Staying race fit

It's hard while you are on holidays to retain fitness - but I'm trying.  With no weights to lift, I've found some substitutes, such as two bottles of slivovitz, not enough weight, but more repetitions.  Eventually I'll drink the slivo ...

And then of course the substitute kettle bell, again, only 5 kilos, not enough weight, but just keep pumping away!

There are bricks in our garden, but they are covered with spiders, so I'm sticking to the slivo and water .....

Needless to say, I'm missing dragon boating, but will be back with a vengeance in late January!

Back to Brussels

We arrived back in Brussels yesterday, and it felt like coming home.  Unfortunately neither of us are completely well, so will have a couple of rest days before getting back into the swing of being tourists.

In the meantime I've written down a few observations about things that are different here in Europe ...

You wouldn't think a cup of coffee could cause confusion, but it does.  If you ask for a cappuchino in Belgium, you have to specify 'Cappuchino Italien' to get the one we are used to in Australia.  If you just ask for cappuchino, you normally get a coffee with a mountain of whipped cream (out of a can - yuk!) on top.  A flat white is of course unheard of.  Is cafe au lait the same as caffelatte?  No of course not, but it depends which country you are in.  And if you are used to enjoying your coffee without the intrusion of cigarette smoke, don't go to the Belgrade railway station!  At 7 in the morning they are having coffee, beer, and one cigarette after another.  Most coffee in Serbia is of course "Turkish" so there is the thick sludge at the bottom.  But I enjoy the differences.  Slivovitz is around $6 a litre!  And a little shot of slivo to keep you warm never hurt anyone, as shown by this chap below ...

some old bugger who walked into my picture ....

Daniel and Laura are in Latvia, after having a couple of days in Finland, and have been lucky enough to encounter snow.  It may be cold here, but no snow yet - still, we have some time.

Luxembourg

We arrived in Luxembourg Wednesday evening, and on Thursday I was working again, but it was quite fun, learning about Facebook, blogs, Twitter and other forms of social media.  And met colleagues from various offices of the EU.

Unfortunately I picked up a bad cold in Serbia, so have been coughing a lot.  The train trip between Serbia and Luxembourg (2 overnights in sleepers) was good, I recommend it as more comfortable than a plane, though of course you have to have the time to do it.  We broke the trip by spending the days in cities and the nights in double sleepers.  Some of the trains even have your own personal shower and loo, very comfortable, and it's great to be able to sleep.  There's only one border stop, the rest have been erased by the EU.

Today we had a leisure day in Luxembourg so took the time to reacquaint ourselves with this city, where we haven't been since 1988.  It's a beautiful location - see photos.

We are staying in a hotel near the station, and it must be the Portuguese quarter, as we hear more Portuguese spoken than French or Luxemburgish.

Tomorrow we return to Brussels, looking forward to catching up with our boy.

Vienna

Santa in Vienna

We had another day in Vienna on the way to Luxembourg, and then on to Koblenz.  The trip between Koblenz and Luxembourg on the train is really beautiful, the line follows the Moselle most of the way, exquisite villages, castles, vineyards, very scenic.

I've always wanted to see the ferris wheel which featured in The Third Man - here it is

The ferris wheel featured in The Third Man

Carriages in old Vienna

Visit to Oplenac, seat of the Serbian kings

Oplenac

A couple of days back we visited Oplenac and Topola, formerly the seat of several Serbian kings - see http://www.oplenac.rs/home_eng.html for more information.  The mosaics in the monastery are truly amazing.

Selters Banja

Yesterday we walked to Selters Banja - see http://seltersbanja.com/category/english/.  This is a mineral springs spa.

Visiting Belgrade

Today we visited Belgrade, where we haven't been (apart from the brief stop at the railway station when we arrived here) since 1987.  Lots has changed, and lots has remained the same.  Alek worked at the Australian Embassy from 1970-73, and it has been located at the same place since that time.  However, they are in the process of moving to Novi Belgrade, and will move on 8 December.  So it is no longer in the centre of the city, in the pedestrian area.  This is a very pleasant shopping precinct, with upmarket and designer shops.

