Hi, I am Mike from Bruges

[Flandrach]

Hello people, I am very new to this forum and very glad I have found my way over here. I am 36 yrs and live in Belgium. I was born in the beautiful city of Bruges 'The Venice of the north...'. I work as a desktop publisher since 2001 and still in the same company.

Photography has always been a big interest of me, but only started in 2009 with my first 'serious' camera, a Fujifilm FinePix HS10. A year later i bought a Canon 550D and still shoot with this one, but this year i want to make the step to buy a better camera.

I have no specific interest when i shoot my photos, i just love it all: landscapes, architecture, sports, family (portraits etc.). i love my fantastic wife and our kids, I'm a very big fan of my daughter who dances in competition, I love football (soccer) and still play it among friends every Saturday morning, a big fan of Club Brugge and i simply love life!

Thanks and hope we speak soon!
Mikey

 

[Designer]

Welcome!

What is your proposed budget? Please link to any interesting deals and I assume you will list the price in Euros, so we can convert.

 

[Derrel]

Welcome aboard The Crazy Train, Mike! The conductor in chief, Terri, might stop by to punch your ticket sometime soon. We're always in need of new people here. It's great to see a Belgian here. I've long admired your nation's waffles.

 

[Flandrach]

Welcome!

What is your proposed budget? Please link to any interesting deals and I assume you will list the price in Euros, so we can convert.

Thanks! I will be able to tell more about my budget this summer. My wife and one of our daughters need to travel to Sweden in November so a lot of my budget is lost haha. But this summer I am helping out my sisters husband, and will earn some extra cash. But I think €2000 will be maximum i'm affraid...

 

[Watchful]

Two thousand squiggly line things... That's not a lot.

 

[Flandrach]

Welcome aboard The Crazy Train, Mike! The conductor in chief, Terri, might stop by to punch your ticket sometime soon. We're always in need of new people here. It's great to see a Belgian here. I've long admired your nation's waffles.

Thanks Derrel. Waffles are nice indeed... but way better are our French fries (oh, we hate that name so much, in Belgium and The Netherlands we call them ‘frieten’. They are invented in Belgium, not in France! But the book Cookery for Maids of All Work by E. Warren described it as French fries… and the name got stuck in America. So here is a story you can all tell during dinner when eating them… they are BELGIAN FRIES haha).

And next to that, you have to try our Belgian beer. Belgium is such a small country, but we have 1150 different beers, produced by 146 breweries. In Bruges there are two pubs where you can try over 400 beers!

 

[bizmich]

Hi Mike !

 

[Designer]

And next to that, you have to try our Belgian beer. Belgium is such a small country, but we have 1150 different beers, produced by 146 breweries. In Bruges there are two pubs where you can try over 400 beers!

My son has been there and says that he could live in Belgium. He is a great fan of Belgian beers. We can get some imports here.

Keep us informed as to your progress in finding photography equipment.

Your screen name hints that you might be Flemish or live near Flanders. What is the story behind your screen name?

 

[robbins.photo]

Hello people, I am very new to this forum and very glad I have found my way over here. I am 36 yrs and live in Belgium. I was born in the beautiful city of Bruges 'The Venice of the north...'. I work as a desktop publisher since 2001 and still in the same company.

Photography has always been a big interest of me, but only started in 2009 with my first 'serious' camera, a Fujifilm FinePix HS10. A year later i bought a Canon 550D and still shoot with this one, but this year i want to make the step to buy a better camera.

I have no specific interest when i shoot my photos, i just love it all: landscapes, architecture, sports, family (portraits etc.). i love my fantastic wife and our kids, I'm a very big fan of my daughter who dances in competition, I love football (soccer) and still play it among friends every Saturday morning, a big fan of Club Brugge and i simply love life!

Thanks and hope we speak soon!
Mikey

Belgium... Belgium... hmm.. never heard of it. What part of the US is that in? Somewhere near Idaho maybe?

