Tourism on Bleeding4Metal - Pt.4: Belgium

[The Metal RN]

Easy there big fella! We want more myths to be dispelled!!!!

[shadowman]

Myths ? uh uh...

Don't get your hopes up too high there, Oh holy brothren of The Metallic Art...

Seen quite a few amuzing things yet...

[evilshell]

I think you could easily wait one or even two more days as this topic is just one day old...

I think he's just itching to dispel the rumors that Belgians are crazy, the waffles and beer are good and the art is strange  

[Avricha]

Spa, my favourite F1 circuit to add to the things that were already mentioned.

[gargantouas]

Spa, my favourite F1 circuit to add to the things that were already mentioned.

 And you are right...a veru nice circuit...although F1 get worse and wosre by year

[Odin]

Hmmmmm.... the problem of joining in so late is: I just now only found one thing to add:

Asterix and the Belgians (?) - where the original pissing boy appears, hehe.

But something I'd like to say already: Rubens?! If you mean Peter Paul Rubens you should know he was born in Germany, Siegen to be exact (that is where I lived from 1995 to 2001). And I am not that sure about his heritage - wasn't it Dutch? Dangerous question, if we think of the love between the two of them, Dutch and Belgians.

[shadowman]

Ok in order not to make this reply all too long, I suggest I react to the first three guys who reacted on this topic...

@AoP : you should have an advantage as a nearby neighbour dude. And it shows !

Fries, right on ! It seems we have invented this delicacy, shouldn't ask me, I wasn't around at that time.  :wink:
What I do know is that every true Belgian eats fries like three times a week... And there is a 'frittekot' (sorry, no translation)(you get the point right ?) on every corner on every street...

Brussels lace, ok but... the lace of Bruges is even more known and far more expensive as well...

Chocoalates... Mmm, time for the first bold statement, ahem here it goes : the Belgian chocolate is the best in the world. We beat the Swiss BY far ! (sorry Evilshell). Best known brands are Leonidas (just ask Dimitris) and Godiva.

Brussels, capital of the European union. Course, no real comment except this, it made the prices of the houses almost unpayable for the common man. :(

Marc Dutroux, very sad story indeed. But hey, the sicko is an isolated pervert. We had the bad luck he was born and raised in Belgium. It gave a rather bad name to my country for quite some time unfortunately...

Manneke Pis, will come back on the little guy later on...

So I'd say you did a good job man !

Assessment : 9/10

 :laugh:

[shadowman]

@ the Metal RN :

Waffles, a Belgian invention indeed, there are two sorts of Waffles, Brussels Waffles and Luikse wafels.

Belgian Pralines, no comment on what you said, couldn't have said it better myself !
 :P
Flemish Art, yes indeed and this is something we Belgians aren't proud enough of. I live about 50 kms away from Bruges where you can find the Groeninghe Museum. It holds an amazing collection of the 'Flemish Primitives'. You named quite a few of them man !
(One small remark : I think you are referring to Van Eyck instead of Van Dyck)  
To your list I would add Memling, Pourbus,van der Goes, van der Weijden...

Lots of varieties of Beer, let me get back to that later on as well. Quite a story concerning the Belgian beer and I don't want to make this reply all TOO long.

Cathedrals, Castles, yep Belgium has quite an impressive  medieval history.

Diamonds ! You got that right, the centre of the world diamond trading industry is located in Antwerp, the second biggest Belgian city. The epicentre of these activities are located in the jewish sector of the city.

Very friendly people, well thanks man ! Hahahahaha... And we won't mention the Dutch just yet now shall we ?

Worlds Fair and one of the first members of the EC, right again ! Being a small country the governments have always seen the need to work closely together with other European countries.

About the tennisplayers ... Of course you are right but believe me this is merely one big coincidence. We never had signifiant tennisplayers in the past and now we have the best two in the world ! Amazing ! But I repeat, nothing to do with special youth training programs or so, just a coincidence !

Conclusion : 10 outta 10 for the Metal RN !



Nice to play the teacher for once in a while !!

[shadowman]

@Gargantouas :

Ouch, a very bad start man... :oops: Goose appetizers are not Belgian but French.
This is a kind of paté made of goose and duck livers. This may seem awful to some of you who have never tasted it but take my word for it : This is heaven !! Too bad it is so damn expensive !

