xfifteen:blog by Steven Sabbe

Bruges in the fast lane

2012-06-13T22:48:00.000+02:00

It's January 2012. Happy New Year!
Well, I decided to relaunch this blog, as I've started missing writing about my travel experiences along with my pictures.

I still can't resist putting my time lapse from last year, made in July 2011, as the top post on my blog. I'd like to make a new one soon, but in another city... maybe Oslo? =)

Time lapse made in Bruges Brugge, Belgium.Video by Steven Sabbe.

Locations: Steenstraat, Brugge station, Koning Albert I-laan, Minnewater (Lake of Love), Begijnhof (Beguinage), Wollestraat, Market square, Rozenhoedkaai, Canal that leads to Zeebrugge (filmed from on top the bell tower at the market square!), Onze-Lieve-Vrouwekerk and the Burg (where the town hall is situated).

Music by Roger Subirana Mata (creative commons).

Winter in Bruges 2012

2012-01-19T22:22:00.000+01:00

Here are some pictures I took with my new Sony NEX-5N camera. It's a serious upgrade to the Olympus SP800-UZ, which had a very deep zoom (30x optical), but which was still 100 % digital.

The pictures I took today are much finer and sharper as well. I'll be posting a review of the Sony NEX-5N very soon, along with photo and video examples.

"Still life" in full hd

2012-01-15T15:25:00.002+01:00

Impressions of Vlissingen (Flushing), in the Netherlands in January 2012.

First video in fullHD (1080p).

Colourful Oslo & Drøbak

2012-01-05T19:42:00.000+01:00

After another year of dreaming about this country, I was able to go back to Norway to rediscover the colourful Oslo and Drøbak in the autumn season. Watch my video and read my review to find out about the places I visited (including direct links to websites and Google Maps)!

Watch the video now in high-definition !

ELEKTRONISK REISEKORT

At Trafikanten in front of the central station [map], we asked for the (free) Ruter Reisekort which had been introduced in October 2011. The travel card contains a chip you can reload with some money or a (day)ticket to travel within the Oslo region. On the first day, we loaded it with a return ticket to Drøbak. The next day, we loaded it with a day ticket. It's not only easier to use, it's also fun to just swipe your wallet to the machine to validate your card (see video).

DRØBAK

At Fred Olsens Gate [map], we took bus 541 to Drøbak, a little Christmas village. We got off at the church (kirke) and walked towards the water. At Havnen, or the Harbour, we had a nice view of Oslofjord. We decided to do some more walking uphill. We just kept on walking, trying to find a way back to the village. I registered our route here, on Runkeeper. There were beautiful, large, white houses on our route. We even started taking pictures of them. Then, finally, on the top of Drøbak, we got the view we wanted (see picture on the left)!

Click "Read more" to find out more about Drøbak and Oslo.

Eventually, Tregaarden's Julehus [link] opened its doors. The store was filled with nice, typical Norwegian Christmas decorations. I bought a heartshaped doll with "God Jul" (Merry Christmas) on its side.

Next to the Christmas House, there's the Christmas post office. You can write a Christmas card and drop it there to be sent in the week of Christmas.
Seeing all this Christmas stuff in October, I'm now wondering how snowy Drøbak would look like in December?

OSLO IGJEN

Yes, we're back in Oslo, but the experience this year is still different. This is a summary of where we went, ate and passed by before going to Drøbak and Kongsberg:

Oslo Sentralstasjon [map], which is the central station of Oslo. Not really an attraction, but is in my opinion a nice train station. It has three (!) 7Elevens, Rimi (open from 5 am till midnight), two Narvesens, a Peppes Pizza, Bunnpris (cheap, tiny grocery shop), a post office, several restaurants and tea rooms and much more.
The Karl Johansgate [map] is the main shopping street of Oslo. You can find many souvenir shops, restaurants, Burger King,... but also the Grand Hotel where many celebrities stay for a night in Norway's capital. We also paid a visit to the Hard Rock Café [link], which was fully decorated for Halloween. Even the staff had fake black eyes to complete it all.
Operahuset [map] (The Opera House) opened in 2008. So now we could finally visit it, and it was well worth it! It's the best modern building that I've seen so far. People can just walk up unto the roof and have a good view on Oslo. Inside, is a exclusive restaurant with a nice view on the Oslo fjord.
The Ice Bar in Oslo [link] is going to open soon (November 12, 2009), but there was already a big promotional campaign for the opening. Definitely worth a visit next time.
Stortinget [map], the Norwegian parliament lies between the station and the royal palace. You could pay a visit (literally), but we decided to discover other places in Oslo.
We had dinner at T.G.I. Friday's in Aker Brygge [link] on Halloween night. And there too, the friendly staff created a Halloween atmosphere, by dressing up the place in orange and black. They also dressed themselves up as witches, blood-covered waiters and even Death. The food was served on time and was very delicious too.
Kaffé Café [link] in Parkveien serves a breakfast buffet every morning. For people lik us, staying at Cochs Pensjonat [link], it only costs 65 Kr., for other people 80 Kr., which is a good price for a buffet in the heart of Oslo.
Want to know more about Oslo? Read my SUMMER REVIEW for a completely different look on this Nordic city.