Belgrade

After Belgrade we went to the top of the hill at Avala (yes, reknowned for its soccer team).  From Avala you have magnificent views of the surrounding area of Sumadije - forests and rolling hills.  We drove a different way back to Mladenovac, through really nice villages and farmland.  I've added some new photos, including one of the communications tower bombed by the Americans, but now rebuilt.  Nikola also promised to show us some of the damaged caused by the bombing, such as the Chinese Embassy "accidentally" bombed by the Americans.  This set me to thinking about wars and how much it costs us all, the human tragedy is immeasurable.

Now in Serbia

We left Brussels on Sunday, travelling to Koln (Cologne) on the train.  We then had five hours in Koln, which was plenty of time to see the sights around the cathedral in the centre of town - see our photos.  We went to a Christmas market on a boat on the Rhine, which is a different way of doing things.  I can imagine the "Southern Cross" decked out on Lake Burley Griffin during Christmas in July, it could be very pretty.

Christmas market on the Rhein in Koln

Then we spent the night on the train between Koln and Vienna - lots of starts and stops, so luckily we had a double sleeper, very comfortable, I can really recommend it.  We arrived in Vienna at 9.00am, and had all day to take in the sights of Vienna.  We'd never been to Vienna before, whereas we had visited Koln frequently during our 3 years in Brussels in the 80s.  So we walked a lot.  We have another day in Vienna on the way back so we'll do a little bus tour then, probably the best way to see things when you don't have much time.  Also visited more Christmas markets, and drank apple punch - I'd been wanting to try it as an alternative to the usual gluhwein.  Mmm, yummy, but really packed a punch - Calvados I think.

We left Vienna at 8.00pm, another overnight train trip, in a larger sleeper this time, this was real luxury.  Again, lots of stops, this time we had customs control at the border of Hungary and again at the Serbian border.  I know the EU is getting lots of stick at the moment, but would you really want to go back to customs control at every border, and changing currency in every country?  I say support the euro, and bring in more countries!

We arrived in Belgrade half an hour late.  Alek says the railway station hasn't changed since 1973, when he last lived in Yugoslavia.  We visited in 1987, and luckily lots has changed for the better, some things for the worse.  There are more refugees in Serbia than in the rest of the former Yugoslavia put together, and there are now shanty towns on the outskirts of Belgrade.  Hopefully this situation will improve.

Alek's cousin's son picked us up from the station, after we'd had a cup of coffee in the railway cafe.  It's such a long time since smoking has been allowed in eating places in Australia, it's hard to take these days.  Alek's Mum's hometown of Mladenovac has changed a bit since we were last here, with lots of smart houses on the outskirts.

Alek's cousins still have the same property as when we visited in 1987, but they have built two lovely apartments, with cousin Branka (who some of you will remember from her visit to Australia in 2005) living on the ground floor, and her son and family living on the top floor.  We are staying with Branka.

It's quite cold here, with either bright sunny days, or fog - no rain so far.  In fact we haven't yet seen rain on any of our trip, unusual for Europe.  We walked around the town of 24,000, which is about 50kms south of Belgrade.  I was surprised to find the same type of outdoor exercise equipment we all used in Macao, but I haven't had a proper go on it yet (see photos).

We had a trip to the hairdresser yesterday, quite an experience.  The hairdresser is a refugee from Kosovo, with a dainty plaited beard.  He really took his time, I can see that he sees hairdressing as an art.  The coffee, the chocolates and the biscuits were all offered, and I had plenty of time to read the Serbian magazines while Alek was having his coiffeur perfected.  This all cost the princely sum of $17 for both of us!

We also went to a supermarket, which is only about 6 months old, large, clean and airy, and fully stocked with everything you can imagine.  And cheap!

Alek's family is delightful, very hospitable, offering delicious food all the time, I'm going to come back to Australia like a slon (elephant) - three year old Predrag (Pera) taught me that word.  All the food is fresh and wholesome.  Branka's family has a farm, so there are people popping in all the time (more refugees, this time from Croatia and from Bosnia Herzegovina) to buy eggs and preserved fruit and veggies. 