Beer, come back to that later on as I told above.

Chocolates, already commented above as well

Crazy metalheads ? Muhahahahaha, if you are referring to me euh... well... should I thank you now or not ?
Oh well, there shouldn't be more metalheads in Belgium as in Greece I think.

KASTEELBEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEER !! Right on dude ! Let me reveal this already about Belgian beer, Kasteelbier is brewed in a small town about 15 kms away from my hometown and sit tight, I am now gonna make my second bold statement :
Kasteelbier (beer is spelled bier in Dutch) is the best beer in the world !!!!
 And believe me, I have had some different beers in my live !!
Check it out here :
http://www.kasteelbier.be/swf.htm

And last but not least you think about Shadowman when you think about Belgium ?

Ok, this flattering gives you another half point extra !!

A score of 8,5 for the Greek dude !

[Metalmaiden]

What's that???

This is the "mascot"  for Graspop Metal Meeting  in Dessel, Belgium. Silly little guy (??) but a kick ass festival or so I've heard.

[The Metal RN]

But something I'd like to say already: Rubens?! If you mean Peter Paul Rubens you should know he was born in Germany, Siegen to be exact (that is where I lived from 1995 to 2001). And I am not that sure about his heritage - wasn't it Dutch? Dangerous question, if we think of the love between the two of them, Dutch and Belgians.

We are both correct..... (from an art history site i had found to check my stats :oops: ).......His father, a Protestant lawyer, left Antwerp for Westphalia to escape persecution. There Peter Paul was born and baptized a Calvinist; then his parents separated. Mother and son returned to Antwerp, where he was humanistically schooled, rebaptized a Roman Catholic, and soon became a page at a neighboring court.   8)

[The Metal RN]

(One small remark : I think you are referring to Van Eyck instead of Van Dyck)  
To your list I would add Memling, Pourbus,van der Goes, van der Weijden...

Well I do really love Van Eycks painting " portrait of Giovanni di Arrigo Arnolfini", but I was not sure if he was born in Belgium or not, I beleive that he spent a lot of time being schooled in The Netherlands so I was not sure. that particular painting actually made sparked my interest in learning more about art/art history, along with my fav of all time "The Scream" by  Munch. Anthony van Dyck was a pupil of Rubens.

Thanks for the feedback. We hope to visit your country soon!

[shadowman]

Well I do really love Van Eycks painting " portrait of Giovanni di Arrigo Arnolfini", but I was not sure if he was born in Belgium or not, !

Oh yes he was, a 100 % Flemish guy ! Was born in Maaseik and worked for the biggest part of his life in Bruges were he also died around 1440...

Please inform me whenever you hit Belgium !!

[shadowman]

... I think I'lle be the worste in this topic. Bad chocolate and shadowman comes to my mind first... and the map of world with belgium highlighting from it...
Hmmh. They speek french there do they? And it is hot... atleast hotter than here? (Well, any place is hotter than here... perhaps not antarctis but..) That's about it.
*waiting to get a bit wiser about Belgium*

A few more replies, let us start off with our Finnish girl...
Bad chocolate ? BAD CHOCOLATE ??  :x  I do hope this is meant in the sarcastic way here ??!! oh well, it could have been worse : you could have put : chocolate and bad shadowman ... :wink:

And euh... French ? Well, you are partiallly right... There are about 10 millions Belgians and the northern part of the country called Flandres speak Flemish (let us say a dirty form of Dutch...), about 6 million people, and the southern part called Wallonië, about 4 million speak French. Needless to say I come from the northern Flemish speaking part  

And HOT ?? You must be kidding, for 80 % of the year is is either freezing, cloudy or rainy... Not the ideal climate to spend your vacation... :roll:
But still, guess Belgium is quite hot in comparison to that refridgerator you call Finnland !

 :wink:

[shadowman]

Lot's of shadowpeople.......strong beer,11% alcohol.... :shock:

Shadowpeople ? euh... yeah I guess... :wink:
And strong beer ? Yes indeed ! You must have been talking to Dimitris because the best beer in the world, Kasteelbier is excactly... 11 degrees !
What a coincidence right ? :wink: