A long, noisy way to Morphée's arms

For the people who read my message of yesterday... Forget I said anything about the sundaymorning works at the railtracks near my window. Appearantly they also do night work. Till 02 am I had the privilege to listen to the harmonious sounds of construction workers before falling into Morphée's arms!... Sundaymorning at 08am doesn't seems so bad anymore :-)

Re-location... finally!

Well... After many long weeks of administrative work I picked up my keys of my new place. There isn't much to say about it. It's amazingly small & the picture actually says it all. On the contrary the apartment building has a great location, the street is very quiet & near the center, low rent as the building is quite old, trainstation, trams & busses at the end of the street, the Uni only 07 minutes walking and lots of cute little restaurants and pubs in walking distance.

It will be an intermediate solution untill all papers are ready & I'll have my residence permit. I think the only "negative" thing to say is that it's small, but in the same time also comfy and nice. It's just enough for me. And it's nice as well to be close to everything and everyone, as most of the people I got to know here, are living in the same area or building.

Yes, it definitly doesn't sound so bad at all... And the fact that where there is a trainstation there are also traintracks, which in this case are running underneath my window is also acceptable. First it's annoying, but after some days you don't even hear the intercity anymore that goes by 06 times an hour. What I also can understand is that people need to work on the railtracks to keep it safe, but not that it has to be on sundaymorning at 08AM!!! Especially not understandable for someone who just reached her bed two hours before...

Welcome in Belgium's Paradise ;-)

On the move...

As the university is about to start again these coming weeks my obligations in the Netherlands are finishing and starting in Brussels. Lots of paper work to arrange in both countries. As I can't go into my place at Brussels yet there is nothing much left then to travel up and down. In the beginning I didn't mind so much, but when having frequent (major) delays it's not so funny anymore! As the international train promotes on the outside with the new Fortis Banking slogan "Getting you there"...they indeed get you there, but not saying when or how :-(

- Brussels South trainstation -

But when arriving in Brussels it's great to be there!!! :-)))


- A part of the Uni @ BXL (main part of my department) -

For me the university of Brussels is huge and I'm getting to know my way a bit, but I still remain impressed by the gigantic places. The university is surrounded by a lot of nature. It looks like an enormous parc & gives a lot of great opportunities to study outside in the sun or to rest between classes. It reminds me of Central Park in Manhattan. It's quite nice because it's so near the center of the city, but when being there it seems like you are far away from it. No disturbing city sounds, no impatient drivers & cabs hunking annoyingly their car over 7th avenue. Only here and there some ambulance/fire/police sirenes going through the city.

I can't deny that despite the long days I enjoy the traveling as well. It's great to see so many different people with all their own stories. When arriving back at Delft (late in the evening) there were two ladies getting on the tram. They were quite old (above 70) but acting like in their twenties. They had a night out and were on their way home. The neighbourhood we where isn't so safe and mostly you don't see elderly people on the tram. Normally you can find them in big groups (during the day) on bus 60 or 64 going to "the Hoven", which is their "headquarter". But not these ladies! They just sat between the young ones, being fresh, full of energy and enthusiastic from their night out at the Bingo. By this I nominate these ladies for Grannies of the Year! ;-)

Sète & Agde

- Sète -

From Béziers I took some days as well to visit the little places Sète & Agde. In Sète I decided not to go to a tourist office and just wonder through the town and see what's on my way. It was simple and comfy. In Agde I tried differently, but got completly lost all the time and wanted to visit this one place, but after walking & searching for a long time I gave up and went back. Later I discovered by a maptown at the trainstation that I wasn't far away if I just walked a bit longer!...


- Agde -

When walking by a small parc in a side street in Agde I discovered a little group of old men playing "Jeux de Boules". I stopped to look and they were so enthousiastic that they told me endless stories about all and asking me to come play with them.

- My new "play friends" -

Escaping the cold

- Charleroi Airport, day of departure... -

During my holidays I had some weeks with great temperatures, but as this never last long in the north I also spend a long time in rain & cold. A good moment for me to pack my bags and go some place better...
Destination: Mr. B. 's @ Béziers :-)



It was a long travel as it seemed that everything was delayed and it took me forever to get there, but Mr. B. promised me to take me to the beach when arriving & go play some volleyball. The idea that I would be on the beach that same evening with a group of sweaty men playing volley kept me believing all will be fine. Unfortunatly ('cause of the delays) I arrived too late for the match, but Mr. B. took me out for a great beach walk and some warm chocolate milk and eventually this was even better than the sweaty men!


- Left & right bedroom view from 5 star hotel "Casa de Mr. B." -

During the day, when Mr. B. was working hard, I went out to discover Béziers by myself. There was a nice young lady at the Tourist Office who gave me a map of the city and some brochures for things to do & see. We spoke French the entire time, but as mine isn’t perfect she asked me if I wanted the French or English versions. I asked for the French (to practice a bit) and she looked at me concerned asking if I was sure. I told her it wouldn’t be a problem... she said OK and putted the English versions into the French ones just for “security” ;-)


- Allées Paul Riquet & Mr. Riquet "himself " -



- Cathédrale St-Nazaire & Palais de Justice -



- Place des Bons Amis -



- Plateau des Poètes -

The weekend was “Hand ball weekend”. On friday evening I went with Mr. B. to training, where I catched some nice playing tips from Coach and eventually had my sweaty men ;-) On saturday morning we took the car and drove to Prades where Mr. B. had to attend a handball tournament. There we also met Hervé (co-referee of Mr. B. and after this weekend my second favorite French guy!) I saw some matches here and there and accompanied Hervé to transfer young referees from one gymnasium (in Prades) to the other (in Jacou).

On saturday evening we drove to Frontignan where Hervé & Mr. B. had to referee two matches together. One moment I don’t see handball for weeks and the next moment there’s handball everywhere again. At the end it was tirening, but when finishing we went to Hervé’s home to spend the night there and meet his family.

I could sleep in the room of his daughters who had a high sleeper. After climbing into the bed and hitting my head a couple of times to the ceiling I found some sleep. In the morning it took me about 15 minutes to figure a way out how to climb out of the bed again. After surviving we had a nice French breakfast with Scooby Do!

Sunday was another day full of matches at the tournament in Prades, but as Mr. B. was injured and I couldn’t see any more sweaty men, we drove back to Béziers and spended the rest of the time there.


- View from Place de la Revolution I -



- Allées Paul Riquet -



- View from Place de la Revolution II -