|
Structure
Interesting Questions, Facts and Information
- There are a total of 60 general entries. We are selecting 30 for display.
Special Topics
|
 Interesting Questions, Facts, and Information
 Belgium
Oostende. In Oostende there is always something to do. It was the first city in Belgium where Halloween was celebrated and in April 2001 there is the Kama Sutra Week.
| During World War I thousands of soldiers lost their lives in Belgium. Which museum in Ieper keeps the great war alive ? | Sightseeing in Belgium
|
| In Nieuwpoort stands a monument for a famous king who helped Belgium through the first World War, but he died in a terrible climbing accident. Who was he ? | Sightseeing in Belgium
|
10 million. In 2000, Belgium had 10 234 000 registered people...
3. They are: Dutch, French and German.
SABENA. A new company called 'DAT' (now changed the name to "SN Brussels Airlines") is trying to give Belgium a new airline company. At this moment (December 2001) they are offering very low prices for some flights. I've recently flown 4 times to Sweden, along with I guess 50 other people and we each payed about 100 Euro. I bet they will not make any money with this action :-)
| Another airline company, 'Ryan air', claims to bring you to 'Brussels South' in Belgium. In reality, you will land in another town at approximately 60 kilometers of Brussels. Where is this? | Belgium, Capital Of Brussels ?
|
Albert II. Baudoin II does not exist, Baudoin I died in 1993 as reigning king for 42 years...
Mathilde. Maxima is the future queen of the Netherlands, Paola is our current queen and Leen is my own princess {;-)}
| Our region has been very much fought about in the past, do you know in which town Napoleon Bonaparte was defeated in the 19th century? | Belgium, Capital Of Brussels ?
|
Waterloo. Right now, you can visit a monument in Waterloo: a big statue of a lion on top of a hill. A lot of stairs to do, though...
Tongeren. Tongeren is the town of the famous leader Ambiorix. The legions of Julius Caesar marched through this town a long time ago.
| Last year Belgium was shocked by the fraud discovered in a company, named L and H (Lernout and Hauspie). This company appeared on Nasdaq and reached enormous heights with their language technology. Do you know the hometown of this company? This city has also a big World War I history? | Belgium, Capital Of Brussels ?
|
Ieper (Ypres). Bastogne is known from the 'offensive of the Ardens' in World War II... Ieper has a very well known World War I museum, called 'In Flanders Fields', in respect of all the people who died there. In honour of those people, every day 'the last post' is played at the 'Menenpoort' (a porch, monument, with thousands of names engraved in it).
| Some veggies were traditionally considered typical of Belgium.One such an example was asparagus. The other was what the Walloons call des chicons and what the Flemings call witloof. What is the term used in America for this slightly artificially produced 'white gold' ? | Belgium For Beginners
|
Belgian endives. Hop shoots are as delicious as asparagus but much harder to find and very expensive. Chicory is what the British use as a term for Belgian endives. Brussels sprouts are completely unrelated, though also a delicacy when properly handled.
| Belgium is not really a country where people like heroic gestures. Even when in 1830 the 'Belgians' rebelled against the artificial state into which they had been forced by the Congress of Vienna, it looked a bit like a farce. The fighting was limited, the loss of lives too and the decisive events more a matter of diplomatic compromise than of military clashes. What had started off the 'Belgian Revolution'? | Belgium For Beginners
|
the singing of a patriotic song at the end of an opera-performance at the Mint Theatre in Brussels. The opera was ' La Muette de Portici' or the ' Mute Girl of Portici'. In this opera the revolutionary songs by Massaniello a Napolitan fisherman had that magic spark that starts off sudden enthusiasms.
| In spite of some lack of heroism, Belgians occasionally played a major role in the world or in the history of other nations. One such case was when a Belgian King arranged the marriage of the British monarch with a relative of his, another member of the Saxe Coburg Gotha family. Who was that King? | Belgium For Beginners
|
Leopold I (1831-1865). Leopold I arranged the marriage of his niece Queen Victoria of Britain to Prince Albert of Saxe Coburg Gotha, the husband whom Victoria mourned so deeply after his death that suddenly all over London there popped up 'Albert' toponyms such as Albert Bridge, Albert Embankment, Albert Hall, Albert Memorial, and of course the 'V and A Museum' .
| Having too much ambition is not really popular in Belgium. Belgians tend to belittle the size of their country, the importance of its role in the world and when anyone dares to launch a daring enterprise, the first reaction usually is scepticism. One of the Belgian Kings was so disappointed about this that he angrily said of his own subjects: ' Petit pays, petites gens'. ('Small country.Small-minded people.') Who was he? | Belgium For Beginners
|
Leopold II, the scourge of Congo. Leopold II had various 'large-scale' plans for the re-structuring of Brussels. He was the driving force behind the lay-out of the more impressive avenues of Brussels and also was behind the building of Poelaert's (pretentious ) 'Palais de Justice' that dominates the Brussels skyline. His critics called it the largest pile of stones in Europe. Baudouin was born in 1930 and died in 1993.
