The coast seen through i-phone

New York City blogger Urban Muser (http://www.urbanmuser.com) has inspired me with her fascinating iphone-shots. I particularly enjoyed her post "Culinary shadows", dated August 21. 

So, here are my first iphone attempts (no photoshopping or editing) of the Belgian coast. At the left the harbor of Zeebrugge. 

Smurfs all around

Impossible not to notice the smurfs these days. They are simply EVERYWHERE... on the street, in the shops, in magazines,  on television, in the grocery stores... on trucks. They appear on t-shirts, on ready-to-go-to-school material, on dollhouses, toys. There are smurfs figurines, dollhouses, smurf facebook fan groups, breakfast cereals. The smurfs even have their official website:  http://www.smurf.com/smurf.php/www/home/en


Parents stand in line in the grocery store to collect as many stamps as possible on their "fidelity cards". The goal is to get the card stamped at the cash register because a full card  gives the customer the right to choose a figurine.

I thought the smurfs were a thing of the past because they appeared in magazines a long time ago, at the end of the 1950's,  and kids growing up in the 1980's remember them from the Sunday TV programs.

The cause of this renewed Smurfmania is the release of the full-length feature film, The Smurfs Movie 3D.

Why am I talking about this? Well, I got a photograph of this colorful truck... and the Smurfs' creator was Belgium's Pierre Culliford - better known as Peyo (25 June 1928 – 24 December 1992). In order to be totally fair though, I must add that, as his name might suggest, his father was English, his mother was Belgian.

Moules frites

Only in Belgium... (do they taste like this...)

Storm hits Pukkelpop festival

Thinking of everyone at Pukkelpop, their families and friends.

and what if...?

As my holiday in Provence, France is slowly approaching its end, I am showing work by French artist Pierre (jeans and black shirt) who made this unique piece about a year ago. He thought at the time that a certain degree of divine intervention might somehow enhance Belgium's government formation process.....

Segway Bruges

In my posting of June 8, I talked about the Segway as a means of transportation in Brussels. Here is the Bruges' version. I did not get an opportunity to ask questions because the eloquent guide was really into his story but from what I see on the website there are Segway city tours, Segway dinners, Segway parties etc.
http://segwaybrugge.xsite.be/en

Magritte museum