While at the hairdressers I discovered that Serbian isn't so difficult after all.  The usual range of magazines was available, the latest scandals, fashions, makeup and cosmetic surgery of celebrities and footballers, most of whom I didn't recognise, but no matter, they are clones of the ones we are familiar with.  And I learned these "Serbian" words and phrases:

glamurozno i holivudski - glamorous and Hollywood-like
atraktivna - attractive
perfektan - perfect
autfit - outfit
dres-kod - dress code
seksepil - sex appeal (my personal favourite)
provokativan dekolte - prevocative decolletage
retrovisor - rear vision mirror
paparaco - paparazzo
fudbaler - footballer
Španska šou-biz scena - Spanish show-biz scene
tabloidi - tabloids
ekscentričnim - eccentric
političke ambicije - political ambition
novom albumu - new album
maskenbal - masked ball
fanovi - fans
fešn selekšn - fashion selection
karijere - career
rekornom roku - rock record
hitovi - hits

And there were lots more!  But they all speak so fast that I can't make these words out in normal conversation, so am reliant on Alek for translations.

More tomorrow ...

Thunderbolt controversy continues

Today I was interviewed via Skype for the docu-drama on the life of bushranger Captain Thunderbolt.  Don't know how it went, but hopefully what I had to say adds to the debate in a positive way.  The website for the movie is here www.thunderboltmovie.com and it should be out on dvd in December/January.

today in Brussels ....

More photos from my usual walks - see the album.

We also had a Skype conversation with Pierre, Shani, and Robbie.  Robbie's main conversation was "I'm trouble" which was pretty much true, he was in the background messing about with things he's not supposed to touch.  Very cute though, gave us big computer-screen kisses.  It must be warm at home because Shani was dressed in tiny shorts and top.  Though I note the CDBA regatta for today was cancelled, sounds like the weather is bad!  Here it's getting colder, and in Belgrade it's minus 5 so I hope I have enough clothes for the next part of our journey.  Tomorrow we leave for Serbia.  No more Belgian chocolate for a while .....

Christmas market



Christmas market stall

We drank gluhwein in the Grand Place today, so we know for sure that Christmas is nigh.  There is more and more chocolate in Brussels - see the picture of the chocolate Santa.  Also saw a larger than life chocolate Mannekin Pis, but my camera was out of action.  I'll catch him next time.
Yesterday I had some more meetings for work, but it was quite fun, I learnt a lot.  That's it for now, purely holidays now, with the exception of one day in Luxembourg.

The famous Berlaymont building in Brussels

Only one day more in Brussels, and then we are off to Serbia, via Germany, Switzerland, Austria and Hungary.  We are really looking forward to the train trip.

Getting ready for Christmas in the Grand Place

Today we again went into town, for no reason in particular, but we do like 'centreville' in Brussels.  People are buzzing around getting ready for Christmas, and the Grand Place has the beginnings of its decorations for the season.  A few days ago there was a wooden frame in place which today we realised is the creche.  We saw it years ago, they bring in live animals to be in the manger with Jesus Mary and Joseph - very quaint.  A giant Christmas tree is in place, and the centre of the Grand Place is in preparation for a sound and light show.

Around the edges are wooden structures covered with 'snow' and christmas lights, which now have intriguing signs like "Gluhwein" "Stollen" and "St Nikalaus", all in preparation for the Christmas Market.  It is really magic in the snow (we hope it snows!) with the twinkling lights and the sights and smells of the festive season - can't wait! 

We had Slow Food for lunch, it's quite nice to do the European thing and take your time over food, watching the world go by as you do so.

More photos will be loaded onto our album. 

Controversy surrounding bushranger Captain Thunderbolt



Barry's book

Today we are embroiled in controversy.  My brother, my sister and I have been contacted by the makers of a docu-drama about the Thunderbolt story.  Different people, some with a vested interest in making money out of this, have varying stories to tell.  This docu-drama on the life of Thunderbolt will be released shortly, the website is www.thunderboltmovie.com, final filming takes place this weekend. 

We've been asked for an interview for the movie, but as it was our brother Barry who did all the research, he is the only one who would have been qualified to comment, none of the rest of us have the extensive knowledge he had on the subject.  Unfortunately with Barry's death last year, the knowledge has died with him.  His papers are available, however, for anyone who may like to look into this thoroughly.

I brought a copy of the book with me, but I've just given it away, otherwise I may have been prepared to say something based on Barry's conclusions.  Interesting stories surrounding these bushrangers, look forward to the movie.

Tram to the Atomium



Atomium

Today we caught a tram to the end of the line - the Atomium.  If you haven't seen it before, check it out on the net.  It was built for Expo 58, and when we first saw it in 1986 it hadn't changed at all since 1958.  But from 2004-2006 it was extensively renovated, the old aluminium panels on the outside were replaced by stainless steel, and the inside had a total revamp too. A fun place to visit.  After this we went and bought les frites belges from the friterie and ate them in the sunshine while we waited for a tram to take us back. 

