The beer tasted like nectar

When cleaning I came accross a letter from a pen-pal. It was fun reading again what she thought and did in June 1999, more than 10 years ago.

I wonder if she will be able to figure out it was her who wrote it, so I'll publish part of her letter here (don't worry, I'm leaving out all the juicy bits).

"Last month I went to *** for my friend's wedding. That was a lot of fun. I hung out with my girlfriends and one day I made a trip to *** to see friends there. It's the only time I got drunk. I know I was drunk because I kept saying that the beer tasted like nectar. That's a sure sign of intoxication.

When flying back I changed planes from a big one to a 19-seat "puddle jumper". We flew into a big dark cloud and the plane rocked and bobbed. I thought for sure that we'd crash. Sometimes it's nice to be wrong."

So, do you recognize yourself?

Movement School in Grimbergen

Today I went for the first time with our daughter to the movement school in Grimbergen. Every Sunday children from the age of 1,5 years can participate in group sessions. With the aid of balloons, carpets, toys, rings, hoops and much much more they explore their psychomotricity.

Ticket for sale for U2, Brussels

Wednesday September 22 U2 will play for an audience of 70,000 people at the Koning Boudewijnstadion in Brussels. I still have one ticket for sale. Just contact me here with your telephone number and email address if you are interested. The ticket is for Tribune 4 G, row 31

My Godson Niels

On August 30th, 2010, my brother and my sister-in-law became the proud parents of Niels, a small but healthy bundle of joy. At only 1,630 kg and 43,5 cm, you can hardly call him a new Harlem Globetrotter. But my one and only godson is quickly gaining weight and will surely catch up with my brother in no time.

Best wishes to the lucky mother and father of Niels, and I hope I'll be an excellent Godfather to him. Godfather, imagine that :) I will make him an offer he can't refuse.

Grimbergen Funfair

Grimbergen Centre has two funfairs : one in May (when there is also the Sint-Servaas Procession) and one in September (which coincides with the Yearly Market when cattle is sold). This year the festivities have been spread over 4 days (as opposed to the normal 3 days). Activities include the traditional fun fair (bumper cars, speed rides, roller coasters, chip shops and much much more) but also animal exhibitions, sheep dog training, horse-riding, market stalls etc.

It was our daughter's first fun fair, and she enjoyed herself on the merry-go-round. It was also nice to bump into old friends, family and acquaintances.

A day out with Otto Dix, Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, Erich Heckel, Karl Schmidt-Rottluff and Max Pechstein

On Saturday I will visit the famous Museum der Phantasie (aka. Buchheim-Museum), a museum in Bernried am Starnberger See. Named after Lothar-Günther Buchheim (writer of Das Boot), whose art collection it holds, it was opened to the public on 23 May 2001.

The building, designed by the architectural firm Behnisch, Behnisch & Partner, was completed in October 1999. It encompasses around 4,000 square meters and is designed to resemble a ship, with a jetty-like balcony extending out over the Starnberger See. In the surrounding park various sculptures are displayed.

The museum holds Buchheim's collection of expressionist art, with works by Erich Heckel, Emil Nolde, Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, Max Pechstein, and so forth. It also displays examples of folk art, African art, and Asian art which Buchheim collected during his travels. Paintings by Buchheim himself are also on display.

Source : wikipedia.org

Wedding games

I have had the pleasure of having been invited to some German weddings, and I have to say they know how to throw a party and organize games and activities. Maybe it has to do with the kind of friends we have, but often they are very creative. Here are three examples of how they manage to bring fun to the party.

1. A personalized wine cellar

The idea is simple: collect the e-mail addresses or telephone numbers of everybody who has been invited to the wedding, and ask them to bring a bottle of their favorite drink. Ask them to put a personalized sticker or picture on the lable of the bottle, and make or buy a wine rack in which to collect all the bottles during the party

Everytime the bride and groom open a bottle, they will remember the person who gave the bottle.

2. The BeWelcome / Hospitality Tile

Smash a big tile (50cm on 50cm) in pieces (as many pieces as there are couples present at the wedding) and give each couple one tile. The bride and groom get a wooden frame (also 50 x 50) and they have to collect the pieces by visiting the other couples during the next year

3. Handy-men

Every couple that has been invited, should perform some task for the bride and groom. This could be a task they choose themselves, or one that they have to pick blindfolded. The tasks could be for example baking a cake for the bride and groom, or washing the windows, or taking them to the cinema.

Tom Waits!

We found the perfect opening song for our wedding: Little Trip (to heaven) by Tom Waits. Both Claudia and I are big fans of him, and the lyrics fit very well to our wedding preparations. Furthermore the song is easy to dance to :)

a short excerpt:
"I don't need to take no trip to outer space
All I have to do is look at your face
And before I know it I'm in orbit around you
I thank my lucky stars that I found you"

Caitlin loves Jim Morrison

We were watching an episode of Classic Albums, a documentary series about pop and rock albums. This week's episode was about the debut album by The Doors. Caitlin was so fascinated when she saw Jim Morrison on screen. When he started singing Break on Through (to the Other Side) she completely freaked out. I'm sure she's going to be a beat poet :)

Looking for a First Dance Song

We are getting married (again LOL) on March 27th, and we are looking for a good First Dance Song (aka Wedding Dance Song). We don't care too much for those traditional songs (I would Die for You, Unchained Melody, ....) but are looking for something a bit more alternative.

Do you have some good suggestions? Please keep in mind that the lyrics should at least radiate happiness. So no "One" by U2, "Everybody Hurts" by REM or 'Papa was a Rolling Stone' :)

Oh, and I heard somebody got married with "Please Release me, let me go...", I can assure you: that is NOT a good opening song!

Claudia wins the France Photoguide competition

Great news! Claudia won first prize in the France Photoguide Competition, with her "Relax" photo taken in Etretat.

First prize is a week's holiday in which to discover France, from East to West!

- 1 weekend to discover Strasbourg: 3 nights in a double room including breakfast and 2 Strasbourg passes

- 3 days in Paris: a stay of 2 nights, including breakfast

- 3 days in St Malo: 2 nights in a youth hostel (double room, breakfast included) and a Sensation pass for a nautical activity of your choice;

Eurostar - A Bad Experience

I would like to share with you a bad experience I had with a competition organized by Eurostar on Facebook. The competition rules were very easy : Upload a picture or a quote with regard to "London & Love", and post it on their facebook fanpage. The 14 members who had the highest number of votes, would win. It specifically warned contestants to make sure their entry was about London & Love, otherwise they would be disqualified.

I invited all my friends, bullied them into voting for my picture (which i'm happy to say was not a silly snapshot but a very nice picture) and I ended up 15th. Ok, so I lost. It's not the end of the world. 14 others scored better, right? Well, not really. Out of the 14 winners, at least 2 did not refer to London AND love, and one didn't even have ANY reference to either love or London.

According to the rules, they should have been disqualified, which would also mean that my picture would have won. So you can say I have been cheated out of 2 train tickets.

I have tried to contact Eurostar, but they "refuse to discuss the competition". So I will take it one level higher, and contact Test Aankoop/Test Achat.

If anybody else feels he has been cheated, you can always contact me here below.

Laura Veirs in Concert

Photo: copyright David Belisle

Last night I went to a Laura Veirs' concert in the Ancienne Belgique (AB) in Brussels. We got 3 concerts for the price of one. That is the great thing about Brussels, concert prices are still reasonable. For 12 euro you can see an upcoming band, and the big groups will only set you about 30 to 40 euro back. I remember seeing Crowded House for 20 euro, Randy Newman will be appearing in the AB for 'only' 34€ and I managed to get tickets to the U2 concert for 35 euro.

Last night we first had a concert by The Old Believers. Normally this is a duo, but today only Nelson Kempf found the way to the AB Club. He started with an a capella song, followed by a wonderfully pretty song about his granny (called appropiately "Granny's Song". It was nice to see this kid with his guitar, a bit shy in this intimate club. He's not the most talkative performer we have seen, and his songs sometimes seem to be unfinished little stories, but his careless attitude won the hearts of the audience and he even made them sing a song with him (the highlight of his performace IMHO)

The second 'group' was called Cataldo, and again only one member turned up: Eric Anderson. He looks a bit like that other famous singer/songwriter whose name starts with an E. The same beard, similar voice and the same simple honest songs. I loved "Wedding Cake" and especially "My heart is calling/following". Cataldo is a group to keep an eye out for.




And then it was time for Laura Veirs and band...a band that consisted of the previous two guitar players (Eric and Nelson) and Alex Guy (who did not look at all like a guy) on the violin/viola. Laura Veirs was wearing a polkadot pregnancy dress (she's due in April) but that didn't stop her from rocking on a great Danelectro guitar (model '59 if i'm not mistaken). She played some songs from her new album July Flame, including the radio hit (in Belgium) "Wide-eyed, Legless". Both in appearance and style she reminded me of Suzanne Vega, with a twist of Tori Amos for good measure. A very pleasant concert (although too short). I also missed my favourite song "Galaxies"...but maybe that was because I was mesmerized by the wonderful poetic atmosphere?

Getting Maried...Again

Claudia and I got married almost 2 years ago, but we decided to do it again. Not that we got divorced or anything, but last time it was a very small, sober ceremony. When we got married in Aachen we just invited our parents and brothers. But this time we want to share our happiness with everyone we love. So if you happen to be in Grimbergen on March 27th, why not drop by for a drink?

The schedule so far is :

- Church service at 4 pm in the Grimbergen basilica
- From 5pm till 6.30 pm an intimate reception service at my mum's shop, Abdijstraat 17 (100 metres from the church)

Please let us know if you will attend this. We'd love to see you

Laura Veirs - AB

I have two tickets to the Laura Veirs concert in the Ancienne Belgique (AB) here in Brussels. For those of you who have never heard of her: Laura is an American singer-songwriter from Colorado who lives in Oregon. Her first album was recorded live and featured just her voice and guitar. Other albums are more "band-based" accompanied by veteran musicians such as Bill Frisell, Amy Denio and Fred Chalenor.

Check out her website on Laura Veirs where you can download two free songs from her latest album "July Flame"

Picture : copyright David Belisle

Living in the Bermuda Triangle

Sometims it feels like we are living in the Bermunda Triangle, and everything is disappearing.

At the moment we are looking for the following missing stuff:

- my jacket
- Claudia's Jewel box
- Caitlin's doll
- Claudia's sling
- a voucher for Dreamland
- a gift for a friend
- the key to the mailbox

We have looked everywhere, but can't find any of this stuff...no clue where it could have gone. I hope it all turns up soon