Flanders Field: Battlefields, World War I. Ieper

Ypres (Ieper) Belgium, relief map, salient, WWI

A "salient" juts into enemy territory, making it particularly vulnerable - see the large poking area on the map here. Nearly surrounded. See ://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ypres_Salient. See also //dialspace.dial.pipex.com/town/avenue/pd49/places/ieper/salient.

Here is the relief map of the Salient, the front formed by the British, Canadian, French and Belgian forces, at Ypres, or Ieper, Belgium. It is spelled Ieper on modern maps. Photos and history; and later post here. Photos of the Salient - ttp://www.worldwar1.com/pharc002.htm

Years of warfare in one place. There were three battles at Ypres - resulting in the town's total destruction. First in 1914, defending against the German push to the sea. Second in 1915, where trenches and gas were used. The area is flat, making trenches imperative. Third in 1917, known as the battle of Passchendaele. In 1918, the Germans were finally pushed back by an offensive at that time.

Newspaper yesterday: young people are not learning the history of the world wars, for lack of school hours and setting other priorities. Teach your own. Find Flanders at www.ww1battlefields.co.uk/flanders.

Antwerp: Best Docks Restaurant and Hosts -The "Pan-Earth, All Cuisines"

Bonaparte Dock, Antwerp, Belgium. Pan Earth All Cuisines Host

Art! Food! Conversation! Fufu if you want it! Any culinary tradition, you get it. Feel right at home.


Antwerp, Belgium. Pan Earth All Cuisines Art and Host

A must. The Pan-Earth All Cuisines restaurant. Down by the docks (Bonaparte dok). It is set up to serve the world's merchant marine, read about the world-wide maritime (tanker, and other commercial freight?) fleets and the countries at //www.immigration-usa.com/world_fleet. Here are the water transportation occupational information: www.bls.gov/oco/ocos247. No job security, one voyage at a time, several months each, 4-12 hour shifts. Long time away from family, no healthcare? About 1/2 unionized? See site.

The chef and owner of this fine jewel of a restaurant says he wants to give a taste of home, a little warmth, to the sailors and merchant seamen. The food is not just for the merchant mariners, though. We recommend it to everyone.

The Seamen's Institute is nearby. Here is the work of the Institute in New York, but it appears to be virtually world-wide in offering services and training to seafarers, including those settling in an area. See www.seamenschurch.org/444.asp. Search also for the Institute in Newport, RI and Philadelphia. Wikipedia has it starting in Hong Kong. See //en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seamen's_Institute.

I was sure I wrote down his name, but I can't find it. He said he can prepare any cuisine worldwide, as requested, from anywhere. Dan ordered steak and mango, and I had African (Congo chicken).

Docks, Antwerp, Belgium. Pan Earth All Cuisines Restaurant, Diners and Hostess. Bonapartedok.

Should have ordered fufu or asked for pounded yam but was too slow to think of it. Rice received and excellent. He said to order the piccadillo next time. Everybody got in the pictures.

He is a fine chef, and the portrait was done by an admiring patron when he opened this restaurant. Go there. Enjoy.

But, remember that the port area has lots of other recreational offerings going on, so expect what you see. People earning a living. We stopped in one place first, then chose to move on. Not that it was not friendly - the people were. But they didn't serve dinner. Fine.

Antwerp: The Water View Floatel. Diamond Princess Flotel.

Where to spend the night, when the cute, smaller places near the old town are full: Try a floatel. A fine vintage one is the Diamond Princess, Bonapartedok, Antwerp. A flotel.


Fair use thumbnail from www.channels.nl/20585-el.html/

We stayed in a cabin on a converted Norwegian cruise liner now permanently moored in the docks area, called Bonaparte dok (after Napoleon - looking up what he did here). See the docks area at www.ontoeurope.com/features/2005/mar05/antwerp. This may be becoming a museum dock. The ship is the Diamond Princess and it dates from the 1950's. See it at //travel.webshots.com/album/46573935PPAdXt. Breakfast restaurant included. Excellent choice. See www.hotels-belgium.com/antwerp/diamondprincess.

