10 Jul 2019

WORDLESS WEDNESDAY





It's hot !


more participants here
and Image-in-ing



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Tomorrow I will go on this tour ! It's in some way the continuation of the one I had done last year the Northern Tour



I will be away for 11 days ! But I will try to post where I am whenever I find time !

9 Jul 2019

TOUR DE FRANCE THROUGH BELGIUM


Eddy Merckx

I am not at all interested in bicycle races not even in the famous "Tour de France", but this time I couldn't ignore it because the tour crossed Waterloo and the little towns around. It was as if Trump would visit the Lion of Waterloo and Napoleons battle field, the streets were closed, police cars everywhere and helicopters stood on large enough places.  Of course it is very difficult to watch the participants, because they bike soo fast that you only see a colored line and turning wheels and then it's gone. But there were a lot of animations around and a festive ambiance was in the whole city.

On this occasion the King and Queen had received Eddy Merckx and his family who had been the best in the 70th.

I was lucky I have a friend who lives in an apartment on the 4th floor and I could overlook a part of the race. I did my best to get some pictures they are not of the best quality but still gives an idea how it was. 

The first Tour de France was staged in 1903. The plan was a five-stage race from 31 May to 5 July, starting in Paris and stopping in Lyon, Marseille, Bordeaux, and Nantes before returning to Paris.

During the World Wars the tours were cancelled.

In the early 1970s the race was dominated by Eddy Merckx a Belgian, who won the General Classification five times, the Mountains Classification twice, the Points Classification three times and a record 34 stages

The first tours were in France, although since the mid-1950s it has become common to do it in other countries, Andorra, Belgium, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Monaco, the Netherlands, Spain, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom have all hosted stages or part of a stage. Since 1975 the finish has been in Paris. You can read about the whole tour history here



















The road to the Lion



and once they had past !








more participants here

8 Jul 2019

AWWW MONDAY - WEEKEND JULY 6







Linking to AWWW MONDAYS

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WEEKEND

This weekend I started to prepare my vacations, which are not really vacations because I will do a tour around these countries.



Saturday I printed out the travel schedule and my flight tickets, checked the medication and what I have to bring along with me other then my suitcase with clothes. The tour will last 11 days, I leave on the 11 and come back on the 21 of July.

As for once since a long time the "Tour de France" crossed Belgium and also Waterloo, there was a very special ambiance in the whole city. One of my friends lives on the fourth floor in a building which overlooks the streets where the bikers would pass by, and there were lots of helicopters standing around, police everywhere and the main road crossing Waterloo  was closed.  I tried to take some pictures out of the window, unfortunately there were trees on the road, but still we could see a bit, the rest we saw at the same time on TV



Not the best quality but at least a memory !

In the News they were talking only about this tour, as if nothing else had happened in the world.

Sunday I continued my travel preparations and this time everything I have to take along for my computer. documents and pictures I would need on USB keys, and found out that another charging cable didn't work. I quickly went to the market where I had bought the case for my smartphone and a plug and bought another cable and a second plug to be sure that I can charge everything which needs to be  charged.

I also worked a bit in the garden pulled out weeds and put some new fake flowers in which were laying since weeks in the garage and prepared a list of everything I have to do before I leave. Mr. G. gets also a list so that he can't pretend that I haven't told him. With all that my head was exploding and I was quite stressed, always thinking that I would forget something.

As on Monday is my birthday, I had asked to go out for once together, and Mr. G. could hardly say no.  The new mussels had arrived and in nearly all restaurants you could eat them. They were delicious !