Photos from my holiday

[Comet]

There's lots of 'em!


The Kusttram at its start/finish point next to De Panne station.


A view of Antwerp Cathedral.

There were some old military vehicles in Antwerp last Saturday, here are just some of them.






Another view of Antwerp Cathedral.


The cathedral in Brussels.


Gargoyles in Brussels.


A golden statue in Brussels.


The Mannequin dressed to remember the liberation of Brussels.


The sign near the Mannequin.


Maxim's in Brussels. Fans of "Secret Army" will recognise this place as "Le Candide".


Maxim's again.


The Galeries Royal Saint Hubert in Brussels.


The Union Flag flying in Brussels.

We also spent some time in Dunkerque, catching the bus there from De Panne station.


Boat in Dunkerque.


Paddlesteamer in Dunkerque.


The place where we had dinner in Dunkerque. They serve Andouilettes here, but I had shrimps in tomato, I didn't have the nerve to order Andouilettes!


Lightship at the Maritime Museum in Dunkerque.


Tall ship at the Dunkerque Museum.


Tower in Dunkerque.


Dunkerque.


Dunkerque again.


And again.


One of our beers was this Duvel Green, we had this in Brugge.

We had our first visit to Mechelen since 2003.


The Mechelen Cathedral.


My favourite view of Mechelen.


Black and white shot in Mechelen.


Mechelen.


Mechelen Stadhuis.


Gull in Oostende.


Boat in Oostende.


Ferry from Ramsgate approaching Oostende.


Archway in Oostende.


The English Church in Oostende, near our hotel.


Ferry leaving Oostende.


Fishermens' statue in Oostende.


Fishing boat in Oostende.


Fishing boat leaving Oostende.


Gulls near the Oostende fish stalls.


Oostende seafront.


Sculpture in Oostende.


Oostende.


Old water tower in Oudenaarde.

We also visited Poperinge for the first time. This was an important place in WW1.


The cell where "deserters" spent their last night before being shot at dawn.


Poperinge church.


Poperinge church in sepia.


Poperinge is an important hop growing area. This is the National Hop Museum.


Hops at the museum.










Views of the market square.


The shooting post.


Spider.


Poperinge Stadhuis.


Talbot House "Toc H") a club for British soldiers in WW1.


Cat in Zeebrugge.


Fishing boat, Zeebrugge.


Zeebrugge.


Cat on bike outside Suffolk Ferry pub, Zeebrugge.


And again.


What Zeebrugge is famous for - its port!


View of Zeebrugge marina.


Markt Plein, Zeebrugge.


And again.


Near the Seafront attraction.


Flags at Seafront.

It was a brilliant holiday but the weather could have been nicer.

[regi]

So, you went to Cambrinus for a meal?
http://www.cambrinus.eu

How the hell could I know that from that picture of that Duvel beer?

It is good place with rather cheap prices.

Most of places that are cheaper close to the market square would be a ripp off.

Good choice.

[Comet]

You are so correct regi - that is my favourite bar in Brugge - we always go in there for our evening drinks when we are in Brugge at Christmas.

We try to keep quiet about Cambrinus when talking to other Brits because, to be honest, we hate the "Brits abroad" image - ie drink yourself stupid, spew all over, brawl and trash the place. We have always found "Cam" to be a nice civilised place to drink away from the tourist hordes which go in some other bars.

The "Brits abroad" image is not just confined to Brits who go to other countries, we suffer the same problem over here, the inhabitants of one British city in particular seem to like nothing more than heading off to other parts of Britain, making life hell for the locals by their "booze holidays" (I hear that they are a particular problem in York, with all its ancient pubs).

I had a meal there too, a nice Irish rib eye steak (this was last Sunday, 7th September). My Mum had rabbit and the same kind of Duvel beer as I had. We won't even look at the places on the market square, we have been ripped off there before. Other places I have had nice meals are Oud Brugge, a place called "Carillon" (I think that's the correct name but I'm not 100% sure, it's on the same street as Chagall), my beloved Chagall and Lange Muur. We always have Christmas dinner in Lange Muur.

That bar called Zandloper is to be avoided by tourists, they are con artists who will serve you the wrong beer in the wrong glasses on purpose, but they didn't get away with it when they tried it on us, and had to replace the wrong beers free of charge. I always warn tourists to stay away from that place.

[regi]

By the way,
nice pictures of Poperinge.
Despite it has nothing to do with aviation , I congratulate you with the effort to put them on the net.
Poperinge wasn't destroyed during the first WW. It was in reach of the far range artillery of the Germans e.g. Lange Max at Koekelare hill, which could reach Dunkerque.
But it became clear later that the Germans had never been aware about the fact that Poperinge was a re-assembly point and a centre for Rest and Recreation for the Brittish soldiers.
It was bombed now and than, but not intensively.
One well aimed shell could have killed scores of off-duty Brits.
Poperinge will always be remembered as the place where thousands of Common Wealth soldiers had their last pint of beer before going back into the nightmare of the Salient around Ypres.

[Comet]

Thanks for your comments regi. Poperinge was a very thought-provoking place, very similar in that respect to Ieper. Poperinge is often overlooked by Brits visiting Belgium in favour of Ieper, but I think that all Brits should know about the place and its significance.

That was also the best day of the holiday as far as weather goes so the photos turned out better as well.

[A318]

Hi Comet, nice pics but euh, where are you!
Regi? Is that still Regi from years ago?
Anyway, I am still around.
Hey Comet, what is that awful BA avatar???? No VLM anymore???

Greetz,

Erwin

[Comet]

Hi Comet, nice pics but euh, where are you!
Regi? Is that still Regi from years ago?
Anyway, I am still around.
Hey Comet, what is that awful BA avatar???? No VLM anymore???

Greetz,

Erwin

Hi A318

Where am I? I'm behind the camera, my Mum will happily tell anyone that she is a total technophobe and she doesn't like using anything "techie" so I do all the photos when we go away.

I agree that my avatar looks awful, it does look alot better viewed full size (it's one of my favourite photos which I took at MAN). I don't have any great photos of VLM close up - it's either the nose or whatever. I do still like VLM, I flew with them last year a couple of times and they were as brilliant as ever

Good to see you are still around!

[Advisor]

Great to see Comets photos once again.

Sometimes i wonder is it her enthusiasm or love for touring that makes her go.

Once again, beautiful of a lady to share her thoughts and pictures with us.

[Atlantis]

Thanks for sharing these nice pictures with us

Its always nice to see that we are living in a very nice and historical country.

[Comet]

Thanks again for the comments. I will have some more photos to add after Christmas of our trip to Brugge via Zeebrugge (will be nice to see that place at beginning and the end of the day, hopefully I'll get a photo of it lit up). If the weather is dry we will go and see Antwerp too, we hear it is very nice there at Christmas but have only seen it in the summer.

Brugge is wonderful at Christmas with those gorgeous stalls and the ice skating and the hot drinks, we have nothing like that where I live.