Tag: travel
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If it’s October, this must be Belgium (#6)
Bruges (or Brugge, as the case may be) Monday, October 20, 2025 Day trip to Bruges? There was a good chance of rain, but we decided to go for it. Up and out, to the Gare du Midi, to catch the train (an easy one-hour ride) to Bruges, a world-class trading center and economic powerhouse…
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If it’s October, this must be Belgium (#5)
Ixelles and Art Nouveau Sunday, October 19, 2025 Our Lonely Planet travel book (sorry, Rick Steves, you are not the only act in town) mapped out an Art Nouveau walking tour. Belgium claims to be the birthplace of this style of art and architecture popular during the Belle Epoque period (between 1890 and 1910). It…
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If it’s October, this must be Belgium (#4)
The Upper Town Walk Saturday, October 18, 2025 The Lower Town of Brussels, which we visited yesterday, is more the old renaissance, bourgeois, commercial part. The Upper Town is more the aristocratic, royal part. The start of Rick Steves’ Upper Town Walk is the statue of Godfrey of Bouillon (1060 – 1100). He is famous…
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If it’s October, this must be Belgium
The Grande Place Walk Friday, October 17, 2025 One of the many things we like about traveling the apartment-rental route is the absence of fixed schedules. On a guided group tour, we’d wake to an alarm, rush to the hotel dining room for a buffet breakfast, and then meet in the lobby before being bused…
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If it’s October, This Must Be Belgium
Getting acquainted with Brussels October 14-16, 2025 We’d had fears regarding the U.S. government shut-down affecting air travel. As it turned out, getting to Brussels was easy-peasy and on-time. We arrived on the morning of October 15 and our VRBO host, Simon, was there to let us drop off our luggage. This was early morning,…
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If It’s October, This Must Be Belgium
Upcoming Vacances/Vakantie for Stef and Stan October 10, 2025 (Apologies to Stan Margulies and Mel Stuart, Producer and Director of “If It’s Tuesday, This Must Be Belgium,” 1969.) Why Belgium? Many have asked! Here’s why: We wanted a good place for culture, food, history, sight-seeing, and one with fast/easy train connections to other destinations. And…
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“Mamma Mia, Here We Go Again…”
Last Day in Helsinki: Finn-tastic! Saturday, June 28, 2025 Yesterday (Friday) was a hard act to follow, but we gave it “the old college try”. This morning, we walked to the Temppeliaukio Church (“Rock Temple”), designed by the brothers Timo and Tuomo Suomalainen and opened in 1968.(Pictures below, top and bottom right, are from the…
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“Mamma Mia, Here We Go Again…”
Almost at the Fin[n]ish Line Friday, June 27, 2025 Friday was a highpoint of the trip! First stop was the Helsinki Synagogue. We had failed to submit our documentation in advance; the kind but professional security guard offered to examine our passports and emails from another synagogue (the one in Tallinn, which we didn’t have…
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“Mamma Mia, Here We Go Again…”
Estonia is great, I’m Tallinn ya! Thursday-Friday, June 26-27, 2025 I wanted to subtitle this post, “Eesti meets Westsiders” (“Eesti” is the Estonian name for Estonia). But Stef overruled me. The Tallink ferry, “MyStar“, was more like a luxurious ocean liner than, say, the Staten Island Ferry. We were among 2,800 passengers who left Helsinki…
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“Mamma Mia, Here We Go Again…”
What the Hel[sinki]…. Wednesday, June 25, 2025 Finland was under Swedish rule until 1809, when the Swedes lost Finland to Russia. The Finns won their independence in 1917. But then they lost it again under the Nazi-Soviet pact of 1939, when they had to fight the Russians to a cease-fire in 1944. Nonetheless, Finland established…
Something to Declare 