Instead of returning straight home we decided to visit the first place we lived in Brussels, which was Avenue Ernestine in Ixelles.  Close to there is the Abbaye de la Cambre, very impressive, so we wandered around there too, and also found the first school that Pierre and Daniel attended in Brussels - Le Petit Jardin de l'Elise.  It's got big iron gates so we couldn't actually go in, as it is Sunday, but we took a few pics to remind them of the happy times at school (ask them!).

Abbaye de la Cambre

Mountains out of molehills



molehills in Tervuren park

You might wonder why I took a picture of a molehill in the Woluwe Park.  As soon as I saw them I remembered our back garden in Waterloo, which was full of molehills.  Some of the neighbours called the 'taupiere' (the bloke who gets rid of moles) but I couldn't bear the thought of eliminating the little rascals - and why would you do that?  We also had hedgehogs living under our front porch.  In the spring there were babies, so cute.

For some strange reason when I'm out walking I'm always asked for directions.  Today it was two girls in a little car who pulled over and said "Excusez-moi, madame, nous sommes perdus, nous cherchons ...." I laughed and interrupted them, saying "Je suis australienne, et je suis perdu aussi!" and then I spotted the sign hanging from their rearview mirror which said "I LOVE (heart) MY P*NIS" (only it was spelt out fully) and I laughed some more.  They became really hysterical at that and couldn't stop laughing. 

Next I spotted coming down the road some Africans wearing pink ribbons, surrounded by police.  I thought it was a breast cancer parade, but no, it was Rwandans demanding freedom for Madame Victoire Ingabire Umuhoza, unjustly detained in Rwanda.  Apparently pink is the colour of freedom, as well as breast cancer.

I took some pictures today, of white swans and autumn colours - glorious. I've put these photos on Facebook.

Mediaeval times ....

folly in the park ...

I've just been for a long walk and came across this - so cute. 

We've been behaving like true continentals and doing our shopping every day, at a very leisurely pace. 

Yesterday we had lunch with an old friend from the Australian embassy in Brussels - now retired.  Klaus has been quite ill, and now has daily dialysis.  His wife Paulette has had surgery for a brain tumour.  I was thinking how lucky we all are because without medical interventions we would all be dead!  Me with cancer, Paulette because of the tumour, Klaus due to kidney failure, and Alek with heart disease or stroke.  Certainly we wouldn't have made it past middle age in mediaeval times.

All around people are getting ready for Christmas, I walked down the street and smelt mulled wine coming from the Marche de Noel.  But at least there hasn't been any annoying Christmas music, and with the cold, crisp, sunny days, it seems appropriate to be drinking mulled wine.  At least that's my excuse ....

Thursday night we had dinner at a Bosnian restaurant with our friends Svetlana and Marcel.  Marcel is still singing.  We had a great laugh, and too much good food.

In the park today I discovered the exercise equipment, so did some situps, but wished I had a mate to do it with as it wouldn't be so embarrassingly obvious.  More later ...

Catching up with old friends

Today we again took the Metro into town.  One visible difference between today's Brussels and the Brussels we knew 20+ years ago is the number of homeless people, and those begging on the streets - totally unknown in the past.  And an audible difference is that now we have the Tower of Babel.  In 1986 when we first arrived to live here, the EU had 12 members, then 3 more joined in 1987, adding three more languages. But with the addition of 10 new countries to the EU in 2004, and 2 more in 2007, there are now 23 official languages, plus of course Arabic, Iranian, numerous African and Asian languages - it's vibrant!

Boulevard St Michel, our apartment



We've just spoken on the phone to an old friend we haven't seen for around 17 years - we'll visit them tomorrow.  And tonight we are having dinner at a Bosnian restaurant with another friend we haven't seen for about 13 years.  How fortunate we are ...

Perfect sunshine yet again



Eco postie

Brussels has been perfect since we arrived, blue skies and sunshine.  I went for a long walk into the Schuman area, through Cinquentenaire - see the photos.

I decided I might like to take up a new career as a postie when I saw this cool vehicle for delivering mail.  She was parked outside our building and I was tempted to take her for a spin ...

