Visit of the Hergé Museum and guided tour of Louvain-la-Neuve
Sunday 29 january 2012
We visited a quiet, cold and peaceful city. Walking through the main neighborhood we learned about the recent history of the university linked to the complexity of relations between the two main Belgian communities, we saw how to city was designed to accommodate the academic life, the student life and more recently the lives of "normal" inhabitants such as families with kids or elderly.
Our guide showed us various pieces of urban art that spread over the town and the traces of the old farms that were the only thing existing there 40 years ago.
Given the cold and the grey weather, we were very happy to find a hot cup of tea or coffee in the Herge museum that each of visited at his own pace.
Gilles Moreau
National Vice-President and Treasurer |
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FAAB Fall Event 2010
Saturday, October 9th - Antwerp
As every year, Chapter Antwerp-Flanders had the pleasure of organizing the annual Fall Event. This year, we visited a surprising exhibit on the renowned and flamboyant London hat designer Stephen Jones at the Antwerp Fashion Museum. Two excellent local guides first introduced us to the museum, which also houses the Antwerp Fashion Institute, before walking us through the thematically organized hat collection. It rapidly became clear a guided tour is required to make the most of the exhibit; a lot is lost on the visitor who does not get the backstory or historical context explained.
After visiting the ground floor open exhibit on the most recent work of the local fashion designer students, we walked the short distance to the Palace on the Meir where lunch was served. The Palace has only recently been restored, and most parts are still off-limits to individual visitors. The ground floor, however, houses the brasserie and a chocolate atelier/shop. Participants then discovered the quality of the food and service matched that of the architectonic decor. Coffee was accompanied by chocolates of the atelier next door.
The organized part of the day ending there, many attending the event then went on to discover the city sights on their own. Even the Belgian weather proved quite cooperative in this respect!
Those who couldn't make it, or those who did and want to revisit some of the sights, should definitively visit the photo section of the web site as well.
Guy Hermans
President Chapter Flanders-Antwerp
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Alumni National Event
Saturday, May 29th - Brussels
This year’s National Event was held in the capital of Belgium and of Europe, Brussels. Fulbrighters from the US and Belgium, young and old, met at the fully renovated Mont des Arts close to the Central Station for a coffee at the trendy Natural Cafè.
Christopher, an energetic guide from the Chatter Bus company, took the Fulbrighters on his bus for a ride across Brussels starting with the Royal Palace, the Japanese Tower and the Chinese Pavillion. Thanks to Christopher, we now know where the name “crepe Suzettes” comes from and how Leopold II was the equivalent of a modern jetsetter. We continued the tour in the Cinquantenaire area where we discovered the profiles of our Kings under the arcades.
After having had some explanation as to the reason for the names of Avenue Louise and Place Stéphanie, we ended up in The Place For Ribs for a delicious dinner. The Amadeo is a family style restaurant serving ribs all day long, with old French classics playing in the background. An ideal location to commemorate old memories from our stays in the US.
In short, an excellent day was had by all!
Frederic Elens
President, Chapter Brussels |
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