Tagged With "Royal Family of Belgium"
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Re: Nov. 12, 2016: Memorial to Women of WW II, London
The Cenotaph in London is a remembrance of all the war dead from all the British Empire. Canada, India, Australia, South Africa and many more. They all send servicemen to represent their own countries in a march past. Did you know that Belgium has a parade of armed soldiers at the London Cenotaph too ? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iT6ChvVoPNQ
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Re: England's Thames Path: Kew Palace
Fascinating stop! As I seem to recall, George was one of your ancestors? Do I remember this correctly?
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Re: England's Thames Path: Kew Palace
"...George was one of your ancestors?" No, though no doubt related somehow. But he is a favorite, seems kinder & more interesting than most of them.
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Re: England’s Thames Path: Kew Gardens
My wife Diane and I spent almost an entire day at Kew Gardens. So much natural beauty to see. We arrived from central London at the Kew Station in mid-morning and didn't leave until almost dusk. At one time our son had a possibility of being transferred to London and I recommended getting a place in the Kew Garden area for the beauty and quiet. One of my photos from Kew.
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Re: Nature in England: Snettisham Bird Reserve
Love seeing birds in large flocks, like you experienced here! Wonderful experience!
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Re: Comics in Brussels
I must admit that this was one of my biggest surprises when visiting Belgium. One thinks of folks in Brussels as people who are obsessed with politics, because it's everywhere around them. I found wonderful, helpful, easy-going folks with a quirky love of their comics. Comics, as Travellinn's piece points out so well, are everywhere and a part of their national fiber. Thanks for sharing this piece!
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Re: How a super-ship manages 12-hour turnaround
Sometimes when I'm in Vancouver I head to Canada Place to watch the cruise ships coming and going. You actually get to see the belly of the ship being loaded. The dozens of palates of food that go on is amazing. Would you have thought a cruise ship would consume 3 massive containers of potatoes in a week? 2 of onions? Might even have been more, that's all I saw. It is truly a model of efficiency.
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Re: Midland Provincial Park, Alberta
My Grand Father worked in UK Coalmines around the 1900s . Stories he could tell were both amazing and scarey. Miners were exempt from War Service during WW1 as they supplied an "Essential Service". Women were employed at the Mines but never went below ground. Mules were used below ground - pulling bogeys - and never came back to the surface during their lives.
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Sarine Arslanian
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Re: Sometimes a Trip is just a Walk in the Park
I've often advised travelers with jam-packed itineraries to step back and leave themselves time to take a walk in a park or sit there a while, experiencing what the locals see and do. That is absolutely excellent advice. I hope that most people were wise enough to take your advice. Many of my best trip memories are made of such stuff. Thank you so much, PHeymont, for this walk in the park. It is just what my jangled nerves needed today.
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Re: Sometimes a Trip is just a Walk in the Park
I suspect a walk in the park is a habit acquired over time and familiarity with a place. I have a feeling, too, that the urge to go at top speed is the initial and overriding one. Or is it years and not travel experience that slows us down enough for such places to finally come into focus? Looking back over the decades I think maybe it's the latter.
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Re: Sometimes a Trip is just a Walk in the Park
I do think people's perspectives and priorities change with time. For example, I care little about a bar or nightlife scene in most of my destinations nowadays; that mattered more to me when I was much younger. I have always loved walking in parks because of the beautiful gardens, etc. But I think i'm much more into people watching in these places than I used to be. One of my favorite places to visit is the provincial park a short block from my home. It's grand to go for a walk in it, see...
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Re: Sometimes a Trip is just a Walk in the Park
Maybe travel advice of the very concrete sort then, hotels, trains, etc. is the most satisfying for all concerned. A suggestion to slow down just may not compute, something for each of us to discover on our own. So PHeymont may be preaching to the choir...may he continue.
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Re: Sometimes a Trip is just a Walk in the Park
Good advice is good advice. People can accept it or ignore it. I'm all for freedom of choice. But sometimes an alternative needs to be presented in a clear way, as PHeymont has nicely done in this piece.
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Re: Sometimes a Trip is just a Walk in the Park
I don't disagree. Just pointing out the nature of human beings and, like world peace, we can wish for it while not actually expecting everyone to join in. But lessons are learned from war too and how would we feel about every tourist in town flocking to OUR park.
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Re: Sometimes a Trip is just a Walk in the Park
I've mentioned in other pages that I love wide open spaces - like the State Delaware Park - but the designer of New York Central Park rung a Bell with me. Frederick Olmsted came to Liverpool to check out the "Peoples Garden" and he wrote in 1850 : "Five minutes of admiration, and a few more spent studying the manner in which art had been employed to obtain from nature so much beauty, and I was ready to admit that in democratic America there was nothing to be thought of as comparable with...
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Re: Sometimes a Trip is just a Walk in the Park
It is clear that the "dumb" animals always seem to know the best places to hang out. We can never have enough parks. Nice to read that Frederick Olmsted also knew a good park when he saw one. Thanks for that info GarryRF
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Re: Sometimes a Trip is just a Walk in the Park
Garry's note about Olmsted's travels (and he was quite a traveler) set me off on a quick look to find the park he was referring to (which I didn't; apparently "people's garden" was a description rather than a name?) and found that Liverpool has more parks and especially top-class parks than any British city besides London. The article also mentioned that for reasons of health—and keeping social unrest down—the city commissioners set out on a park-building spree starting about 1833. Many...
