BITWRATHPLOOB World Tour

“There’s a voice keeps on callin’ me”2
simon posted in Departures, Detours on July 26th, 2008

Yes, just like The Littlest Hobo, BITWRATHPLOOB has heard the call of the open road, and he must heed it. Having had his fill of Belgium ‘Ploob just had time for a long weekend in Exeter, where he admired the cathedral, which has the longest unbroken gothic ceiling in the world, apparently.

Nearby, Mol’s Coffee House.

And then it was back to Brussels to be packed into a box and posted off to…..ah, but that would be telling, wouldn’t it? Goodbye, Mr ‘Ploob. It was an honour to spend time in your company.

By the way, some of you may have noticed that this site was unavailable for a short time, and it’s only thanks to Erik’s mad hosting skillz that it’s back up at all (bar a few of the most recent comments). Respect.

Database Disaster1
erik posted in News on July 25th, 2008

The BITWRATHPLOOB blog sustained a server disaster this week, I’m afraid. All the posts, pages, and comments were lost. I have been able to restore all the posts and pages from Google Cache, but not all the comments.

To all of our authors, please go and sign up again, and I will restore your authorship privileges and assign your posts back to you.

A more stringent backup has been put in place to prevent future disasters such as this one. As the administrator of this website, I apologize for our loss.

Tour d’Europe0
simon posted in Detours on July 15th, 2008

Before the ‘Ploob heads off to pastures new I thought I’d take one last photo of him in front of a Belgian landmark, so off we headed to the Atomium, which had recently been spruced up in time for its 50th birthday.

 

After the obligatory snaps and a celebratory waffle, I suddenly remembered that Mini-Europe was next door. What a perfect opportunity for ‘Ploob to visit (kind of) monuments from all across the continent (as well as a few Belgian sites he’d missed out on) in one go. I’m not sure we got all 27 EU member states, as my four-year-old daughter was along for the trip and needed occasional distraction, but we managed most of them, I think. I’d never been before, but I was quite impressed by the quality of some of the models. Most displays had a big blue button which played that country’s national anthem when pushed.

So, in no particular order…

Copenhagen harbour:

 

Dinant (Belgium):

 

Leuven (Belgium) town hall:

 

St. Patrick’s Rock, Ireland:

 

Bath, UK:

 

‘Ploob the Royal Guard:

 

Sacre Coeur, Paris:

 

Porto, Portugal:

 

Seville, Spain:

 

Mnajdra, Malta:

 

Pisa, Italy:

Vesuvius. Press the blue button and it “erupts”:

 

Brandenburg Gate, Berlin:

 

Apparently the most famous sight in Luxembourg is a bridge with some lorries on it:

 

Prague on the left, Bratislava on the right:

 

Bucharest:

 

Budapest:

 

Ljubljana:

 

Melk abbey, Austria:

 

The Acropolis, Greece:

 

So there you have it: a tour of (most of) Europe in less than an hour. A fitting way to end his stay in the Capital of Europe, I think you’ll agree.

Next up is a long weekend in Devon before moving on to the next destination…

Pis and Mayonnaise0
simon posted in Detours on July 2nd, 2008

Yesterday I very generously sacrificed my lunch hour(s) to show ‘Ploob a couple of the main tourist atractions in the centre of Brussels.

First up was the Grand Place. Some say that this is one of the most beautiful squares in Europe. It was hard to tell that day, as about a quarter of it was covered in scaffolding for renovation work, and the centre was a mess of cranes and trucks and seating stands as preparations were made for the upcoming annual Ommegang event. Still, I managed to get shots of ‘Ploob in front of the town hall…

 

…the City Museum…

 

and a selection of guildhalls.

 

We turned the corner and paid homage to one of Brussels’ most famous residents, the Manneken Pis. He’s disappointingly small, and although he’s often dressed in some sort of costume, usually donated by visiting foreign dignitaries, on this day he was au naturel.

 

Personally I prefer the little girl version, Jeanneke Pis, to be found a few streets away in the crowded tourist restaurant district. At least she has a smile on her face (plus she’s life-sized).

 

A stop for lunch, and ‘Ploob insisted on trying some more Belgian beer. I opted for a Hoegaarden, which is popular during summer for its lightness and refreshing taste.

 

We shared a cornet of frites, and ‘Ploob ended up with a mayostache.

 

He then drained the rest of the beer. Despite his well-documented love of this type of beverage, ‘Ploob has a tragically low tolerance for alcohol, and after one glass of blanche he was telling me that I was his “besht mate”, and asking to borrow my mobile phone so that he could call up all his old girlfriends.