Lol.. kidding, of course. Welcome to the forum

 

[Flandrach]

Well you are in the good direction... 'Flandrach' is gaelic for 'Flemish'. So I am Flemish and born and live in Flanders. Belgium is split in two regions:
1. Flanders (Flemish speaking part, almost the same as Dutch from the Netherlands, we understand each other completely but it's like a very different dialect).
2. Wallony (French speaking part).

So Flanders is not a city, or a country, it's more like a region, or province.
Bruges, the city where i was born, is in Flanders. And then there is Brussels, the capital city of Belgium. So far a bit of geography lesson, as I know that a lot of people in America are confused about Brussels and Belgium and Flanders...

But why did i choose gaelic? Well i lost my heart in one of the most beautiful countries in the world... Scotland, about 800 miles from Belgium. I travelled about 6 times over there and made many Scottish friends, and visited many places and historical stuff etc as i am very interested in Medieval times.

Also forgot to mention that i love to read about WW1 and WW2. My house is only 15 mins driving of Ypres... anyone heard of Ypres before? Check Ypres - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia and also read the part about the Menin Gate and the ceremony held EVERY evening since 1928![/QUOTE]

 

[Watchful]

yeah, but did ye kiss the blarney stone??

 

[limr]

Well you are in the good direction... 'Flandrach' is gaelic for 'Flemish'. So I am Flemish and born and live in Flanders. Belgium is split in two regions:
1. Flanders (Flemish speaking part, almost the same as Dutch from the Netherlands, we understand each other completely but it's like a very different dialect).
2. Wallony (French speaking part).

So Flanders is not a city, or a country, it's more like a region, or province.
Bruges, the city where i was born, is in Flanders. And then there is Brussels, the capital city of Belgium. So far a bit of geography lesson, as I know that a lot of people in America are confused about Brussels and Belgium and Flanders...

But why did i choose gaelic? Well i lost my heart in one of the most beautiful countries in the world... Scotland, about 800 miles from Belgium. I travelled about 6 times over there and made many Scottish friends, and visited many places and historical stuff etc as i am very interested in Medieval times.

Also forgot to mention that i love to read about WW1 and WW2. My house is only 15 mins driving of Ypres... anyone heard of Ypres before? Check Ypres - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia and also read the part about the Menin Gate and the ceremony held EVERY evening since 1928!

My boyfriend teaches history and he specializes in 20th century military history, which means yes, I've heard of Ypres It's one of our plans to visit Belgium at one point because he wants to see the historical military sites. Oh, and watch some F1 at Spa, of course! I'd get kind of bored a lot sooner than he would at the military sites, but I'll happily go to the races, too

Me, I'm a linguist and I want to go so I can just sit and soak in the sounds of Flemish and try to learn a little. (I might be bugging you to write in Flemish sometimes ) I had a Belgian prof in grad school and he would sometimes say things in Flemish to demonstrate whatever we were studying. Hearing it (or Dutch or especially Frisian) was so weird and frustrating...it felt like I should be understanding it but I just couldn't! I feel I really should learn one of those languages at some point.

Also, welcome

 

[limr]

But are you cunning?

Because I've never heard that one before

 

[Watchful]

yeah, but did ye kiss the blarney stone??

Well, let this be a surprise to you, the BLARNEY STONE is situated in IRELAND and NOT Scotland; the OP talks about Scotland and you really need a very long tongue to kiss this stone from there.
So, how about that?
In Dutch we have a nice saying (de klok horen luiden, maar niet weten waar de klepel hangt) for what we call a "blaaskaak"

Plan Your Visit to Blarney Castle

Exactly, you got it.

 

[weepete]

Wecome Mike, you have a very beautiful city inddeed with a lot of fantasic photo ops. And good to see you lot your heart in Scotland, please come back and visit us any time, there are remarkable hidden gems here.

And Yes I know if Ypres and the role in WWII