#belgium life

[sunshine-full-of-stars]

I know it’s been AGES since we have posted on our tumblr account, but we have some very exciting news!

We are FINALLY getting married!💍

It’s hard to believe that this is happening after almost 10 years (in June) of meeting on tumblr. The countless days and nights spent apart the first (almost) 3 years. Moving to another county and finally closing the distance. Getting a job with a permanent contract and finally buying a house! Lots of exciting things have been happening. Never in a million years did I think I would meet a random person on here that would end up meaning the world to me💜

I can’t wait to marry you @notbr0ken-justbent I love you so much 💕

[gentlemanmotorslifestyle]

[half-a-life]

Loving someone is giving them the power to hurt you, but trusting them not to.

Tommy Brown (Criminal Minds)

Mushroom

Marche-en-Famenne, Belgium 🇧🇪

[stopkillinggames]

Welcome to the stop killing games tumblr account (community run btw) I will try what I can to reach to the community here and try to get the signatures we need for the EU petition, if you are an EU citizen and of voting age, you can sign it.

⬇️⬇️⬇️⬇️⬇️

[mikerickson]

8/29/2024 - 9/6/2024

If I had a nickel for every time I took a vacation in a small European naval power that historically punched above its weight in global affairs I'd have two nickels, which... ah, you know the rest.

Just got back from a trip to the Netherlands and Belgium that was basically: Amsterdam -> Apeldoorn -> Utrecht -> Den Haag -> Brussels -> Ghent -> Amsterdam. I will now proceed to talk to myself about the highlights below the cut.

Still can't sleep on planes. I even took a sleeping pill and bought a fancy new neck pillow thing to help, but instead I was just exhausted and strangling myself. My dinner also didn't sit well with me, so every time I was about to fall asleep, my gag reflex would trigger and I felt like I was gonna throw up. Seven hours of this was not very relaxing.

Landed at ass o'clock in the morning local time and had 6 hours to kill before hotel check in. I've always read that spending time outdoors in natural sunlight helps regulate your circadian rhythm and can fight jet lag, so I took us to look at some windmills. This was kind of a blur and I'm not certain it made much of a difference because I did end up crashing and taking a nap in the afternoon anyway.

Acknowledging that I am biased about this because I am 1) American and 2) literally a traffic engineer by trade, I simply cannot describe the Netherlands as anything other than "car-hostile". I felt actively unsafe driving around each city we visited because there are so many people on bicycles everywhere, who have right of way. Hell, even as a pedestrian I didn't feel safe because they come at you from every direction and you gotta keep your head on a swivel at all times. In The Hague I watched a woman get knocked into by a cyclist who just shouted over her shoulder "Let op voor fietsen!" ("Watch out for bikes!") and carried on.

Amsterdam ended up being more interesting than I was expecting and now I kinda wish I had dedicated one more day for it in the itinerary. Convenient and easy mass-transit system, some of the best bookstores I've ever been in, and beautiful canals everywhere you look.

Were I forced to describe the geography of the Netherlands, I would have to call it "suspiciously flat." I also got to continue my tradition of traveling to foreign countries, seeing literal hundreds of spinning wind turbines all over the place, and seething with jealousy.

Utrecht was a neat, smaller city with a central canal that I wish I had set aside more time for. Felt like a place where you'd actually want to live more than a touristy city.

The Mauritshuis in The Hague is where Vermeer's Girl with a Pearl Earring is located, and you know that before you even get to that room because she's plastered on 99% of everything for sale in the gift shop right at the entrance.

When we drove over the Netherlands-Belgium border, it started getting overcast. These gray skies hung around for four days, and dissipated as soon as we traveled back north on the final day. All of my memories of this country will now have a gray/de-saturated filter on them.

I know Brussels has a reputation of being a run-down or dangerous city among Europeans, but it just felt like a regular American city to me (specifically like the architecture/street layout of Boston with the political importance of Washington DC). Like, I don't know what to tell you, sometimes cities have visible homeless people, unsightly graffiti, and ethnic minority neighborhoods? It's gonna be okay, I promise. Amsterdam felt like Weenie Hut Jr. by comparison.

Going through the European Parliament building was very cool and very well laid-out and informative. Definitely a personal highlight of the trip for me.

The Belgian War Museum kinda just felt like some rich guy's personal collection of artifacts the public shouldn't have had access to? Not a lot of labels explaining what you're looking at in any language.

Belgian chocolate is fine. Not bad, but I mean it's chocolate, that's hard to screw up, you know?

During my research before this trip I kept seeing a general consensus that Bruges is super touristy and sanitized and feels fake and that Ghent was better for a more "authentically" preserved medieval center. I'm glad I opted to go there instead because it exceeded my expectations. Awesome architecture everywhere you turn, way fewer crowds than I expected, and it still felt lived in by modern people rather than a giant open-air museum.

Literally did not see a single physical Euro at all on this trip. Both of these countries are entirely cashless societies, and everyone (both tourists and locals) used chip readers and contactless payment for damn near every interaction. If anything, I saw tons of "Card Only/No Cash" signs and none of the opposite.

[vintageeurope]

Ostend, Belgium 1870/1900

[vintage-every-day]

The Swans Walk, Antwerp, Belgium, 1949 by Aart Klein.

[mothmiso]

Sneeuw, december 2009 (2) (3) (4) by Michel Vuijlsteke

[nargneppon]

Insta doodle req( ^ω^ )

[dumblr]

Brussels, Belgium 🇧🇪

[kleefkruid]

Finally can tell you guys that Danny officially became a co-owner of the tattoo studio they work at! Very very exciting, if you want to pay a visit or just keep up here's their tattoo instagram and this is the shops account. There will be an event to celebrate this, I'll let you know when I know more!

[gentlemanmotorslifestyle]

[half-a-life]

Your naked body should only belong to those who fall in love with your naked soul.

Charlie Chaplin in a letter to his daughter, Geraldine

Forest

Marche-en-Famenne, Belgium 🇧🇪

[noviembreshot]

me resultas familiar, octubre 24, plaza del renacimiento, ciney

[teamedstud]

23.09.2024

In love with Mons’ library! 📑🍂🍁

[miguelwantstofight]

25-10-2024

Sunset in Ghent 🌆