THE AIRPORTS

The past times, we travelled via Brussels Airport to Oslo Gardermoen. This time, as we were able to get a cheap rate from Ryanair, we had to fly from Charleroi Airport ("Brussels South") [link] to Moss Lufthavn Rygge ("Oslo-Rygge") [link]. While Charleroi Airport is reserved for the low-cost airlines like Ryanair and WizzAir, Moss Lufthavn gets Norwegian and SAS flights as well. Nevertheless, both airports have enough facilities for the passengers. They both have one tax-free shop and a small restaurant with lots of space to relax. In Rygge, they even have 100 % free wireless internet, which is quite handy if you checked in too early and still want to read your e-mails...

One disadvantage of both airports, is that they're more difficult to reach by public transport. In Charleroi you need to go through a long ride from Brussels, then still take a bus to the airport which costs you € 2,70 per person one way. In Rygge, the bus transportation is totally free and is corresponding to all incoming flights of Norwegian and Ryanair.

KOMMER VI TILBAKE?

Are we coming back? Of course! There's still much more to discover in Norway. We still didn't go further up north, but now that Ryanair has some cheap flights to the place, it'll be much easier for us to make the big step. Where would we like to go next? Bergen? Trondheim? Bodø? One thing's sure: we will be back.

Summer in Oslo

2010-07-29T13:28:00.003+02:00

Special thanks to the band from Bodø Norway: Kråkesølv (www.krakesolv.no) for the ending song "Hell Litervis Med Sand På Timeglasset".

Featuring: Jernbanetorget 00:30 - Rådhusplassen, Oslo 00:47 -Aker Brygge, Oslo 01:10 - Vigelandparken, Oslo 01:22 - TIME LAPSE sunset on Oslo harbour 01:34 - Operahuset (Opera house, Oslo) 01:40 - Holmenkollen Ski jump, Oslo 02:06 - T.G.I. Friday's Aker Brygge, Oslo 02:47 - Karl Johansgate, Oslo 03:00 - Royal palace (Kongehuset), Oslo 03:10 - Hard Rock Café Oslo 03:26 - Town hall (Rådhuset), Oslo 03:33 -Ekebergrestauranten / Ekeberg, Oslo 04:00 - Park Inn Hotel Oslo 05:08 - Oslo city centre sky TIME LAPSE 05:56 - NRK Marienlyst, Oslo Opplevelser / omvisning (tour) 06:04 - Oslo City Shopping Center 06:47 - Byporten Shopping Center, Oslo 06:56 - Oslo Sentralstasjon (central station) (07:14) -Oslo Moss Lufthavn (Airport) Rygge 07:32

Creative Commons music attribution to the other artists mentioned at the end of the video.

"VRT24", een Vlaamse nieuwszender

2010-04-18T13:27:00.000+02:00

*This video has even been featured on a few news sites*
This article, about a fictive Flemish news channel, has been written in Dutch as it's only relevant for Flemish readers.

België heeft tot nu toe nog steeds geen eigen nieuwszender, terwijl vele landen (en zeker alle buurlanden) er al wel een hebben. Tot nu toe zijn er al wat plannen geweest voor "24/7", een permanente nieuwszender van de VTM-Nieuwsdienst. Nu is er helaas niets meer van te horen.

Wat als de VRT eens een (digitale) nieuwszender zou lanceren, met alle informatieve programma's zoals Koppen, Villa Politica, Panorama, Terzake,...? 's Ochtends is er eventueel een ochtendbulletin en in de namiddag is er plaats voor eventuele herhalingen of duidingsprogramma's.

