Postcard Greetings from the impressive Moorish-style Nimb hotel in the historic Tivoli Gardens – Copenhagen, Denmark

This morning at The Brussels Airlines lounge I’m feeling a little proud to be Belgian... Contrary to most other countries we, Belgians have a mixed feeling towards our identity as one people/nation. Before her independence in 1830, Belgium faced a number of invasions, and was, for centuries, under the yoke of other powers: Spanish, German, Austrian, French and Dutch. The drawback of all of this is that it becomes hard to define our own culture and identity. The Red Devils, our national soccer team is one of the few things that brings our small, lively and oh so complex country together. A country where identity divergences are raging. Therefore, in few countries the excitement and expectations for the national soccer team have been as high as in Belgium. Don’t let us down guys, the nation is counting on you… Brussels Airport, Brussels, Belgium

View on the City from BA8460 bound for London City Airport. Known for centuries as “the City”, London’s financial centre has expanded beyond its original heartland in the City of London to the skyscrapers of Canary Wharf in the east and plush townhouses in Mayfair to the west. The British capital dominates global foreign exchange, and features international bond and fund management operations and more banks than any other hub. Is the City vulnerable to a Brexit shock? About a third of the transactions which take place on its exchanges and in its trading rooms involve clients in the EU… Interesting times ahead for one of the worlds’s largest financial capitals – London, UK

I never heard of Ichtegem, a small town in West-Falnders, until last Saturday when I was asked to shoot “Wit”: a happy crowd of engaged people that are presenting an alternative to the traditional political parties at the upcoming local elections. Not really my thing but a fun experience!

The Nassau County Firefighters Pipes & Drums Band marching through Ghent at the occasion of their 2018 Freedom Trip - Klein Turkije, Ghent

​Wimmelbild of the of the 44th edition of The Cats Festival - Ypres, Belgium

Weathered oaks in Zeeland - Kamperland, The Netherlands

The 44th edition of The Cats Festival was an impressive spectacle. Ypres created a celebration out of tossing cats to their death from a bell tower. A practice that dates from the Middle Ages when Ypres propspered as a center of clothmaking. 
The city’s warehouses would fill with bales of imported wool waiting to be woven, and bolts of finished cloth waiting to be sold at an annual fair. The warehouses drew mice and rats, which would nest and breed prolifically in an environment like that. To keep the vermin from chewing up the goods, the story goes, merchants would bring in a few hungry cats to hunt them. But the hunters would multiply, too, and by the time of the fair each spring, the place would be overrun with feral cats creating a nuisance of their own. In those crueler times, hurling cats from a great height was apparently seen in Ypres as both a practical solution and a source of gruesome entertainment. They don’t throw live cats in Ypres any more, of course; that stopped in 1817. In 1930 the city brought back the old throwing tradition in a harmless way using stuffed toys and confetti – Ypres, Belgium

Vignette of the 44th edition of The Cats Festival. This year’s festival was crowded  by Japanese tourists, aparently they love cats! – Ypres, Belgium.