Unsustainable Inequalities1
South of the Border, West of the Sun1
Sputnik Sweethart1
Steve Jobs1
No Filter1
How to avoid a climate disaster1
Extension du domaine de la lutte1
Icebound: Shipwrecked at the Edge of the World1
Stupeur et Tremblement1
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We were part of a small group of 13 people. The guide toured us for about an hour through the man-made labyrinth, showing us charcoal drawings on the walls and the vault created in second world war to protect art from the violence and destruction. Rembrandt’s The Night Watch was rolled up and stored there for three years. We had three lanterns, one for the guide, one for last person and I carried the third one in the middle of the group. Without the lanterns, logically, it’s pitch black which the guide let us experience for a brief moment, to the exaggerated horror of some. Incredible that people have worked in these corridors for centuries, carving marlstone and hauling it out of the depths. Today, there still is one mushroom farm operational.
We decided to keep the car parked at the Fort. With €6.50 for a day, it offers quite cheap parking compared to the downtown parking garages. and go on foot to our lunch reservation at Harry’s Restaurant in the city center on the other side of the Meuse river: a nice twenty-something minute walk, which led us along the Jeker river and the Nolens park.
At the restaurant, we stared with some oysters and choice three dishes. These are small/medium sized and the concept of this open kitchen restaurant is that you pick two to five courses out of seven options, to create your own multi-course experience. We settled on three courses each. Only our first course choice was different: gnocchi for me and Beef tataki for TingTing, followed by Red Snapper and Guinea Fowl for both of us. Great meal, very fine, delicious food. I heartily recommend this restaurant.
After lunch we walked the city center visiting the ‘most beautiful bookstore‘ located inside an old church, which is indeed quite nice, and enjoying the overall atmosphere of the city with lot’s of people strolling the shopping streets and enjoying food & drinks on the many terraces. Although these looked inviting, we had a hard deadline to meet with the closing time of our smallest son’s daycare. So we headed back to the car and back to Belgium.
A nice day, in a nice city.
]]>With four books in Dutch and two in French, 2020 is a high point for both languages, compared to other years of the last decade. I’ll try to continue reading at least one book in French every year.
Back in 2017 I read Alain Mabanckou’s ‘Black Moses’ in English, which was my introduction to this author. I’m very happy to have read this year his ‘Demain j’aurai vingt ans’ and ‘Les cigognes sont immortelles’ in their original language. Both books I heartily recommend.
The best work of fiction I’ve read in 2020 is a Dutch classic: Harry Mulisch ‘De aanslag’. A book which is very to the point and that leaves the reader impressed. In English, I was impressed by An Yu’s debut novel ‘Brased Pork‘, which has a Murakami vibe.
In the non-fiction section I found Amy Stanley’s ‘Stranger in the Shogun’s City’ a very interesting read and Kishore Mahbubani’s ‘Has China Won’ very insightful. The former a biography about a common woman’s life in 19th century Japan, the latter a different perspective on the geopolitical struggle between the USA and China.
Invisible Women: Exposing Data Bias in a World Designed for Men1
Braised Pork1
Roma Intima. Liefde, lijf en lust1
De komst van Joachim Stiller1
The Ride of a Lifetime1
Groetjes uit Vlaanderen1
De tragiek van de macht1
Demain j'aurai vingt ans1
Jellyfish1
Three Brothers1
The Sum of the People1
Les cigognes sont immortelles1
The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck1
Stranger in the Shogun's City1
De aanslag1
Has China Won?1
After Dark1
The Iconoclast1
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I’ve completed the fifth and final book of Dream of the Red Chamber (紅樓夢) and can lay this Chinese classic to rest, although BaoYu and DaiYu will stay with me for quite some time.
My favorite book of the year is A Gentleman in Moscow: a truly great read!
I can also recommend Marguerite Duras’s L’Amant to improve ones French.
The Lieutenant of Inishmore (Modern Classics)1
Kafka on the Shore1
The Story of the Stone, or The Dream of the Red Chamber, Vol. 5: The Dreamer Wakes1
Sapiens1
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban - Hufflepuff Edition1
Norwegian Wood1
Bad Blood1
Dignity1
The Regency Years1
The Borgias1
Menuet1
Under Pressure1
A Gentlemen in Moscow1
Super Pumped1
The Far Right Today1
L'Amant1
The Handmaid's Tale1
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After reading ‘Journey to the West’ and ‘Water Margin’ in previous years, I started on another of the great Chinese classics: The Story of the Stone, or Dream of the Red Chamber (紅樓夢), as it is better known. I rate it much higher then the other two, a true masterpiece. It does not feel outdated or repetitive like the others sometimes do. However, I still have one volume to go, the final twenty chapters.
I’ve also read some interesting non-fiction about the past, present and future of solar energy and about the history of the legendary ship ‘Endeavour’.
