International Bathtub Regetta

Another wacky Belgian event took place this summer in Dinant. The International Bathtub Regatta is an event in which teams create bathtubs and race them on the River Meuse. Here's a blurb from the website:

Surely the wackiest and most entertaining boat race on earth with over 250 participants in a flotilla of original vessels made out of at least one bathtub racing down the river Meuse. Strictly no deliberate sinking of opponents allowed!

"More of a lark than a serious competition, this event is open to seaworthy bath tubs of all classes, from all nations. The exact rules are vague, but vessels can be of any design — seemingly the more bizarre the better — and there must be at least one bath tub providing buoyancy. Motors are strictly forbidden, so is the deliberate sinking of a fellow competitor. Prizes are awarded by an impartial panel of judges for speed, technical endeavour, beauty, novelty, and representation of the town. Even for non-boating visitors, Dinant, with its onion dome tower wedged between the river and a cliff, is sufficiently picturesque to be worth a visit. "La Regate des Baignoires" makes it doubly so ..." (from worldeventsguide.com)

It was pretty entertaining. There were some creative bathtubs and several of the racers had some fun with the crowd by throwing water balloons, splashing, or pooring buckets of water as they passed by. I thought it was quite amusing to watch them try to paddle the boats with various objects as well.

Flower Carpet

Every two years for one weekend in the summer the Grand Place in Brussels is transformed into a carpet of flowers. The carpet is made mostly of begonias and can be viewed from a couple of different balconies on the Grand Place.

Hellekapelle

One of the things we like to do (well, Rick mostly) when we have a free weekend is to visit different specialty beer bars and/or breweries throughout Belgium. We normally use the beer guide book that I wrote about awhile ago to make our selections. Many of the places we visit are in small towns in the middle of nowhere. We have found, however, that some of the most uninteresting places can have really interesting beer bars. Some of the bars are quirky, some are located in beautiful, old buildings, and some just have great beer lists.

I would put Hellekapelle in the "quirky" if not "bizarre" category. The name means "Chapel of Hell" and it refers to a time when the church saw cafes as covens of debauchery and drunkeness. We took our friends Clive and Maria along with us. They've accompanied us on a few beer bar excursions in the past and they keep coming back for more! Unfortunately, this one was closed when we got there. It was difficult to tell whether it was closed for good, for the summer, or just for the day. Our curiosity was piqued and we drove a long way so we decided to trespass. The bar was located in an old chapel that was next to what looked like a farmhouse. We opened the gate and walked around the property until we saw the entrance. All we had to do was push open the door and we were in! The property didn't look abandoned, but we didn't see anybody there. The decor in this place alone was worth the drive. Although, I think all of us agreed that it was a shame that we couldn't stay for a beer.