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Friends with excellent taste
On a perfect spring day in early May, my husband and I stood in the courtyard of a seventeenth-century farmhouse, sipping hand-mixed cocktails and chatting with our fellow guests. Our host, Didier Bastiaens, mounted an overturned apple crate and welcomed us to the first installment of Vrienden van de Smaak,…
Meet the penguins of Planckendael
Planckendael, the zoological park in Mechelen, unveiled a newly renovated and expanded Americas section last month, just in time for the Easter holidays. The star attraction in the renewed zone, which includes animal species from North, South and Central America, is without question the penguin exhibit, where visitors have the…
Maaseik: Pearl of the Meuse Valley
In the middle of Maaseik’s main square stands a large statue of two men wearing elegant medieval clothes. These are the brothers Van Eyck, Jan and Hubert, the fifteenth-century painters who are the city’s most honored sons. The two stand side by side, Hubert noticeably older than his more famous…
The Royal Greenhouses in Brussels
Once a year, the Royal Greenhouses in Laeken, just outside Brussels, are opened to the public. I’d been hearing about them for years but had never seen them–until now. I have to say, I was completely unprepared for the experience. I had seen pictures of the main pavilion, a fantastical…