Een aantal zenders waar de VRT inspiratie kan opdoen, zijn (naast de wereldzenders CNN en BBC):

NRK Nyheter - die van de late ochtend tot 's avonds op NRK1 en/of NRK2 uitzendt en ook tijdens de ochtendshows paraat staat (Noorwegen)
TV2 Nyhetskanalen, een commerciële 24/7 nieuwszender in Noorwegen.
NOS Journaal24, de Nederlandse nieuwszender die ook online live te bekijken is.
N24, de Duitse nieuwszender
...

Waarom staat Noorwegen daartussen? Dat land heeft evenveel inwoners als Vlaanderen en heeft dus in principe een evengroot kijkcijferpotentieel.

Visiting Stockholm in 80 hours

2010-04-15T16:59:00.001+02:00

After several trips to Oslo, we decided to discover another city, another country: Stockholm in Sweden. Mission: to visit as much as possible in less than 80 hours (despite the rain).

SHOPPING HEAVEN AT MORE AFFORDABLE PRICES

After our several trips to Oslo, we decided to visit Stockholm as Ryanair offered very cheap tickets. The main difference is the amount of shopping centers. Drottninggatan [map] is the main shopping street, where you can find many common stores. The prices are about the same as in Belgium and most of the time lower than in Norway (Oslo). The streets in the neighbourhood of Drottninggatan also contain many shops, mainly between Konserthuset and Sergels Torg [map]. There are four large shopping centers: Åhléns City [map/site], NK (Nordiska Kompaniet, the Nordic Company) [map/site], PUB [map] and Gallerian (The Gallery) [map/site]. The first two being more expensive shopping centers, looking like Kaufhof in Germany or Bijenkorf in the Netherlands. Gallerian is a more traditional mall with all the shops that you could expect. That’s not all: there’s even a shopping street underground which connects NK and Gallerian with Sergels Torg [map] ! This is just shopping paradise at affordable prices.

FOOD! FOOD! FOOD!

You can’t go hungry in Stockholm. In the shopping centers mentioned above, there are places enough to eat. Also in Sergels Torg, up in the Kulturhuset there are nice places to take a drink or have a snack.
As we didn’t stay that long in Stockholm, we only could enjoy two restaurants. One is T.G.I. Friday’s in Hamngatan [map/site]. We don’t have this restaurant back home, so eating at this place is quite special for us. We already ate twice at Friday’s in Oslo and enjoyed it very much. Also here in Stockholm, there was a nice atmosphere, very friendly staff en nice food. The prices are ‘okay’ as this is Sweden and this was a more special restaurant.

Click "Read more" for more restaurants, hotels and places to go!

Another place is “Kungshallen” [map /site], which is a place with different restaurants in one, more of a food court. You’ve got Asian and Greek foods downstairs, traditional foods at ground floor and “Japanese” looking food upstairs.

SKANSEN & DJURGÅRDEN

Skansen [site] is a Nordic culture museum, a little bit comparable to Norsk Folkemuseet in Oslo. It shows how the Scandinavians lived a long, long time ago. The main reason we went there, was to see the typical animals, especially the älg / elg / elk (moose,... however you want to call it). There was also a lynx, a funnily walking brown bear, sea lions and wolves. There's also a place to eat all the way on top of the domain. It's fun to visit, but honestly, it's more of a summer attraction. If you're not into animals, don't visit it in the cold season.

This open-air museum lies in Djurgården, in the south-east of Stockholm. Next to Skansen, there's also Junibacken (museum of Pippi Longstockings), Vasamuseet (museum of the remains of an important old ship), Nordiska Museet (Nordic museum) and Tivoli Gröna Lund (an amusementpark). Djurgården is reachable by bus or even by foot (15 mins walk from centre).

CLARION SIGN HOTEL: SURPRISING.

There was one hotel that really surprised us: the Clarion Sign hotel [map/site] in Östra Järnvägsgatan / Torsgatan (depending on which map you’re looking). From the central station, it’s a 5~7 minute walk. It’s really nicely located and is easily reachable after an evening out in the commercial area. With its modern design, it’s really attractive on the websites, professional photos and commercial videos. However, when we read the reviews of many travel sites, we were expecting some flaws… BUT we haven’t found ANY!