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Re: Sometimes a Trip is just a Walk in the Park
Re: Sometimes a Trip is just a Walk in the Park
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Re: Sometimes a Trip is just a Walk in the Park
Another Park from the 1850s. People would escape Liverpool for the day and travel north to Hesketh Park. 20 minutes on the train. This is taken in Mid-Winter.
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Re: Sometimes a Trip is just a Walk in the Park
Originally Posted by Grouchy Gumbo: The last pic is of my cousin Priscilla, who lives in Prospect Park. I see that you gave her a little gnosh. Not that she needs it. She seems to be putting on a little extra "winter coat" this year. She has a fine home. I would really like to visit the park sometime. Grouchy, I'm curious how a squirrel manages long distance travel to visit relatives. Maybe you can enlighten us mere mortals.
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Re: Where in the World is Gumbo? (11/20/13)
Looks like something from Holland or Belgium. Howabout Antwerp, Belgium! (??)
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New gonzo cruise ship even has sky-diving!
In the race to think up more features to add to cruise ships, Royal Caribbean is looking up...with a top-deck skydiving simulator on its newest ship, Quantum of the Seas, which has just started operating out of the New York area. Would you believe...
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Gumbo's Pic of the Day, December 13, 2014: Gödöllő
The Royal Palace of Gödöllő sits on the outskirts of Budapest and it was there I was taken one day by streetcar from the center of the city by dear friend, Zoli. A serious photographer with a wonderful eye, he and I walked all...
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How a super-ship manages 12-hour turnaround
Today's (Mar 22) NY Times has a fascinating article on the "backstage" operation involved in getting 6000 passengers off a ship, washing 93,000 pounds of linens, loading up all the food and water, and getting the next 6000 passengers out to...
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Europe Takes Issue with Gulf Carriers, too
First, the American legacy carriers (American, Delta and United) had a press conference on March 5, stating Emirates, Qatar and Etihad are violating the fair-play terms of their nations' "Open Skies" agreements with the U.S. by...
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Cruise lines drop Puerta Vallarta over violence
Recent street fights between armed drug gangs and Mexican police and troops in Puerta Vallarta have cancelled several cruise's port calls, and curtailed others. Royal Caribbean's Jewel of the Seas, Disney's Wonder and Celebrity's Infinity have...
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Volendam and Edam, the Netherlands: A Historic Riverfront Adventure
AmaWaterways river cruise ship AmaCerto leaves Amsterdam heading for Volendam and Edam. Gliding north along the Markermeer and Ijsselmeer rivers, the ship arrives just after lunch for a tour of the towns now united under one municipality. ...
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Gumbo's Pic of the Day, March 8, 2015: Bernkastel-Keus, Germany
Bernkastel-Keus is a beautiful small town situated on the banks of the Moselle in Germany. The town has a traditional marketplace with timber-frame houses and flowers decorating the facades. The district is known for its wine (mainly...
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Norway: Don't scare the bears!
Norway's Arctic archipelago of Svalbard is serious about protection for its endangered species.
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Apr. 20, 2017: World's Longest Train Journey?
A new rail route provides the first-ever direct service between England and eastern China.
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Eating in Bruges: Tourist scam or bonus for locals?
Do restaurant discounts limited to locals help residents survive gentrification, or do they rip off travelers? It’s all in how you look at it!
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One Day in Mons, Belgium
A small city that's not on many itineraries...but SpacesXPlaces shows us why it should be!
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From the Shoebox: Europe 1960
Images recovered from teenage travels over a half-century back lead PHeymont down memory lane.
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Nature in England: Snettisham Bird Reserve
Kirsten Hines, a lover and documenter of nature, continues her journey of discovery in England with a stop at the Snettisham Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) Reserve.
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Congratulations to Ian Cook!
Ian Cook's evocative B&W photo of the Anderton Boat Lift has been accepted by the Royal Photographic Society for inclusion in an upcoming exhibition tour. Congratulations, Ian!
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Air Berlin ends Oct. 28, news soon on Alitalia
Air Berlin sets the date for the end of all flights, while Alitalia has a couple of weeks left to learn its fate.
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Europe's fastest-growing airports are near unknowns
Europe's air traffic continues to grow, sometimes in surprising places!
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Grecia's Red Metal Church, Costa Rica (Where Gumbo was #372)
Gumbo was visiting the unusual all-steel church in the Costa Rican community of Grecia. The steel plating was made in Belgium and shipped overseas, being delivered to the site by train and ox cart.
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Belgium and Sweden see night-train link
Sweden's plan for an overnight sleeper to Cologne has now been extended to Brussels—but Germany may have lost its enthusiasm for the project.
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12 Countries ask vouchers instead of refunds
With no new business, and thousands of flights canceled, airlines are bleeding cash; now 12 European countries want to cut them some slack.
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Dunkin Donuts set to invade Belgium
An American donut chain is preparing to go head-to-head with Belgian patisseries.
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Hobbyhorse riding gets first tournament
The Flemish Equestrian League is working to bring hobbyhorsing to greater heights. It says the sport is also popular in Finland, Sweden and Germany.