Brussels from the Metro

Now I know the Metro is not very exciting, but it certainly is an efficient way to move people around.  Now I've got used to it again I like the idea of jumping on the train to where I want to go.  Our nearest stop is about 50 metres away from this apartment, but it is on a minor route and you have to change just up the road, so we walk to the next stop, about 500 metres away.  I have to look closely at the money to see what it is, they have 1 cent coins which look just like our old 1 cent coins, so that's not a problem, but the euro coins are more of a challenge. 

Grand Place

Today I went into town and did some training on the Delegation's new website, and got an early mark for being a quick learner - fancy that at this ancient age!  The training venue was right near the Grand Place so I rambled around there for an hour at lunchtime admiring the chocolate vendors, the Mannekin Pis souvenirs and the St Nicholas decorations and pastries (view of Grand Place).

Tomorrow we're intending to go to the Atomium, the Royal Palace, etc, but we'll see how we feel - we've got lots of time!  It's cold here but mainly blue skies, no rain so far.

Needless to say, I'm missing dragon boating, but at least getting plenty of exercise and fresh air.

Love to all, Jan

Monday in Brussels

Today I met up with a couple of people on work issues (boring!).  While I was doing this Alek went into the Australian Embassy to see people that he knew from his time there - 1986 to 1989, a very long time ago.  Needless to say, everything has changed.  You can no longer just walk casually in, they put you through a metal detector, you have to leave your mobile phone, camera, laptop, etc, outside.  Oh for the good old days.  There was security back then too, but the kids managed to work out the codes in 10 seconds flat and immediately had the run of the whole embassy.
So no sightseeing today, and I didn't take any photos today either.  This area (Montgomery) is quite interesting, very picturesque, lovely Art Deco buildings, and probably other eras too, but I know nothing about architecture.  There are a lot of embassies around here.  We are managing to navigate the Metro, which is very efficient, makes travel in the city very easy.  Of course we used it when we lived here, and it hasn't changed that much.

And the 'villo' system of bicycles is great too.  You put a coin in a slot - 1 euro 50 a day, or 7 euros a week, for a bicycle which belongs to the city.  You can ride it anywhere, and leave it at any of the other 'villo' spots, or bring it back to where you started.  Some bike lanes look great, others look a bit dangerous to me - sharing with buses for example.  Time we had this system in Oz too, especially Canberra, which is so good for bikes.  It's a great system to use in conjunction with public transport, it must take a lot of traffic off the roads.

More tomorrow, and probably more photos.  Hope all is well at home.  Miss you!

Now in Brussels



Abu Dhabi airport feature

It was a long trip from Australia, via Abu Dhabi (see feature from Abu Dhabi airport) but we finally made it to Brussels, on Friday 11/11/11. 

The first afternoon we walked the area, everything was closed as it was a public holiday for Remembrance Day.  The next day I was terribly sick, so we didn't do a thing. 

However, today (Sunday) we really made up for it as we walked for miles, to Cinquentenaire, and then on to the Grand Place, and then on an impulse, to Gare Centrale to catch a train to Waterloo, where we used to live.  We walked from the station to our old house, took some photos, and called in on our neighbours, who weren't home, and then walked back to the station.

our old house in Waterloo - looks the same at in the 80s!

I'll add some more photos to Facebook. 

Tomorrow is work, but we also spent some time today locating the places I'll need to go during the week.  It's like a dream returning to the old haunts.  More tomorrow ....

Leaving for Europe tomorrow!

People are asking for photos, but you may have to be content with a picture on this blog site!  However, we'll try, assuming we have your address of course.  A virtual postcard?  Much more likely.  Last day of work was yesterday (Tuesday) to give us time to finish off stuff at home, say farewell to family and friends, and finally, pack the bags.  How do you fit clothes for 2 1/2 months into 23kgs?  I need one of those steamer trunks like in the old Agatha Christie movies, especially for the Orient Express, which we are (almost) doing.  It's so long since we were in Europe, and I suddenly realised yesterday that all our trips were always business or first class, this will be a little different in economy, but I'm sure we'll survive.

Didn't even get a last paddle with the Flyers last night because of the rain ... and this morning to wake up to a lovely misty morning, almost like Dublin, but warmer (and there's a rosella outside the window).

Enjoy your warm Christmas, everyone, we are hoping to romp in the snow! (and do pushups, lunges and squats, as I promised Robyne).

Next post from Brussels! love, Jan