Our first surprise was our hotel room which was much larger than it looked on the pictures. The room was very clean, the bathroom (with hair dryer and bath) was beautiful and there was a desk with mini-bar under it. Between the bed and the desk, there was a half-size closet with ironing board inside it. The large LCD-TV hung in front of the bed with app. 20 channels (BBC World, TV5Monde, RTL Deutschland, NRK1, TV2 Norge, SVT, DR,…): so mainly Scandinavian channels and a few international ones. Wireless internet was FREE as stated in the description of the room when we booked it. You just need to ask for the codes at the reception and they’ll give you a 24 hour subscription.

The large atrium behind the reception is used as breakfast area. There was a relaxed atmosphere. At the buffet: many sorts of delicious fresh bread, lots of fruits, bread spread and yoghurts, and warm foods such as sausages and pancakes. The staff during breakfast was friendly and keeping the tables clean. In fact, all the staff, from reception to cleaning people had a smile on their face. To relax, there is a spa at the 8th floor, called “Selma CitySpa+” which costs 95 Kr on weekdays and 195 Kr on weekends for hotel guests. There’s also a swimming pool at the top floor. At most nights, there are concerts at the “Living Room”. All in all a positive experience, really value for money and would definitely be staying here again next time we go to Stockholm.

CONNECT HOTEL SKAVSTA AIRPORT

The Connect Hotel at Skavsta Airport [map/site] is really easily reachable and cheap for an airport hotel. There are hostel rooms (starting at 495 Kr), standard rooms and business rooms. The reception looks impressive: there’s a bar, a lounge and a restaurant all located at the entrance. If you look up, you can see all the different hall ways that lead to the rooms. After a tiring flight, we were hoping to relax at the standard room we booked a month prior to our arrival. However, when we arrived, the receptionist gave us disappointing news: we were being downgraded from standard room to the hostel room. We were wondering how this even was possible? Although we got a free dinner as compensation, this wasn’t what we were expecting to sleep in that night. But… we tried to make the best of it.

Our hostel room was clean, with a bunk bed, a desk and foldable chair. As there wasn’t a bathroom in our room, it was needed to go the shared one, in the middle of the hallway. At the men’s shower room, there were four showers divided with an opaque glass, three toilets and four sinks. It was very clean and the temperature was good. At the women’s shower room, there were two shower cabins, toilets and sinks. The breakfast was simple, but nothing to complain about. There were sandwiches, flat (“Wasa”) bread, cheese, salami, vegetables,… anything you could expect from a continental breakfast. People who’d like to eat warm food, would be disappointed as there aren’t any.

Summary: Although the hotel was fine, we were deeply disappointed for the downgrade. Would we come back? We don’t know. Maybe next time we should book a business room in order to get a standard room?

Tack för läsning! Thanks for reading!
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Samsung Galaxy Ace: review and unboxing

2009-12-16T21:26:00.000+01:00

Made in May 2011.

A complete review in English of the Samsung Galaxy Ace hardware and Android 2.2.1 (Froyo) software. Some apps are featured as well, such as LauncherPro, GO Weather, Angry Birds, TweetDeck, Songbird and lots of widgets I use often.

Please forgive me for the bad imitation of an English accent :)

UPDATE (December 2011): I'm now running Android 2.3.4 (Gingerbread) on a custom ROM called TheMythICS. I also replaced LauncherPro with GoLauncherEx, which improved a lot since I made this video.

Top comments:

"this is an awesome review the best so far"
"You have the best non english, english accent ever :)"
"This phone is awesome so as the reviewer and his work good work You Duke ! ! :D"

Christmas in Bruges

2009-12-15T23:40:00.000+01:00

Featuring: the snow, the Christmas market, the "ice bears", the ice sculpture and its collapse.
Met o.a. de sneeuw, de kerstmarkt, de Brugse ijsberen, het ijssculpturenfestival en de instorting ervan.

Filmed on: 20.12.2009

Creative Commons Music Attribution to:
- Bullette & Hangnail Phillips
- Shira Kammen

* Note: the last song is a Norwegian Christmas song.

Metro- / tramnet in Brugge

2009-09-26T21:15:00.012+02:00

Bruges already has a well functioning bus system from De Lijn which connects the suburbs with the city centre. But what if in the future, the city would consider to introduce a metro system? This may sound impossible to happen, but still... what if? This is my vision of how it could look like, featuring three metro lines.

