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home exchange
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TO THE
Did you
consider BELGIUM (BRUGGE)
as your
holiday destination? We are not as
well known as, say France; but we: our culture, our variety of landscapes (the
beautiful flat sandy coasts, the flat polders scenery, the hills of
Middle-Belgium, the "Rocky Mountains" of the Ardennes… all this in
maximum 4 hours drive) have also a lot to offer.
and don't forget: Bruges is European cultural capital of 2002! Americans fly
over specially. The Japanese can't stop talking about it, and the Scandinavians
maintain that the South starts here. Visitors from all over the world come to
visit the city. 'Brugge the Beautiful' is one of the
loviest cities in Europe, and has been elected in 2000 as 2nd cleanest city in
Belgium. World-famous monuments and works of art from every
period can be seen here: the oldest city hall in the Low Countries, the Basilica
of the Holy Blood, the Groeninge Museum and Church of Our Lady and many other
monuments and museums. When in Brugge, take a boat trip around the canals, and
discover Brugge from a particularly beautiful viewpoint. Have a look at the
lace-making. Bruges lace is one of the most refined in the world, with the pink
lace in particular often being considered as real works of art.
Our family:
Consists of 4 persons: my wife Gina (36 years), myself: Michel (42) and our 2 daughters Lynn and Maaike, 15 and 11 years young. Gina is a help in a hospital and I am chief cook in a sea-side - hotel of the army (Master Warrant Officer) - I hope you will enjoy the Flemish dishes I prepared especially for you.
I may not forget to mention our pets:
Shiva, our dog: a very kind, friendly and house-trained bouvier of 11 years (but
she will be on holiday herself in a dog pension). Prutske, our hamster, and
Dwergje, the midget Russian hamster, both are very easy to take care off: they
just eat, run around their cages and sleep. (Sadly our 16-year-old tomcat
died 2 years ago). We would like to exchange with other dog-owners (though not
essential): our first holiday experience was with a family
cat owners , but the lady of the house was very asthmatic and allergic to
dogs, which – sadly - she only found out at the spot. We like having nice things
ourselves and therefore we know how to take care of them. We are considerate
people and will do whatever we can to make sure that your home and belongings
are left in the same conditions as we found them. We are non-smokers but
don't mind if you smoke downstairs. We have a home exchange insurance for
possible damage. This will be
our sixth home exchange holiday; we've been to Tübingen, København, Århus,
Aberdeen and to Oslo. You'll find
our offer in the first holiday exchange book.
Our home:
We are proud to say that our home is very nice. It has 3 bedrooms (our bedroom)
(Maaike's bedroom)
(in Lynn's room we have a double bed, where 2 children can sleep);
a bathroom (with bath and shower) with
clothes washer
We have a garage with bicycles in it, which you and your children can use. A small, though cosy, garden.
Our kitchen is well equipped and modern, with microwave, freezer,
dishwasher... In our living-room
we have cable TV (one in each girl's room too) with
30 stations, 2
VCR with lots of Disney and other videotapes, computer with permanent Internet
connection via cable, hi-fi (also
in the girls rooms) and so on …
Our
neighbourhood Is very nice, with peaceful surroundings (in front of us there are only fields and a few houses) with friendly and welcoming neighbours. In addition it is very child-friendly: in our save and quiet dead end - street, with only 4 houses, are children between the age of 5 -17. The only traffic is very local, so the children can play, cycle, roller-skate…
at ease. Different shops (department stores as well as
neighbourhood-shops, butchers, bakeries…) and lovely forests (which were
highly appreciated by some of our home exchange friends) are nearby. You only
need to walk 5 minutes to our Olympic swimming pool; the football stadium (FC
Bruges), and the new bowling hall. Tennis and horse riding are also nearby. Bus
stops are just within a few minutes walking distance. In Brugge we
have a very user-friendly and cheap park-and-ride bus system near the
railway station.
Our location: We live in Sint Andries, only 5 Km
from the well-known city of BRUGES. (Europe's 2002 Cultural
Capital). I don’t think I have to tell you much about it. It’s very
touristy, well known in the whole world and beyond (Venice of the North!).
Cultural with lot’s of museums (famous for, amongst others, their Flemish
Primitives (Memlinck, Van Eyck…), theatres and the canals. The horse-drawn
coaches, very good restaurants (including a 3 star Michelin –though that one
is quite expensive). Of course our world famous Belgian chocolates, our world
famous beers (we have a choice of more than 300 old-traditional brewed Belgian
beers!), and so on. We must not forget to mention the things children like: sea,
sand, the dolphinarium, amusement parks… BRUGGE was chosen, in 1998, by the
British readers of The Sunday Times as the second most enjoyable city in the
world with 97.2 % (first was Sydney with 98.6 %; Paris only had
82.8 %). One of the most perfectly preserved medieval cities in Western
Europe, with its beguinage that is one of the 200 UNESCO patrimony of the world,
and the whole innercity is now on that infamous list (including the piramids of
Gizeh, the Acropolis in Athens...) too since Nov 2000.
It won prices as one of the cleanest towns in Europe. In summer we have
"Festival of Flanders" with Musica Antiqua,... as well as festivals with
pop, rock, blues, world and other kinds of music.
If we keep in touch, I’ll send
you a videotape of Bruges and surroundings. We live only 15 Km from our (again)
well known beautiful sandy beaches. Bruges is also close to Brussels (Europe’s
capital), Antwerp (both 1 hour drive), Gent (½ hour drive), a 3 hour drive to
Paris (and Euro Disney!) or the Ardennes.
A choice of
comments by our previous home exchange guests
"What
did we think of Belgium? Well I should let the other speak for themselves but,
for me, it was a good experience. I think Belgium generally has a low profile -
what I mean is that I do not believe most people have a clear idea of what life
is like in Belgium or of what the character of the people is like. It's
necessary to go there to find out. As always, its impossible to generalise but I
came away with a strong impression of a quietly kind and helpful people. Unlike
many places I have been, I never came across anyone who was rude or unfriendly
and that makes a huge contribution to the enjoyment of any holiday. Everywhere
we went in Belgium we were impressed with the lack of litter and the way people
apparently cared for their environment - I wish I could say the same for our
town where the bad attitude of some means we all have to live with their mess.
Driving was so easy - when I did make a mistake, other drivers seemed prepared
to accommodate me instead of leaning on the horn. Road signs were much better
than in Italy or France and finding our way around was amazingly easy. I
preferred West Flanders and especially Brugge and the area around Ieper. In fact
I could have spent the entire two weeks in the WW1 battlefield areas. I couldn't
help wondering what today's generation of Belgians make of the memorials and war
graves - is this just a tourist opportunity or do they see deeper meanings.
Also, no one could tell me what happened to the German dead - where are their
memorials, where are their graves? The Canadian and Australian memorials were
especially moving - so far from home and so many. Incredible. Brugge was quite
superb, even if it was aimed very much at the tourist market. I was impressed at
the professional way in which the assets of the city had been managed - a lot of
places could learn from Brugge. In fact I think the only area of Belgium that
didn't appeal to me were the coastal towns from Oostend along to Knokke-Heist.
They seems to lack any real purpose or taste and, in that respect, they were the
same as many seaside towns in the UK. Probably I need to reflect more on our
Belgian experience for a while but I wouldn't hesitate to recommend the place to
anyone." (Bill,
Scotland) Another one of our earlier home exchange friends
described our neighbourhood as: "feeling that
we are out in the country while enjoying all the conveniences of modern urban
life". (Denmark) Some other comments: "…This
is the 4th time we have exchanged houses, but the first time we are leaving 'too
early', wishing we could extend the exchange for another two weeks, staying in
your sweet home has been a very relaxing and pleasant experience…"...
"…the surroundings inviting you to enjoy family-trips on the
bicycle." (Nancy,
Denmark) "Thank you all very much for making such
an effort to give us a big Belgium welcome when we arrived - we really enjoyed
the food and we are looking forward to the Waterzooi (hope I spelled that OK)
tomorrow. I have no doubt we will all be very comfortable in your lovely home
and we will do our best to look after things while you are in Scotland. "
We are looking forward to your, most welcome e-mail, letter, or
phone call! Happy home
exchanging! Michel, Gina,
Lynn and Maaike Lange Molenstraat 181 8200 Sint Andries (BRUGGE) Belgium Our homelink
NR. TSP-100-091930
00.32/50.67.04.82
Links
to Brugge and other nice things
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and dryer, a loft full with toys. It is a 11-year young house
with many conveniences: central heating (which you will, hopefully, not need
next summer. To see the current weather in Brugge: 
'
