Dinant, Belgium (by kerouac2)

[Deleted]

Oct 19, 2014 15:42:13 GMT mich64 said:

When you do these reports, do you always do them in English or have you ever done them in French to post on other sites?

No, I only do these reports in English. There are far more professional locals who can do much better than I on a French language site, not to mention the nitpicking when I get something wrong. At least on an English language site, the viewers are generally as ignorant as I am.

[Deleted]

The weather was deteriorating just a bit as the day came to an end.



I walked along the waterfront back to my hotel, discovering new destruction from 1914.









The rail line across the river was very busy, both with local trains and freight trains.







Flocks of geese? ducks? were leaving the region. Cold weather is not far away.

       

It took a while, but I noticed that something was conspicuously missing from Dinant, which was quite amazing since it is something that is ubiquitous in France and Belgium and quite frankly most of the countries in the world now. After my first couple of hours in the city, I had realised this, so I kept a lookout for any trace and absolutely could not find any manifestation at all. I wondered if it might be because of this.

       

But I didn't really think so, because I only saw the cameras along the waterfront.





Could it be possible that there was not a single graffito in Dinant? Had all young people been given a lobotomy? It was almost a relief to finally come across this one and only trace.



I will say, however, that it was quite nice to be in a city (almost) without graffiti.











I almost went here for dinner, but I had spotted a supermarket with excellent local specialities that I preferred to gobble in my room with local beer.

I will admit that after eating my cold dinner (crayfish, head cheese and other delights), I decided to go in the pouring rain to the casino next door. I must admit that Belgian casinos annoy me a bit due to their complications. You have to give an ID card (normal, same as in France to make sure you are not on the casino blacklist), but then they have to register your complete identity and address and actually create a membership card with photo (it was a scan of part of my ID card), valid in that casino for one year. Considering the fact that I was just going in to spend/lose a grand total of 20 euros, which usually takes about 15 minutes max, I really felt that it was all a waste of time, except for the fact that the birthdate on my ID card caused the additional creation of a free voucher for a bottle of champagne. I don't know why I wrote "except" because I don't like champagne and didn't even use the voucher, which is still in my possession. I suppose I would have redeemed it if I had not been alone. Anyway, I increased my casino budget to a spectacular 25 euros, which of course I lost, and then returned for a few minutes to rainy Dinant.

The next morning before hitting the road, I admired the view of the Meuse at dawn for one last time.

[mich64]

The picture of the front door and window of a residence, is that purple coloured pipe their water access pipe? And does it have a spigot to water the garden box?

Very interesting information about the casino. I have never been to one here so I am not sure how they would compare, perhaps we will have to visit one now to find out! I am considering a shopping trip very near the area where the casino is (about 2 hours south from here), so maybe.

I probably would have made sure I got my free bottle of champagne but probably would not have drank it either and probably would have left it for the Hotel cleaning staff.

[Deleted]

The purple pump is just an old traditional water pump which can still be found all over Europe, even if the vast majority are only for decoration now. When I was 3 years old, my grandmother's kitchen sink still had a pump like that (of course smaller for indoor use).

[Deleted]

Mich, that looks like a good old fashioned hand pump that they've kept up and painted nicely. It may have been the old water source for the house (and its neighbours) at one time. I don't think it was created especially for the garden box because it's in an awkward spot.

[mich64]

It would be so useful watering the gardens. I do not think I have every noticed them, perhaps this one painted purple (my favourite colour) is what drew my attention.

[whatagain]

Didn't see if you mentioned it but this rock is called 'Rocher Bayard'.
My Grandpa who lived close told me the 4 sons Egmont (4 knights) were on the back of their horses and had to jump accross the river.
By doing so, the horse cracked the rocks and created the gap that we can see. The real legend is below -or maybe I wasn't that attentive to my granddad ?

www.dinant.be/patrimoine/sites/rocher-bayard

[tod2]

Thanks again for introducing us to this lovely town, and especially notifying me that my favourite beer LEFFE is made there!

[bixaorellana]

This popped up on my fb History Today feed this morning. I felt quite edjikated & smug that I already knew about Sax, thanks to this thread.
Antoine-Joseph Sax was born on November 6th, 1814. <-- click