It's Good to be King

Soccer is probably the king of sports, world-wide. And the FIFA organization is most definitely the king of soccer. That's the international body that controls soccer with a tighter hand than the communist party controlled the USSR. Did you notice that at the recent World Cup in South Africa, all players standing on the sidelines wore an identical smock, with "FIFA" emblazoned on both sides? That was far from an accident and far from the only example of the power wielded by this sports dictatorship.
Once FIFA decides which country gets the World Cup every 4 years, the "winner" owes the organization, big-time. Belgium and the Netherlands have put in a joint bid to host in 2018 and recently some of the concessions both nations will have to endure, should they be selected, were made public.
Among them:
* no tax will be paid on any income made by FIFA during the games (by the way, FIFA pocketed a cool $2 billion during the recent World Cup. Makes you wonder how much the people of South Africa pocketed...)
* no Value Added Tax (the super sales tax in Europe, running near 20% in most countries) will be paid by any FIFA personnel for anything they buy, including meals and hotel rooms
* a special FIFA-vehicles-only lane must be built onto all highways, "to avoid congestion" (I'm guessing FIFA gets to keep these lanes and take them home with them once the games end)
* my personal fave: all restaurants and bars within a mile of every World Cup stadium will only be allowed to advertise FIFA sponsors, to include Coca Cola, Budweiser, Sony, and Adidas. Additionally, they will be forced to "change their selection of products" during the games, allowing no other brands of competing drinks to be sold.
There have been loads of articles recently about corruption in soccer, world-wide. I wonder how anyone could possibly have come up with such a ridiculous idea...

The Front Door Key...Don't Leave Home Without It!

Ever!
You see, here in Waterloo only about 1 in 4 or 5 houses has what we would consider a standard front door knob. And even when you do see one, in many cases it is solely for decoration (you can't turn it to open the door). What do all the other houses, like our own, have? Absolutely nothing, other than a slit for the key. Which means that every time that front closes, it is locked on the outside and if you don't have your key, you are out of luck.
When you live in a foreign country, you pick up odd habits, but little habits that keep you from big problems. When I walk out that front door, even if I intend to leave it open, even if I'm only going to the mailbox at the street, I always grab the house key. An ill-directed gust of wind or maybe even an evil cat, and then that door closes. And then you're in trouble.
Or, as the Germans might say, you're Scheiss' ausser Glueck.
Actually, I'm making that up. They would never say that. But maybe they should.

Let Your Feet Do The Walking!

I get down on Belgium and Belgians frequently. In all fairness, it's time to share a statistic that certainly puts them (and no doubt the rest of Europe) in a positive light, compared to the U.S.
In Belgium, only 46% of all trips under 2 miles are taken in a car. Care to guess what the percentage is in America? Higher. Higher.
Final answer: almost 96%.
Now compare the obesity rates between the two countries. If you've spent any time at all in Europe, you know how many fewer "large" folks there are here vice in America. It's not even close.
There is definitely something to be said about getting up on your hind legs and walking a bit.

United in Death

You don't have to travel very far in western Belgium to come upon a military cemetery. No real surprise, considering that Belgium "hosted" a huge part of the fighting in World War I. Just outside the city of Mons, now the home of NATO's military headquarters and just north of the French border, you come to St. Symphorien Cemetery, perhaps unique in all of Belgium. For here are buried soldiers believed to be the first and last to die in the Great War. One of the first battles of the war took place near Mons in August 1914 and the final front lines were only miles away, in November 1918. The last British death is believed to be Private George Ellison, killed on what would become Armistice Day, November 11th (1918).
But even more interesting is that this is one of the few "integrated" cemeteries, with German and British soldiers buried in a single location. There is almost an equal number from each nation (about 250 each) and, in one single location, a British captain and a German private are literally side-by-side.
It's a very quiet and thought-provoking place. It might be a good idea for people from all nations to pay this small cemetery a visit...

More Pretty Pictures

From our trip earlier this week to Stockholm. Read below for the details!

Sweet on Sweden!

We just returned from 3 marvelous days in Stockholm - this city instantly made its way onto our short list of favorite places in Europe. The weather was absolutely flawless, the sights unique, the streets immaculate, the people extremely friendly, the hotel breakfast large enough to feed a family of 10, and even the beer prices - we had been forewarned that they were outrageous - were almost within reason.
It's a city built on islands large enough that you don't often realize that water is everywhere around you. You can see it all here, from the city hall where the Nobel Prize banquet is held, to the quaint alleys in the city's oldest section, to the royal palace, to the first and largest outdoor museum village in all of Europe, to the almost indescribable museum built around a 375 year-old fighting ship which lay in 100 feet of water only a half mile from the shore before being raised in 1961.
And being on the same latitude as southern Alaska, even in mid-July the sun was up well before 4AM. What's not to like??

Is This Civilized, Or What?

What cars are to us Americans, bikes are to many northern Europeans, especially folks in the Netherlands, Denmark, and Sweden. They are everywhere and all sorts of courtesies are paid to cyclists.
I think that at most gas stations in the States you now have to pay for air for your tires. Just think about that one for a minute. But here in Stockholm, not only is air for bike tires free, they actually put the air machines in small bike "parking lots" in the center of the city. These Swedes have definitely got the right idea.