Calling all knights in shining armor!

Are you ready to ride your horse into Brussels, Belgium and join your fellow knights? (Remember to click on the pictures for a closer look.)

Tie up your horse and walk down this glass covered street to see what they are selling in the city.

Take a look first at the Belgian tapestry, ...



the Belgian lace, ...

and the Belgian chocolate.

If all that chocolate gets the appetite going, head down the street filled with sidewalk cafes...


and take a look at the food displays.



Maybe you'd like something a little less expensive.


You come out on the main square or Grand Place and see your fellow knights standing around.


You take a closer look at the buildings...



and you think you see the Angel Moroni picking up some cash with a side job.

You come across a little boy peeing in the street. You've heard about him, but at least today he is wearing clothes.

You continue on to the Little Sablon park to meet with your friends and try to guess the professions of the men standing around.





One of the men lets you borrow his ladder so you can climb to the rooftop to claim your golden horse so you can ride home.

Surf is up!

What do you do when you go visit friends at Erps-Kwerps, Belgium on a sunny March day,

and when you wake up the next morning, there is snow everywhere?

Of course, first you have a snowball fight...

then you stock up on great Belgian fast food...

(some of us have bigger appetites than others)

and then you go to the beach at Knokke to build sand castles ...

and enjoy the sea breeze. Wind surfing anyone?

We may have found a bad place to swim,

but the truly observant would notice that horse tracks in the sand mean

that there are horses nearby in the dunes. Guess who the happiest beachgoer is now!

You guessed it!!

Bataviawerf Golden Age Ship Builders

During the Netherlands Golden Age from 1600 to 1800 when the Dutch East Indies Company (VOC) controlled the spice trade from Asia, they sailed in spectacular ships adorned with wood carvings to impress the customers, for much the same reasons that salesmen today drive fancy big cars. At Bataviawerf in Lelystad you can watch craftsmen build replicas of these ships. Since the original builders left no building plans--they built so many ships they just knew what to do--the craftsmen today have to study old drawings, written descriptions, and recovered shipwrecks for details.


The first two pictures are of the Amsterdam, harboured near a museum in Amsterdam.Be sure to click on the pictures for a closer look at the woodcarvings.


The following are of the spice ship Batavia in Lelystad.




We've hired on for a day of hard labor.



Our first mate is showing us the toilet paper in case we need any for a break, a rope that drags in the water. Two toilets serve all 300 on board. Only the captain and a select few have more private facilities.

To get talented woodcarvers today, the ship building company gives a block of wood and a picture to prospective employees and asks them to come back with their best version. This picture shows the various results from different applicants based on the same picture. Guess who got hired.


Outside you can watch them cutting, drying, and shaping the wood to create the skin of the ship.




They've already started to mount the carvings. This ship will be the Seven Provinces, a battle ship.


These wooden ships generally lasted only 25 years before they rotted away, usually from worm rot. The profits from two or three spice runs usually paid for the ship. A trip to the East Indies usually took nine months. No wonder they worried about mutiny from sailors who signed up for a 10 year tour of duty, oft to avoid prison terms for various crimes.