing! The idea is you have to type in the name of the city you were raised. And then you can watch the video with this catchy song and with streetview images of that specific city.

So type in the name of your favorite city and put on your running shoes!!!

http://www.thewildernessdowntown.com/

London Life: Meet up!

Have you ever heard of meetup.com? It's another of those life-changing things I just found out about. Create your profile, choose your city and browse around the million groups they have there and I am sure you'll find one ( or many, like me !lol) that will interest you.

Yesterday I participated of a Treasure Hunt with the Culture Seekers group. It was very interesting, but if you don't know a lot about London's history, you would be lost. I was! Lucky me, there was a cab driver in my group and the guy was a walking encyclopedia! I also joined lots of language groups, because learning languages is one of my biggest passions. Besides , it's a great way to meet new people and practice + learn for free ( or a small fee, in some groups). This week I have the French and the Italian meetings, and soon I'll attend the European Languages one. In this one, you can even volunteer to teach.  I am still waiting for a reply to see if they accept me as a Portuguese - conversation level teacher, but if not, I'll be just as happy to attend the Italian, French, Spanish and Dutch classes they may have.

So take a look, check for something that interests you and have fun! :-)

IT'S HALLOWEEN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Isn't it adorable? If I were a fan of sweets would have bought it just for fun!

London Life

So finally I have moved to London, my favourite city in the world, and life has started to get back on track. I'm settled and started working. And going crazy by having so much stuff to do! Free time is the only thing I miss from Belgium, to be honest.So many plans of places to visit, museums to go , things to do! I have a to-do list with more than 50 items, and strange enough, I have been to London often while I was living in Belgium and never even considered doing those things...too much partying maybe LOL

So from now on, as I won't be travelling as often as I used to, I'll start updating the blog with London info + news + cool stuff to do.

 And as people say around here, "Cheers mate!"

some people should travel more....

Het begon allemaal op...

de dag waar alles goed ging. Geen treinen die staakten of waarop we plots geweigerd worden. Geen flessen sie spontaan openbreken op het perron, waardoor kleren nogal beginnen te stinken. Geen gemekker van een loketbediende omdat we teveel bagage meezeulen.
Neen helemaal niets. We begrepen er geen snars van. We vlogen naar Rome alsof het de normaalste zaak ter wereld is.
We waren er toch niet helemaal gerust in gezien ons "zwaar verleden".
Maar toen klommen we op naar onze tweede beproeving: het vinden van overnachting.
De eerste jeugdherberg die ze per email reserveerden bleek dan toch volzet te zijn waardoor we terug op straat belanden. De vriendelijke Italiaan aan de receptie kon ons wel verder helpen. Met een kaartje en wat goed advies konden we onze zoektocht verder zetten.
Uiteindelijk konden we terecht in de jeugdherberg "colors", vlakbij het vaticaan.
En eenmaal we onze kamer volgooiden, doken we het mooie Rome in.
Rome bleek dan ook echt de max te zijn. Gezellige steegjes, om elke hoek een prachtig gebouw die telkens met verstomming doet slaan.
Plus ook het feit dat we terug in de zomer zijn belandt. sAvonds zaten we zo nog om 22h in onze zomeroutfit een flesje wijn te degusteren aan de Trevifontein.
Later die avond liepen we nog een oude bekende bekende tegen het lijf. Jaja, niemand minder dan de Italiaanse versie van Libie.
"libie2 werkt hier als ober in een restuarant en vond ons blijkbaar ook grappig. Toen ze vertrokken moesten we kost wat kost op de foto in de keuken.
Eenmaal in de jeugdherberg maakten we kennis met onze kamergenotes. Gezien er dit keer geen jongens op de kamer waren en geen koppels waren er gelukkig dit keer geen opgewonden nachtgeluiden waar te nemen. :-)
Zodat Lieselot eens een met rust gelaten nacht in een jeugdherberg beleefde.

Vele zomerse groetjes,