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When I cross the border, going from Belgium to the Netherlands, I immediately see the difference. In Belgium, the public space typically has an anarchistic outlook: ribbon development all over the place, houses (generally more spacious then the ones in the Netherlands) in all possible styles and colors, all types of companies spread out everywhere, some in residential neighborhoods, other along big highways, chaotic,ill-maintained roads,...
And then you cross the border and you enter the wide open spaces of the Netherlands, where everybody lives within the city limits, where the small but super-clean houses all seem to look alike, where there's not one single house to be found near connecting roads, where everything is planned in order to make sure there's as much open space as possible, where you can actually enjoy a natural panorama not spoiled by some building,...
Nonetheless, despite the Netherlands being a beautiful country where everything concerning the public space is meticulously planned, I always start yearning for my chaotic native country after a while .
Wow, I was just reading up on Baarle-Nassau and came across this map -
How strange is that! It's quite bizarre. I wonder how it came to be that way. From looking at GoogleMaps it looks like most of the little enclaves are just parts of unhabited fields! It does make me think 'what is the point?' and 'why don't they just give up this tiny tiny piece of land to make things simpler?' Though I suppose it does make things a little bit more interesting.
When I cross the border, going from Belgium to the Netherlands, I immediately see the difference. In Belgium, the public space typically has an anarchistic outlook: ribbon development all over the place, houses (generally more spacious then the ones in the Netherlands) in all possible styles and colors, all types of companies spread out everywhere, some in residential neighborhoods, other along big highways, chaotic,ill-maintained roads,...
And then you cross the border and you enter the wide open spaces of the Netherlands, where everybody lives within the city limits, where the small but super-clean houses all seem to look alike, where there's not one single house to be found near connecting roads, where everything is planned in order to make sure there's as much open space as possible, where you can actually enjoy a natural panorama not spoiled by some building,...
Nonetheless, despite the Netherlands being a beautiful country where everything concerning the public space is meticulously planned, I always start yearning for my chaotic native country after a while .
I just crossed the Belgium-Netherlands border* a few hours ago (went home for the Christmas holidays). I knew I entered the Netherlands when the roads were nice and smooth instead of damaged and bumpy Other than that, I think the Netherlands and Belgium actually look quite similar, esp. Flanders.
When I cross the border, going from Belgium to the Netherlands, I immediately see the difference. In Belgium, the public space typically has an anarchistic outlook: ribbon development all over the place, houses (generally more spacious then the ones in the Netherlands) in all possible styles and colors, all types of companies spread out everywhere, some in residential neighborhoods, other along big highways, chaotic,ill-maintained roads,...
And then you cross the border and you enter the wide open spaces of the Netherlands, where everybody lives within the city limits, where the small but super-clean houses all seem to look alike, where there's not one single house to be found near connecting roads, where everything is planned in order to make sure there's as much open space as possible, where you can actually enjoy a natural panorama not spoiled by some building,...
Nonetheless, despite the Netherlands being a beautiful country where everything concerning the public space is meticulously planned, I always start yearning for my chaotic native country after a while .
I remember going from Liege to Maastricht one day in 2008, no more than 30 minutes or so apart on the train and the difference was really striking. Liege was grey, shabby, not very well planned (i.e. easy to get lost if you don't know the city), not many people on the streets for a Saturday afternoon, no bicycles, whereas Maastricht was clearly more prosperous, masses of bicycles everywhere, a shopping street packed with people (as I'm used to from Saturday afternoons in Britain), completely different and much nicer architecture, street planning that intrinsically made sense to me, and even though I'd never been to Holland before and have never been since, and I went from a place which speaks a language I speak fluently to a place which speaks a language I barely understand at all I instantly felt somewhere less foreign (I noticed similar things even crossing the border between Flanders and Wallonia within the same country!).
One difference which struck me immediately was that on the Belgian side of the border the average man seemed to be about the same height as me, which is more or less what I'm used to (I'm 1.78m) whereas on the Dutch side the average woman seemed to be the same size as me and all the men towered way above me - how the hell can something like that change so noticeably within such a short distance?! I love the fact that even in the 21st century with completely open borders you can go 30 miles on the European continent, or 30 miles from one side of the English Channel to the other and things are genuinely so different.
I remember going from Liege to Maastricht one day in 2008, no more than 30 minutes or so apart on the train and the difference was really striking. Liege was grey, shabby, not very well planned (i.e. easy to get lost if you don't know the city), not many people on the streets for a Saturday afternoon, no bicycles, whereas Maastricht had masses of bicycles everywhere, a packed shopping street (as I'm used to from Saturday afternoons in Britain), completely different and much nicer architecture, street planning that intrinsically made sense to me, and even though I'd never been to Holland before and have never been since, and I went from a place which speaks a language I speak fluently to a place which speaks a language I barely understand at all I instantly felt somewhere less foreign (I noticed similar things even crossing the border between Flanders and Wallonia within the same country!).
One difference which struck me immediately was that on the Belgian side of the border the average man seemed to be about the same height as me, which is more or less what I'm used to (I'm 1.78m) whereas on the Dutch side the average woman seemed to be the same size as me and all the men towered way above me - how the hell can something like that change so noticeably within such a short distance?! I love the fact that even in the 21st century with completely open borders you can go 30 miles on the European continent, or 30 miles from one side of the English Channel to another and things are genuinely so different.
Maastricht is such a beautiful city I went there today with my brother (it was his first time there) and he was amazed. It looks even nicer now with all the Christmas lights, I wish I had taken a picture.
I remember going from Liege to Maastricht one day in 2008, no more than 30 minutes or so apart on the train and the difference was really striking. Liege was grey, shabby, not very well planned (i.e. easy to get lost if you don't know the city), not many people on the streets for a Saturday afternoon, no bicycles, whereas Maastricht was clearly more prosperous, masses of bicycles everywhere, a shopping street packed with people (as I'm used to from Saturday afternoons in Britain), completely different and much nicer architecture, street planning that intrinsically made sense to me, and even though I'd never been to Holland before and have never been since, and I went from a place which speaks a language I speak fluently to a place which speaks a language I barely understand at all I instantly felt somewhere less foreign (I noticed similar things even crossing the border between Flanders and Wallonia within the same country!).
One difference which struck me immediately was that on the Belgian side of the border the average man seemed to be about the same height as me, which is more or less what I'm used to (I'm 1.78m) whereas on the Dutch side the average woman seemed to be the same size as me and all the men towered way above me - how the hell can something like that change so noticeably within such a short distance?! I love the fact that even in the 21st century with completely open borders you can go 30 miles on the European continent, or 30 miles from one side of the English Channel to the other and things are genuinely so different.
The Dutch are now the tallest people in the world. It is attributed to good health, an active an healthy lifestyle, a good healthcare system, proper health education, and a healthy diet.
The US used to have the tallest people but the opposite of what I just mentioned occurred here, and now the US now has the widest people in the world.
Wow, I was just reading up on Baarle-Nassau and came across this map -
How strange is that! It's quite bizarre. I wonder how it came to be that way. From looking at GoogleMaps it looks like most of the little enclaves are just parts of unhabited fields! It does make me think 'what is the point?' and 'why don't they just give up this tiny tiny piece of land to make things simpler?' Though I suppose it does make things a little bit more interesting.
Farmland held for centuries by certain families and borders were simply drawn according to their respective nationalities?
Looks a bit different to the one between North and South Korea.
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Other than that, I think the Netherlands and Belgium actually look quite similar, esp. Flanders. 
I went there today with my brother (it was his first time there) and he was amazed. It looks even nicer now with all the Christmas lights, I wish I had taken a picture.
