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Month: July 2021

Croissants and Culture

Published on 28 July 2021

After breakfast at the hotel—croissants of course—and a first real coffee at Telescope, I made my way to the banks of the Seine, to visit the famous Louvre.

I had no intention to see everything—which would have been impossible anyway—so I just picked a couple of highlights, that was more than enough to keep me occupied well until lunchtime.

This time my food of choice was a Parisian classic: jambon-beurre. As simple as ham and butter on a baguette, but the version prepared by Julhès was tasty nevertheless. A coffee at 5 Pailles, and I was ready to get moving again!

La bière et la bouffe!

Published on 27 July 2021

After coffee and a bed for the night had been taken care of, it was time to finally (re)discover Paris! As I mentioned, I had been there before, but that was either as a rather short stop on my way to somewhere else, or as a day trip with a full programme preventing me to see much else of the city.

As just about anywhere else, my itinerary was very much beer-themed, and I started with BapBap, La Fine Mousse, I.B.U. Oberkampf, and the Liquiderie Bar, before I had to refuel.

I knew BBP Canal had something interesting on the menu—an Amaï Chicken Karagee Burger, although I’m not sure the Amaï sauce was actually in there—so I headed there for dinner. It was here that my last visit in Paris was supposed to end, but due to an unfortunate pickpocketing incident, didn’t…

After dinner I continued my bar tour with La Robe et la Mousse, and—after another quick, kosher, late-night snack at L’As du Fallafel—I finished at BrewDog Le Marais.

Off to Paris, and a good start!

Published on 27 July 2021

It’s not yet the trip I’ve been planning for since 2019, but at least I’m back on an international train again, this time with destination Paris!

I’ve been to the City of Light several times before, but I can’t remember ever having spent the night here as a tourist. That’s about to change!

Like most of my days out and about, I start with coffee, and since the Ten Belles roastery was only a short walk from the Gare du Nord, that was my first destination.

Then it was time to check into my Ibis Styles hotel, just to drop off some stuff, and make sure there actually was a room waiting for me. Luckily, it was! And yes, that is a single bed, before booking I didn’t even know hotels still had these… But hey, that’s a couple of euros saved I can now spend on beer!

Zero-Waste Dinner Delivery

Published on 25 July 2021

Every once in a while, I run out of frozen meals—prepared by myself earlier, of course—and even Too Good To Go can’t provide me with a suitable meal in time for an upcoming night shift. In those rare cases, I do like a good delivery dinner, but the amount of disposable packaging it usually comes in, can be a real turn-off…

Luckily, SwapBox is now active in Brussels as well, and my favourite Korean fried chicken supplier—Nom Pow—is one of the participating restaurants!

After I’m done, I simply take the bowl home to clean it, and as long as I hand it in a at one of the participating restaurants—so not necessarily the one where I ordered the dish—within two weeks, it won’t cost me anything extra.

The order did still come in a disposable paper bag, though, so I do hope SwapBox will soon add delivery bags to their lineup as well, to make a food delivery truly zero-waste!

The napkin and chopsticks are my own, by the way, and both probably well over thirty years old!

A Trip to the Past

Published on 5 July 2021

While I’m still awaiting my second vaccination, I continue discovering places in Belgium I haven’t been yet. One that had been on my to-do list for a long time, was the Archéosite d’Aubechies-Beloeil, a site with some archaeological reconstructions from the Neolithicum until the Roman era. I was of course most interested in the latter bit…

So, after an hour on a train, fifteen minutes on a bus, and then another twenty-five minutes on foot, I was finally there!

The outside of the buildings looked nice enough—the temple really reminded me of the time I worked as a volunteer ‘archeotolk’ at Archeon—but unfortunately the inside mostly seems to have been adapted for modern use, like exhibitions and events.

If I ever have a garden, I definitely want a summer triclinium like that!