Day 19: Belgium

[Tetro Kornbluth]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Belgium



Western European country known for being anonymous at least to anglophones (insert jokes about famous Belgians here), being a good route to which to invade France by and for being on the fault line between Germanic and Latin Europe, with the country divided by language between the Dutch speaking Flemings in the prosperous North and the French speaking Walloons in the more handout dependent south, also known as a major centre of organized crime in Europe. Also known for chocolate and paedophilia. Al has a good joke about that I hear.

Below is a (now fairly old) map showing the main linguistic-community divisions in Belgium

[politicus]

B for Beer. World best beer makers, by far. Also more or less invented the classical European comic tradition. Those two things alone make them immense freedom fighters and outweigh housing the Eurocrats.

[Barnes]

Historic Belgian territorial claims following the First World War.

[Tetro Kornbluth]

B for Beer. World best beer makers, by far. Also more or less invented the classical European comic tradition. Those two things alone make them immense freedom fighters and outweigh housing the Eurocrats.

Oh yes. Definitely agree on the beer.

[🦀🎂🦀🎂]

My favourite part of the Netherlands.

[DavidB.]

My favourite part of the Netherlands.

Exactly. But I'd be more than happy to give the southern part to France, as a nice present. Including Brussels.

I love Belgium and I love Belgians. Their country has failed, but its failedness is charming and its incompleteness and incorrectness - as opposed to the Dutch neurotic, bizarre tendency to be perfect by regulating everything - is charming. Belgium is truly a beautiful country (I'm being completely serious here), it's truly a shame I always try to cross it within an hour (and repeatedly succeeded in doing so) when driving to France. Sorry, neighbours.

On the political level, its media are sooo taboo-ridden. I read a good article about the difference between Flanders and the Netherlands in terms of openness to controversial ideas recently - the Netherlands being much more open to them -, but it was in Dutch. At the same time, the Flemish public seem to be much more "revolutionary" than the laid-back Dutch, which scares me a little.

I love Flemish Dutch language, by the way.

[Zinneke]

Historic Belgian territorial claims following the First World War.

These aspirations are legitimate.

However I'd either jettison Dutch  North Limburg (ie East Brabant) or just annex North Brabant as a whole.

In all seriousness I think a union between the two countries is a useful idea, including Wallonia which is culturally and politically a Lowland country. We can't rely on the EU for foreign policy and we already have an integrating retail market that is still lagging behind Germany and the UK.

[All Along The Watchtower]

My Lorraine-born, German-speaking great-great-great grandfather emigrated from Antwerp.

Anyway, seems like an interesting place.

[ag]

It does not exist!

http://zapatopi.net/belgium/

[Beezer]

Historic Belgian territorial claims following the First World War.

What are the pink areas in Germany supposed to represent?

Anyway, it's a lovely country. I really like the Flemish cities (including Brussels). The only thing I absolutely hate is driving in Belgian cities. Jesus f'ing Christ. It's a free for all.

[DavidB.]

The only thing I absolutely hate is driving in Belgian cities. Jesus f'ing Christ. It's a free for all.

Not only the cities are horrible for driving. The signage on the highways is absolutely terrible. Only one big sign at every interchange and that's it.

Also, the quality of the asphalt is terrible. Everybody still knows where the Dutch-Belgian border is: once you enter Belgium, the road becomes terribly bumpy.

[ingemann]

My old geopraphic teacher used to say, that Belgium's purpose was to serve as a object lesson for why city planning was necessary. After visiting Brussel I can only agree, it's the ugliest city with the most beautiful individual building I have ever seen.

[🦀🎂🦀🎂]

The only thing I absolutely hate is driving in Belgian cities. Jesus f'ing Christ. It's a free for all.

Not only the cities are horrible for driving. The signage on the highways is absolutely terrible. Only one big sign at every interchange and that's it.

Also, the quality of the asphalt is terrible. Everybody still knows where the Dutch-Belgian border is: once you enter Belgium, the road becomes terribly bumpy.

[Simfan34]

The only thing I absolutely hate is driving in Belgian cities. Jesus f'ing Christ. It's a free for all.

Not only the cities are horrible for driving. The signage on the highways is absolutely terrible. Only one big sign at every interchange and that's it.

Also, the quality of the asphalt is terrible. Everybody still knows where the Dutch-Belgian border is: once you enter Belgium, the road becomes terribly bumpy.

If you look closely enough you will notice that the sign, in fact, says "Québec". This is the Dutch-Belgian border:



Still doesn't beat the Indo-Bhutanese border, though.

[🦀🎂🦀🎂]

Oops