| Which Walloon town was 1.historically ruled by prince-bishops 2. the birthplace of Georges Simenon and is 1. home to the famous Fabrique Nationale d' Armes de Guerre 2.the largest of all the Walloon towns 3. nicknamed the 'Cite Ardente' or 'Hot-Blooded City' ? | The Walloon Part Of Belgium
|
Liege. Just as Brussels Liege has a 'statuette' symbolising the local man-in-the-street.Its name: Tchantches. The patron saint of Liege is Saint-Lambert. The cathedral dedicated to St. Lambert was destroyed during the French Revolution and was never re-built. Namur is the capital of the French Community. Among its most famous citizens was the painter Felicien Rops, a personal friend of Charles Baudelaire, and slightly notorious for the satirical and erotic contents of some of his works. Example: 'Pornocrate', an etch in which Rops symbolizes the man-woman relation by a nude female character leading on a man-faced piglet on a leash. Arlon is the capital of the province of Luxemburg and was a town already in the Roman period.
| Who was the general that defended 'Bastogne' during the so-called Battle of the Bulge against von Rundstedt's troops? | The Walloon Part Of Belgium
|
Mc Auliffe. Mc Auliffe was the man who is reputed to have said 'Nuts' to the Germans asking his surrender. Patton(1885-1945) cut through the encirclement of Bastogne by German troops(December,1944). Sir Brian Horrocks was a British general and played a role in the failed 'Market Garden' operation which was meant to dislodge the German from the bridges across the Rhine. Mac Arthur(1880-1964), was not involved in the Western front events. Patton was born in {California;} Mac Arthur in Little Rock, Arkansas.
| Which Walloon town became popular for its 'mineral water' when Peter the Great of Russia himself gave his name to one of the sources ? | The Walloon Part Of Belgium
|
Spa. The best-known source is the 'Pouhon Pierre le Grand'. The word 'spa' became the name for what the Germans call a 'Kurort', or health centre where 'patients' 'take the waters'. Durbuy prides itself on being the smallest town in Belgium, and sometimes even on being the smallest town in the world - which must be rather hard to prove. Floreffe is where the Norbertines founded their first abbey in Belgium. Founder was St. Norbert of Gennep himself. Stavelot has an impressive abbey ( being restored at present) and is well-known for its Blancs Moussis Carnival. It also has a Guillaume Appollinaire museum.
| One of the greatest painters at the end of the 19th century he stayed for a while near Mons where he took an interest in the life of the miners of the Borinage. Who was he? | The Walloon Part Of Belgium
|
Vincent van Gogh. The house at Cuesmes where van Gogh stayed is now a touristic attraction. Van Gogh tried to preach to oppressed mining families but was most of the time jeered at by them. Cezanne was born at AIx-en-Provence (1839-1906). Gauguin was born in Paris but had a French-Peruvian mother.(1848-1903). Claude Monet was a Parisian too but painted a lot in Normandy.(1840-1926).
| The Belgian Ardennes became famous in French literature when Arthur Rimbaud, at that time a young French poet, walked from his hometown Charleville in the French Ardennes all through the Ardennes woods up to Brussels (1872). Who was his companion ? | The Walloon Part Of Belgium
|
Paul Verlaine. The trip ended in shame and disappointment for both poets as Verlaine attacked and shot at his friend and homosexual lover during a tiff in Brussels, somewhere near the famous Grand'Place(July 10,1873). For him the whole story ended in the prison of Mons. Prevert (1900-1977) is not only known as a French poet,but also as a scriptwriter for some successful French films (a.o. Marcel Carne's Les Enfants du Paradis, 1945). Victor Hugo lived from 1802-1885. Guillaume Appolinaire (pen name for Wilhelm de Kostrowitzki) born in Rome 1880,died in 1918 in Paris. Arthur Rimbaud was born at Charleville 1854, died in Marseille 1891.
| Just as Flanders Wallonia was often the battlefield of European armies. Where did the Duke of Marlborough defeat the French armies of Marshall Villeroy in 1706? | The Walloon Part Of Belgium
|
Ramillies. Philippeville got its name after Philip II of Spain who ordered the building of a fortification here. Charleroi is a later creation by a Spanish King, Charles II, in 1666, who wanted to defend the new frontier created by the Treaty of the Pyrenees in 1659. The 'archeosite' of Aubechies is popular with school-parties as an open-air museum where prehistoric building-styles and techniques are on display. The battle of Ramillies took place on May 23, 1706 and was part of the War of the Spanish Succession.
trappist beer. Waffles are traditionally seen as a Liege product. Brussels must have the strongest concentration of chocolate-salespoints in the world. And chips and mussels is what you better look for in the North of the country than in the hilly, rocky South. Chimay, Rochefort and Orval all have their trappist abbey and who says trappist abbey thinks beer and cheese in Belgium. The other two Belgian beer-producing trappist abbeys are in Flanders: Westmalle and Westvleteren.
| Especially for all the tourists, we provide you with three official languages in Belgium. Can you give me the outsider? | Belgium For Dummies
|
English. Don't panic, most of the Belgian people do speak English. The "young" people will be able to answer all your questions in English. The northern part of Belgium is Dutch speaking, the southern part speaks French and in the eastern part there's a small German speaking area.
|
Fun Trivia | 
Quizzes | 
Games
| 
People | 
Services | 
Help | 
Me