Brugge heeft al een goed functionerend bussysteem van De Lijn dat de verschillende deelgemeenten met het centrum verbindt. Maar wat als er in de toekomst wordt overwogen om een metro of tram aan te leggen? Dit klinkt momenteel nog onmogelijk, maar toch... Dit is mijn visie van een metronet in Brugge, bestaande uit drie metrolijnen:

Lijn 1: Malehoek - Olympia

Lijn 2: Koolkerke - AZ Sint-Lucas

Lijn 3: B-Park - Kinepolis

Metroplan Brugge by Steven Sabbe is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 2.0 Belgium License.

Hasselt, Belgium: see, shop, sleep.

2009-08-05T21:51:00.004+02:00

After some of the busiest months in years, we decided to go on a nice and relaxing holiday. The past years, we always went to the same places: Aachen, Trier, Luxembourg, Maastricht or Paris. Why not spend our holiday in our own country, in a city that we haven’t discovered fully yet? Hasselt!

RADISSON BLU **** HOTEL

Watch my video below for a nice presentation of a standard room. The room comes with a twin bed (or two singles), a table with two orange seats, free WiFi internet connection, a desk (with a light, stationaries,…), two telephones, tea making facilities with coffee and tea bags, an ice dispenser (down the hall), a bath room with a large sink and really nice creams and soaps from Anne Semonin, a shower and bath, an ironing board and… a great view over Hasselt. The hotel itself is located just behind the TT center, which is just a 5 minute walk from the Market square and a 10 minute walk from the station [map]. You could also take the bus to the city center for free! Visit their website for the latest rates.

Wake up in the morning with a large breakfast buffet (see video). You can eat bread, croissants, eggs or even sausages. Seperately, breakfast can cost a lot, but make sure to take the hotel rate “Bed and Breakfast”, which includes your overnight + the breakfast.

(OUTLET) SHOPPING

Hasselt is a great place to go shopping. All stores are... in one place: just walk from the Market square to Hoogstraat and Demerstraat. There’s also a shopping center “TT Center” just 100m from the Market square. You’ll find all the typical shops, such as H&M, United Brands, Mediamarkt,…

You’d rather go to an outlet shopping center? Well, you should definitely spend a whole afternoon at the Maasmechelen Outlet Shopping Village [website]. It isn’t actually in Hasselt, but is reachable by public transport. From Hasselt’s train station, there’s a bus (no.45) going to Maaseik every five minutes before the hour. It will drop you off right in front of the Village, which is where most people get off anyway. There are more than 110 shops to spend all your money on. Find the full list of shops on their website.

RESTAURANTS

Hungry? Just go to the Fruitmarkt or Zuivelmarkt, where you can choose to either dine in a fancy restaurant (see video) or in a trendy and budget friendly (Japanese)/Thai restaurant: Tasty Bowl, which is where we ate even twice. Definitely have a look at their website. And a good advice: take their “chili”-warnings seriously. Or maybe just grab a delicious sandwich at Subway, just a minute from the Radisson Blu hotel, in front of the TT Center.

MUSEUMS

The first museum featured in my video, is “Het Stadsmus” [map / website], where you can discover the history of the city. It’s free or pay € 1 for an audio guide (recommended). It’s nice to visit if you really are into history. There’s also a floor with beautiful artworks.

The “Nationaal Jenevermuseum”, or the Genever Museum [map / website] shows you how the typical Hasselt’s genever is made. You can even drink a glass of this alcoholic drink. The entrance costs 3,50 per adult. People upto 26 years old pay less, but make sure you ask for the tariff as they might charge you as an adult (it’s even displayed in front of you).

Another museum we visited, was the Fashion museum (“Mode museum”) with the exposition “In Her Shoes”. It was definitely worth it. You get to look at all the different shoes from the early ‘60s until now. There are also lots of special and surprising shoes to see. This museum can be combined with the Jenevermuseum, as they’re close to each other. It costs € 5 per adult, € 2 for people upto 18 years old and students and free for children upto 12 years old.

Don't forget to visit the Japanese Garden [map / website] as well. It's a 20-minute walk from the city center, or just take a bus for free. It costs € 5 per person and children upto 12 years old are free. For more information, visit their website.