Plan to spend more time in Antwerp than in Brussels. Commercial, like Brussels, and cosmopolitan, but also more walkable, and with active navigation and big castles. Much destroyed in WWII, but also much reconstructed. See Antwerp overview at www.trabel.com/antwerp; and its history at www.trabel.com/antwerp-history. Trabel means travel, if you do a search on that.

Brussels - Michael Jackson and a great concert venue

Michael Jackson stage set, Brusssels, Belgium. Main square. Concert pending.

A concert with Michael Jackson was pending - lots of construction and scaffolding going up in the square. The relationship has not been all friendly. Michael Jackson was held to have plagiarized a song, written by Belgian twins, in a court case and ruling by a Belgian Court, 9/11/07. See//ca.news.yahoo.com/s/afp/070911/entertainment/entertainment_belgium.

Orientation sites, Languages, Cultures

Getting to know Belgium: This describes the languages: ://www.kwintessential.co.uk/resources/global-etiquette/belgium-country-profile.html

• Dutch, and local variant known as Flemish, is spoken in the north; some 60%
• German in some eastern areas, 
• French in the south. //europa.eu/youth/travelling_europe/index_be_en. 
• Walloon - a variant of  French, spoken by Celtic originating people, Protestants, see ://www.answers.com/topic/walloons
• Luxembourgish - some 1%

Walloons were exiled because of their beliefs in the 17th Century, and settled at New Netherlands - now New York, Manhattan, and other places.  See http://www.answers.com/topic/walloons

Brussels Chocolate Factory

Chocolatier, Chocolate Factory, Brussels, Belgium

That is the chocolate factory-museum in Brussels, just off the main square. Splendid samples, see the process start to finish. Musee du Cacao et du Chocolat. See and smell how it is made, get the walk-around tour, and taste. Belgium has been known for its chocolate since 1912 - see //www.fodors.com/miniguides/mgresults.cfm?destination=brussels@35&cur_section=fea&feature=30005

Bonbons at risk - the waxy ersagz chocolate without the high proportion of real cocoa butter and not substitutes, vs. the real thing. See New York Times 6/25/07, commentary by Mort Rosenblum. "While discerning chocoholics will for over whatever it takes, those who can't pay will never know chocolate."

Personal note. Agree. Once represented a Spanish client who rewarded the entire office with the most fabulous European chocolate I have ever tasted. Here is the history of chocolate. //www.chocolatelovers.com/history. For all of us, it was swoons.

Some time, before you die, go and pay the most you cannot afford for the best real European chocolate you can find, and you may be inclined to boycott the US supermarket style manufacturers' lesser ingredients. Some things are worth it. It is a matter of principle: profit vs. the common good, the common good being that taste.



While in Europe, take advantage of every opportunity to go through a real chocolate factory and eat this "elixir of the gods" before it is beyond us.

Bruges -Once a Major Port

Bruges, Belgium. Canals.

Bruges: Medieval, canals, once had a harbor. See the photos at /www.trabel.com/brugge/bruges-canals.htm.

Park at an outlying area, then take the little train to town, and walk it.






Bruges, Belgium. Town Hall












Bruges, Belgium. Bridge, canal.

Here is a picture gallery, in a curriculum oriented site: www.schoolshistory.org.uk/images/brugge/index.htm.
Museums - a day in itself. See //www.virtualbruges.com/museums/default. Do a search for Bruges and Hans Memling for this 15th Century painter, a focal point of many art history courses.

At lunch, try the river eel with herbs. Prepare eel yourself, here is a big website with lots of choices - fooddownunder.com/cgi-bin/search.cgi?q=eel. Be prepared to park at a far distance, and then take a little train to town, built just for that.

For an overview of Belgium, and mention of the river eel with herb sauce, see the Expatriate Guide at www.expat-online.com/moving/Belgium/culture/foodandrink. The Expatriate Guides (for people living outside their home countries) are useful as a start in any country.

More on Belgian food: We also found fries served with mayo. Not bad at all. And snails served as street food.