Taming the Sun: Innovations to Harness Solar Energy and Power the Planet (The MIT Press)1
The Story of the Stone, or The Dream of the Red Chamber, Vol. 1: The Golden Days1
The Displaced: Refugee Writers on Refugee Lives1
Selected Stories1
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets - Slytherin Edition1
The Story of the Stone, or The Dream of the Red Chamber, Vol. 2: The Crab-Flower Club1
The Story of the Stone, or The Dream of the Red Chamber, Vol. 3: The Warning Voice1
Endeavour: The Ship and the Attitude that Changed the World1
The Story of the Stone, or The Dream of the Red Chamber, Vol. 4: The Debt of Tears1
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今天中午在广场喝咖啡。我们看看高迪的建筑。建筑的名字是巴特洛之家。很有意思，很特别。我们很幸运因为人不太多。我们不用等。之后我们看看圣家堂可是我们没进去。下午我们去沙滩，人也不太多。风很大。在太阳下很舒服。
今天中午我们爬山。这个山的名字是montjuic。在那儿有很多奥林匹克的体育馆。在那儿也有joan miro美术馆。很有意思的画儿。在山上可以看到整个城市。下午我们和十六个人跟着导游散步了两个半小时。导游是美国人。他住在巴塞罗那九年了。他告诉我们很多城市的历史。
第四天在巴塞罗那我们散步了很长时间。我们去了高迪公园。我们走了两个小时期间喝了咖啡。在高迪公园每半个小时四百个人可以进去。但是我们进去的时候人不太多，因为是淡季。在高迪公园我们看到了很美丽的景色。晚上我们去看了一个很有意思的西班牙的演出。三个男人弹吉他，一个男人和一个女人跳弗拉明戈舞。他们的表演很精湛。
两个小时之后我们坐飞机回去比利时。比利时比巴塞罗那冷十度。现在我们在机场等飞机。这个旅行很美好。可能我们会再回来。
The old center of Split is partly build inside the ruins of the ancient palace of Roman Emperor Diocletian and I was curious to see it. The ruins are nice but I imagined Split to be larger, with more things to see. You can easily visit it in an afternoon. Maybe I feel like this because of the weather: grey with the occasional rain shower. I was more charmed by Dubrovnik, and had the feeling I could stay there for a longer period enjoying the sights and city.
The highlights of Split:
We rented a car, a white Seat with stickers “try me” on the sides, in Dubrovnik and drove to Mostar. We didn’t had a say in the brand, colour or stickers.
Along the way we stopped in the Trsteno Arboretum and Ston, a small town renowned for its oysters and wall, also dubbed the European Great Wall. I must say that while walking on it and climbing the hill it was build along, reminded me of my trip to China and the real Great Wall. A big difference is that the wall in Ston is only around five kilometres long, and thus falls a bit short in the comparison. The oysters however are really good.
The journey from Ston to Mostar is about ninety kilometres but it took us a little over two hours. The shortest route includes three border crossings and a highway, we decided to keep it with one border crossing and take a scenic route from Neum to Mostar, driving on smaller roads through the mountaines landscape. It was beautiful and quite lonely, since we hardly saw other cars. A little after six in the evening we passed the city limits of Mostar.
The guesthouse where we stayed for two nights is on the east bank of the River Neretva, in a narrow one way street. It took us a bit of effort to find, but it has a very central location, close to the interesting parts of the city. A young couple is operating the guesthouse and we were welcomed by the woman of the couple. She gave us some maps and told us how to get to the different sights. I found her genuinely friendly and helpful. The room was simple but ok, with a comfortable soft bed and good, hot shower. I really recommend this place if you’re looking for a place to stay in Mostar.
At this time of year there are not that many tourists in Mostar, it’s not empty, but its less crowded than Dubrovnik. Maybe we were lucky, but the weather was great: blue sky and sunshine with temperatures going up to 28 degrees.
Mostar is special in multiple aspects. It’s skyline contains the minarets of mosques and the towers of churches. Some houses still bear the marks of the war while others are renovated. On average the cars are older than in Western Europe. You notice that it’s a poorer city than Dubrovnik, Split or Zadar. But the people are really friendly. I’ve felt it not only in our guesthouse but also in a bar or in a small shop. The shopkeepers of the many souvenier stalls are also not pushy. Things are cheaper in Mostar: ice cream for 0,50€ a scoop, 2,5€ for half a litre beer with a view on the Stari Most, 40€ for two nights in our guesthouse.
Ten kilometres to the southeast of Mostar is a small village called Blagaj. It is located at the spring of the buna river and is known for the Blagaj Tekjia, a Sufi lodge built around 1520 and now a national monument. The house can be visited and is quite nice.
The highlights of Mostar: