The Old Oak

Rating:	★★★★
Category:	Restaurants
Cuisine:	Irish
Location:	Franklinstraat 26, Brussels

We're planning to visit all Irish pubs in Brussels at least once. Today we finally visited one in the Schuman-area where there are still many to visit!

The Old Oak is a typical Irish pub with screens for sports and good food (mmm real burgers!). It's nice to see so many different nationalities here enjoying the football and the food ;-)
The downstairs has a really cool glass-ceiling with images of oaks (see pic). We didn't go upstairs (maybe next time?).

More info: http://www.celticpubs.com/celtweb/oldoakbxl.html

Celtica (Irish Pub)

Rating:	★★★★
Category:	Other

Just a pub so no food here! (that's why I didn't put it under restaurants).

It's a nice Irish pub with good prices and of course big screens for watching football and rugby ;-)

Good alternative if the other Irish pubs in the city centre are full and you weren't planning on having an Irish dinner anyway.

More info: http://www.celticpubs.com/celtweb/celticabxl.html

Beijingya

Rating:	★★★★
Category:	Restaurants
Cuisine:	Chinese
Location:	Rue Melsens 8, Brussels

What you'll notice first is the crispy ducks (see pic) in the window but don't worry they have vegetarian dishes too!
It's a nice but small Chinese restaurant with authentic dishes. Read some of the reviews to get an idea:

http://www.zone02.be/resto/detail/nl/2522/Beijingya.html
http://www.resto.be/ware/details.jsp?businessid=47686

It's just around the corner of La Centrale Electrique where you can see great exhibits ;-)

The Face of Lace (Bruges, 15-2-2009)

Rating:	★★★★★
Category:	Other

Brilliant artworks based on the art of lace in several museums in Bruges. If you like lace and modern art you have to check this out!

All the locations are great too and there are lots of beautiful works of art to be seen!
Exhibit ends at 1-3-2009 so be fast ;-)

More info: http://www.kantlijnen.be/

Basecamp

Rating:	★★★★★
Category:	Restaurants
Cuisine:	Indian
Location:	Naamsestraat 16, Leuven, Belgium

Terrific Nepalese/Indian/Tibetan food. Everything is yummy here!

More info: http://www.restaurantbasecamp.com/

Au thé de Pékin

Rating:	★★★★
Category:	Restaurants
Cuisine:	Chinese
Location:	Zwarte-lieve-vrouwstraat 16-24, Brussels, Belgium

Pretty good, authentic Chinese food in a nicely decorated restaurant. It's quite large so not too difficult to get a table. Many Chinese people eat here too!

More info: http://www.authedepekin.be/

Un-Scene (Wiels, Brussels, 8-2-2009)

Rating:	★★★★★
Category:	Other

Young Belgian artists with exciting works in a cool location ;-)
They have great food here too!

More info: http://www.wiels.org/site2/home.php

Cobra (KMSKB, Brussels, 8-2-2009)

Rating:	★★★★★
Category:	Other

Last Week!! If you want to see this one you have to be fast because it ends 15-2-2009.

And I can tell you that it's worth visiting! I myself am not a big fan of Cobra and I must admit I still detest most of the works of Karel Appel but this exhibit shows loads and loads of beautiful Cobra art as well.
I especially liked the works of Corneille, Constant, Alechinsky, Asger Jorn (see pic) and Österlin.
So check it out even if you're not sure about Cobra ;-)

Info: http://www.fine-arts-museum.be/

Vodou (Tropenmuseum, Amsterdam, 16-1-2009)

Rating:	★★★★★
Category:	Other

Extremely exciting exhibit about everything you always wanted to know about Vodou: the history, what it means in Haitian society, the gods&spirits, ceremonies, etc.
You can even watch some old voodoo movies on certain days!
And if you want to learn even more you can buy interesting books in the shop.

See what the exhibit looks like: http://www.tropenmuseum.nl/TM/Vodou/
(includes music!)

Main site (in English): http://www.tropenmuseum.nl/smartsite.shtml?id=16433

Museum Willet-Holthuysen (Amsterdam, 16-1-2009)

Rating:	★★★★★
Category:	Other

A look inside a 17th century Amsterdam canal house. The rooms are decorated in 18th and 19th century style. They are quite beautiful!

At the moment there is an exhibit about fans (which I love anyway). You can still visit that un till 29-3-2009 but the small museum is worth a visit anyway.

More info: http://www.willetholthuysen.nl/

Holy Inspiration (Nieuwe Kerk, Amsterdam, 16-1-2009)

Rating:	★★★★
Category:	Other

A church is always a cool place for exhibits (often literally too) but it's especially fitting for one about religion and spirituality in modern art.
The Stedelijk Museum is showing some of it's more spiritual pieces here un till april the 19th. The main museum is still being renovated so this is your change to see some of their collection.

It's not a very big exhibit but there are some brilliant works of art to enjoy. The church itself is worth a visit it too. Don't forget to visit the tomb of Dutch hero Michiel de Ruyter (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michiel_de_Ruyter).
There is a restaurant in the church too btw which serves great soup ;-)

More info on the location: http://www.nieuwekerk.nl/en/index.htm
More info on the museum: http://www.stedelijkindestad.nl/pages/english

The never-ending list of things I would like to do or see or experience some day

In no particular order:

- see the northern lights (aurora borealis)

- see a big waterfall

- see a live volcano (safely ofcourse!)

- visit a cave (done that in 2010! yay!)

- write a book

- write a graphic novel

- become master of arts

- see a rugby match in a real stadium (preferably in Dublin)

- have an exhibit in a cool gallery or even a museum

- sitting in a pub all day reading and writing

- learn to speak French, Spanish and Gaelic

- take up fencing and arching

- learn to make lace

- do some courses in paper preservation, maybe even abroad

- do some courses in webdesign

- eat haggis in Scotland (done that in 2011! several times even!)

- design and make jewellery

- design and make clothes

- ...