Brussels Stories: May 2006

Sunday, May 28, 2006

Geneva, CH

(I can't get rid of this giant gap, sorry)

Recently we made a trip to Geneva, Switzerland (city page and travel guide). Situated on the south end of Lake Geneva or Lac Leman where it drains into the River Rhone that has just meandered out of France for a brieff distance. Appropriate as it is also the home to the UN. We were fortunate to have 3 out of 4 days with excellent weather.
	Started the visit off by renting a couple bicycles. Best way to see a large portion of a smallish place like that. Promptly upon arrival I found a kiosk that had free bikes are for rent. Turns out there were several located in town, mostly along the lake and staffed by asylum seekers. From here the best tour of Geneva ever started. Though I was starving and tired, once I climbed on the bike there was no stopping me. First I went NE along the lake side, through the botanical gardens. A very nice place currently with a display on biodiversity and its importance. Had gardens with products displayed next to the plant species it was derived from.
	From there I skirted around the UN. They wouldn't let in a dude on a bright orange bike. As a result I ended up in a town called Pregney, part of the canton of Geneva. Finally stopped for water here, and carried on SW along the lake to downtown Geneva. For some reason all these fountains everywhere where pouring out 'eau potable'. Whatever it is it sure tasted good! By the way, the UN has released the top 10 news stories not being told for 2006.
	I was enjoying the water side so much I stuck to it through town and out the other side along the river.
	Here where the end of Lake Geneva meets with the River Rhone I crossed on a railway bridge, after a very long climb up a very long stair case, with that very heavy bike. But with every wicked uphill 'should' be a very wicked downhill. And there was this time. Again I followed the river back into town and continued up the lakeside on the south side of the lake this time. Too many bugs forced me to turn around and head back into town. After a break for lunch and some clueless wandering I decided to turn the bike back in, head to the hotel, and watch some German MTV (they really like Viva la Bam). This is where the rivers met: draining Lake Geneva (blue water) and the River Rhone (grey water) from France.
	If you plan your trip to Geneva well enough in advance you can book a tour of the CERN particle accelerator and part birthplace to the WWW. You even get to go in and see part of the accelerator that goes from Switzerland to France and back.
	Sunday we hopped a bus for Annecy, France (location, travel guide & webcam of castle). Coolest little town I have been in since Fernie. Annecy had canals (I think they were too fast flowing to be called canals, but whatever), neat castle, and was on a lake in the mountains. We visited on a Sunday, during the towns main weekly market. Among good local food and neat garbage was this street performer, his guitar, and 2 puppets: Annecy performer video: 3 sec., 1.6 MB

	While there we had the opportunity to check out the castle in town. Very nice, with some of its art, and scenery seen here. My favirite part f this was the building itself, with the stone, wood beams, deep windows and spiral staircases. It was easy to get lots of nice pictures in here. Though there was a cost to enter it was less than 2E, so well worth it.
	a bird over the canal, and a bit of Canada in this small northern French town.

Highlights of Geneva: Jet d'eau, eating at Manora on rooftop of Manor, biking the lake and river trails.
Highlights of Annecy: Castle, canals, mountain/lake views.

# posted by Us : 11:48 p.m. 1 comments

Monday, May 15, 2006

Antwerp continued: pictures

As promised, though a week late - Antwerp pictures. Found it hard to get decent pictures here, not allot to take pictures of.

Petro Paulo, with Cathedral of our Lady in the background.

Some castle that was once a prison and now a scheepvaart museum.

Some restored back street, very cute.

mmmmm I say.....

# posted by Us : 8:17 p.m. 1 comments

Rethinking global maps

Ever seen those lists or tables of data that display social characteristics of some sort or another and wondered what they really mean? Well, this isn't the answer, but it will help you visualize what some of those stats mean. Territories are re-sized on each of these 92 maps according to certain criteria displaying social and spacial inequities based on populations:

# posted by Us : 1:22 p.m. 0 comments

Saturday we made a day trip to Antwerp. Its a 40 min., 13Euro (round trip for 2) ride that ends up at the second largest port in Europe on the river Scheldt. Once you leave the train you (and a thousand other people) walk up Rue Meir to the old city. This is a very long shopping street. Among the other main attractions to Antwerp are the Cathedral of Our Lady (built 14th - 16th century), one of the world's oldest zoos at Antwerp Zoo, and its history as a global trade center for centuries (a long time ago). Antwerp has switched hands many times over the years, as has much of Belgium. It was a tax grab for the Dutch as merchants were using this port to enter Europe and one of Napoleon's prized possessions as a strong hold against Britain in the 18th century, calling it "a rifle pointed at Britain". The city's main source of wealth and power over the years has been its control over the European diamond market.

Because are internet is currently under sanctions (we exceeded our traffic limit last month) I will not be posting images of our day in Antwerp until Thursday. (Thursday I may also have some news on a famous visitor we will have in our office this week.) So in place of pictures I will give an introduction to a darker side to Belgium's history. Though the country has been controlled by the French, Dutch, English, Germans,... over and over again, it has had control over other countries of its own:

King Leopold II (April 9, 1835 - December 17, 1909) helped make Belgium a rich country in the late 1800's on the backs of the rubber factory he built out of the country of the Congo. The people and governmement of Belgium were not interested in acquiring external property so in 1876 he organized a private holding company disguised as an international scientific and philanthropic association. The Congo Free State was King Leopold II's personal property from 1885 until its annexation by Belgium in 1908. Average estimates of the death toll are 8.5million people, or half the countries population. (The range is 5 to 15million)

The situation in the congo was brought to public light in works by Mark Twain, Arthur Conan Doyle, and "Heart of Darkness" by Joseph Conrad, etc. The most famous factual story (with some embellishment) is the book King Leopold's Ghost by Adam Hochschild. There are some recent works produced by BBC and others.

Vachel Lindsay wrote, based on the tradition of cutting off a hand of the people in entire villages:
"Listen to the yell of Leopold's ghost
Burning in Hell for his hand-maimed host
Hear how the demons chuckle and yell
Cutting his hands off, down in Hell."

# posted by Us : 4:08 p.m. 0 comments