Self-made news opens: update

2009-08-04T12:22:00.000+02:00

One of my biggest interests is graphic design (even though I'm not following any course on it). Most of the videos I watch on Youtube are tv idents, news opens, designs of news studios,...

Before this blog even existed, I've made three news opens: one of the Belgian VTM News with the theme of BBC News 24; one of the same VTM news, but with the theme of the Norwegian NRK Nyheter; and a self-made news open, just two days before the launch of the new Belgian VRT News in January 2008.

Update: I made a new video of the Norwegian News (NRK Nyheter) with the look and feel of the Flemish news (VRT Journaal). You can watch them after Read more.

Please feel free to view the others (click on 'Read more'):

NRK Nyheter feat. VRT Journaal

VTM Nieuws feat. NRK Nyheter

Het Journaal (zelfgemaakte nieuwsintro, gemaakt in 2007)

* muziek: NRK

Weg met de zwemmende vrouwen

2009-06-28T01:21:00.015+02:00

Hieronder volgt een zelfgemaakt nieuw concept voor VT4. De zender werkt al meer dan twee jaar met dezelfde idents en reclamelooks. Onlangs kreeg hun site een nieuwe look en ik dacht dat het logisch zou zijn om ook de zendervormgeving wat te verfrissen.

Bekijk nu:

Nieuw VT4 concept van Steven Xfifteen is in licentie gegeven volgens een Creative Commons Naamsvermelding-Niet-commercieel-Geen Afgeleide werken 2.0 België licentie.

Norge, jeg kommer tilbake

2009-04-24T12:13:00.011+02:00

This article was written in the winter of 2008-2009.

Sometimes, I just want to pack up my bags and travel. Of course, I'd really like to go back to Norway to discover other places, like Stavanger, Trondheim, Bodø or cities even further up north.

So, I've just made a new video about the things of Norway I miss the most. It's actually a kind of compilation of my 2007 and 2008 trip. I miss the nice views, the snow, the places to see, the language, the airport,...

What I also tried, is to make the video in 16:9 (widescreen) format, although my original videos are in 4:3. After some cropping and editing, I got this result, which is quite nice.

At the same time, I tried something new at the bottom of the video. In my previous videos, I've put a long gray banner which says where the video had been taken. This time, I tried something that doesn't take that much space.

Google Street View car spotted in Bruges, Belgium

2009-04-16T14:43:00.011+02:00

Google Street View is invading Belgium at the moment! Last month, they started capturing the streets of Brussels, Antwerp and Ghent.

Today, April 16, 2009, I was shocked to see the car in Bruges too (you might know this city from the movie "In Bruges"). The black Opel Astra with Italian plate number, showed up in the "Rozenhoedkaai" (near the Dijver), where lots of tourists take the nicest pictures of the city.

I just couldn't resist to take a picture of it. After all, it did take a picture of me; maybe I can see myself in Google Street View soon...

Click on the pictures for full view.

Google Street View in Bruges by Steven Sabbe is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 2.0 Belgium License.

Kirchberg & Lëtzebuerg

2009-04-13T22:21:00.011+02:00

This Easter holiday, we went to Luxembourg. Though it's not far, and we've visited it 'hundreds' of times, it was still fun. It was more of a "relax" holiday. (If you're not in the mood to read this review, you can just watch it below.)

We took the straight train from Brussels South to Luxembourg, which leaves every :22 past the hour. As we still had a little time left (and as we were quite hungry), we bought a delicious Subway turkey sandwich and a coffee first (note: we don't have that many Subways in Belgium).

When we arrived at the Luxembourg station, we asked the Travel center how we can go to Vianden and Echternach by public transport. Both towns are easy to reach: first by train upto Ettelbrück, then by bus. On this first day, we were planning just to go around Luxembourg city first.

The first thing we needed to find, was accommodation. After searching the internet so many times, looking for the best hotel that could fit in our budget, we were hoping to get the Grand Hotel Alfa. It's a four-star hotel, situated just in front of the station. And yes: we got it! And at a nice price: 80 euros for a double room (promotion rate). Unlike the previous Mercure hotel rooms we've stayed at, this one was really big. It had a clean bathroom (with a big bath), a separate toilet, a mini bar, a big desk, a large LCD TV, lots of space to put your bags, a table to eat your dinner on and... a balcony with a nice view! Our room was overlooking the Place de la Gare, which was more quiet than we expected. At night, we couldn't hear a thing. We're hoping to get this hotel again, next time we'd stay here.

So we had our accommodation; now to explore the city center! We already had visited it a few times before, but it was nice to stroll around it again. We went over the Viaduc-passerelle to get to the old town.

The heart of the city is the Place d'Armes, a nice plaza where you can eat whatever you like: from fastfood at McDonald's to a nice meal at a fancy restaurant. Sometimes, there's a market in this place, like this time (a Saturday), there was a flea market.

Around Place d'Armes, there are lots of shops. The biggest shopping street is Grand Rue, where you can find stores like H&M, Jack&Jones, Vero Moda, but also Louis Vuitton and Cartier. You can also find lots of shops near the station.

There are two tourist information offices in Luxembourg City: one at the station and one at Place Guillaume II. You can get the information you want about attractions and other things to do. A basic city map is free, but if you want more information of the attractions, you need to pay one euro for a complete guide.

Near the Place Guillaume II, you can find the Palais Grand-Ducal, or the Grand Ducal Palace. This is where the Grand Duke of Luxembourg (Henri) lives. It's a nice building, guarded by a soldier in front, and a few at the back.

Luxembourg has got many nice streets and in some of them, you can take very nice pictures of the views. One example is at Rue du Saint Esprit. Other nice places to visit, are: Cité Judiciaire and Cathédrale Notre-Dame (Cathedral to the blessed virgin).

At Place de la Constitution, you can tour Luxembourg City (and surroundings) with the sightseeing bus. You can buy a 24 hour hop on-hop off ticket for 14 euros per adult. Students pay 7 euros, and children a little less. For people who are totally new to this city and don't know where to go, this can be a good thing to do. If you are fond of walking and you've got a map, you can just walk to all the buildings. The centre isn't that big. To visit the outskirts, you'd better 'invest' in a day pass or even better: a weekend pass.

The weekend pass: it only costs 6 euros (one ticket can be used for upto 5 persons!) and you can travel with it on all forms of public transport (trains and buses) to any destination you like. May it be Vianden in the north of the country, or Remich lays more to the south. This pass is really re

On our second day, after a good breakfast, we visited Remich. We took bus 175 (destination: Remich) which passes through Mondorf-Les-Bains. This town is really worth to visit! If you have enough time, just get off there, walk around and hop on the next bus to Remich. Mondorf-Les-Bains is also a good place to overnight, as there are many hotels to stay at (like Casino 2000).

In Remich itself, you can visit the wine coves of Saint Martin. You can follow the guided tour and treat yourself with a glass of wine afterwards. Even the children can taste some nice grape juice. Remich lays near a river, where you can take a boat ride up the Mosel.

This trip was very much fun and relaxing. I hope to come here again soon and have the same experiences.

We want Nordic TV channels in Belgium!

2009-04-01T17:42:00.005+02:00

Join our Facebook group now!

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=54608301353

For everybody who wants to be able to watch Scandinavian channels in Belgium. Channels from Norway, Sweden, Denmark and Finland. (NRK / SVT / TVNorge / ViaSat3 / TV2 / DR ...).

Voor iedereen die ook Scandinavische zenders willen in het tv-aanbod. Zenders uit Noorwegen, Zweden, Denemarken en Finland (NRK / SVT / TVNorge / ViaSat3 / TV2 / DR ...).

Pour tout le monde qui veut regarder les chaînes scandinaviennes à la télé en Belgique. Des chaînes de la Norvège, la Suède, le Danemark ou la Finlande (NRK / SVT / TVNorge / ViaSat3 / TV2 / DR ...).

We want Scandinavian TV channels in Belgium
Wij willen Scandinavische TV zenders in België
Nous voulons des postes tv scandinaviens en Belgique

NRK, een voorbeeld voor de VRT

2009-03-20T22:03:00.007+01:00

NRK, de Noorse openbare omroep

Aangezien 'k graag naar Scandinavië reis, kijk ik ook eens welke media ze daar hebben (radio, tv,...).

Wat mij het meest opvalt, is het enorm uitgebreid (en gratis!) aanbod van NRK, de Noorse openbare omroep.

TV-AANBOD: 5 zenders

NRK1

De eerste van de 5 zenders is NRK1. Daar kan je vooral kijken naar interessante culturele programma's, alsook ontspanning zoals muziekshows, "The Daily Show" en "Murder She Wrote". Elke woensdagavond is er ook "Without a Trace". 's Morgens is er een uitgebreid ochtendprogramma (Frokost-TV) tot 10u.30, gevolgd door live kookprogramma's. Er is ook nationaal én regionaal nieuws om 13u., 18u., 19u., 21u. en 23u. 's Nachts is er muziek (afgewisseld jazz, rock, Noorse muziek,...) ofwel films.

Klik op "Read more" om het volledige artikel te lezen.

NRK2

NRK2 lijkt ook op NRK1, maar met het verschil dat er overdag constant regionale en nationale nieuwsreportages worden uitgezonden.

NRK3

Deze zender is er onlangs bijgekomen en is echt verrassend. Op deze zender zenden ze series uit die wij in België op de commerciële zenders terugvinden: House M.D., MadTV (!!),... Ook zijn er filmpremières te bekijken. Overdag is er een overvloed aan kinderprogramma's.

Svisj

Dit is de muziekzender met ook weer nationale en internationale hits, hitparades, quizzen,...

NRK med tegnsprak

Dit is een aparte zender, speciaal voor doven. Tegnsprak betekent dus gebarentaal. Bepaalde programma's, zoals nieuws, sport en ook gewone programma's worden dan links in beeld vertaald in gebarentaal.

ONLINE AANBOD: gratis video en tv-streams

Eerst en vooral zijn bijna alle programma's en nieuwsuitzendingen die op NRK1 en NRK2 worden uitgezonden integraal en gratis te bekijken op je computer. Zelfs in het buitenland, dus hier in België bijvoorbeeld, kan je enkele minuten na de uitzending de programma's bekijken.

--> [LINK]: http://www.nrk.no/nett-tv/

Wat ook interessant is, is het gratis en live bekijken van NRK1, NRK2, Svisj en NRK med tegnsprak! Ook dagtelevisie van NRK3 is online te bekijken. Wil je het zelf uitproberen? Kies hieronder je link:

--> [NRK1 integraal bekijken:] Low - High

--> [NRK2 integraal bekijken:] Low - High

*Edit: sinds april 2009 kan NRK enkel nog live bekeken worden tijdens live uitzendingen (zoals voetbal, skiën of het nieuws). De continu online streaming was een testfase van NRK en zal worden geëvalueerd. Bron: NRKBeta.no

Er is ook nog de Youtube-channel van NRK. Je vindt er enkele leuke knipsels van hun programma's. Bekijk hun channel hier.

Ten slotte is er de website "NRK-Beta". Hier is er o.a. een team van researchers die verschillende media (gsm, tv-streaming,...) bekijken, uittesten en hun verslagen hierop plaatsen. De site is in het Noors, dus zó veel is er op eerste zicht niet te lezen: http://nrkbeta.no/

RADIO AANBOD: 15 radiozenders

Wat ik ook nog even kort wou toevoegen is dat NRK dan weer 16 nationale radiozenders heeft (P1,P2,P3,mP3 en de rest zijn zenders volgens genre). Er is ook een radionieuwszender (Alltid Nyheter) waar er tot 22u. NRK-reportages wordt uitgezonden en nadien de BBC Newsservice te horen is in stereo.

Tot zover mijn grote topic over NRK. In hoeverre kunnen wij al deze mogelijkheden vergelijken met onze zenders (cfr. betalende iWatch online van vtm)?

Waarschijnlijk hebben ze dus veel meer geldmiddelen én ze zenden zelfs géén reclamespots uit. Toch telt dat land de helft minder inwoners dan België, en zelfs nog een miljoen minder dan Vlaanderen alleen.

Oslo, Norway 2007

2007-02-27T17:13:00.000+01:00

This video has been viewed already more than 130,000 times!

Our trip to Oslo and Askim in Norway in February 2007. It was just great, superb, wonderful!

This is just a quick 8-minute compilation of my full 1hour+ oslo movie which I can't upload here.

We visited the whole of Oslo, including the Holmenkollen and another town in the Østfold called "Askim".

Other places: Slottsparken Royal Castle Oslo Radhuset Aker Brygge Karl Johans Gate Vigelandpark IKEA Slependen Askim Cochs Pensjonat Munch Museum Oslo Gardermoen Airport

Video by Steven Sabbe