Brussels Antiques and Fine Arts Fair 2012
Written by Debbie St. George
BRAFA: 57th Brussels Antiques and Fine Arts Fair - 21 to 29 January 2012 - Brussels, Belgium
| Picture Above: Philippe Dufrasne - Brussels Tapestry representing a village fete After a cartoon of David Teniers (Antwerp 1610-1690 Brussels) Pupil of his father David Teniers the Elder and influenced by Jan Velvet Brueghel Workshop of Jeroen Le Clerc and Jacob I van der Borght H 300 x W 500 cm A similar tapestry in the Castle of Cheverny (France) Provenance: probably collection Marczel von Nemes |
The Brussels Antiques and Fine Arts Fair has Exhibitors from all over the world displaying fine Tapestries and ancient carpeta, Famous 18k gold jewelry with diamonds and precious jewels, jade porcelin figurines from China, French glass work, paintings and drawings from the 16th to the 20th century, ancient coins and antiquities and much more.
Tour de France 2012
Written by Debbie St. George
Tour de France 2010
The Tour de France 2010 race starts on Saturday July 3rd to Sunday July 25th 2010, the 97th Tour de France will be made up of 1 prologue and 20 stages and will cover a total distance of 3,600 kilometres.
The wind could also play a decisive role in the following day’s Stage 1, which takes the peloton south-west out of Rotterdam across the polders of Zeeland before swinging back towards the south-west to cross the Belgian border and head for Brussels, passing close to Eddy Merckx’s house on the way.
Lance Armstrong, winner of this year's Tour Alberto Contador, said, “I think it’s an interesting course. It starts exciting. The first few days will provide a lot of drama for people between the crosswinds in Holland and the hills in and around Brussels and Spa and then with of course the cobblestones when we first come into France. The cobbles themselves are dangerous but what is even more dangerous is the run into the cobblestones. The kilometers before, the nerves, the anticipation before, the positioning, that is the most dangerous part. You need obviously an all rounded team but I think you have to take some big guys who can definitely support you in that first week because with the cobble sections you have to be in the front. I remember we did those sections in 2004 and I had great support from Ekimov and Hincapie. We came in the cobble zones first. It makes a big difference."
2010 Tour de France full route:
Prologue map
Saturday, July 3, Rotterdam > Rotterdam 8km
Stage 1 Flat
Sunday, July 4, Rotterdam > Brussels 224 km
Stage 2 Hilly
Monday, July 5, Brussels > Spa 192 km
Stage 3 Flat
Tuesday, July 6, Wanze > Arenberg Porte du Hainaut 207 km
Stage 4 Flat
Wednesday, July 7, Cambrai > Reims 150 km
Stage 5 Flat
Thursday, July 8, Epernay > Montargis 185 km
Stage 6 Flat
Friday, July 9, Montargis > Gueugnon 225 km
Stage 7 Med. mountain
Saturday, July 10, Tournus > Station des Rousses 161 km
Stage 8 High Mountain
Sunday, July 11, Station des Rousses > Morzine-Avoriaz 189 km
Monday, July 12, Rest Day in Morzine-Avoriaz
Stage 9 High Mountain
Tuesday, July 13, Morzine-Avoriaz> Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne 204km
Stage 10 Med. mountain
Wednesday, July 14 Chambéry > Gap 179 km
Stage 11 Flat
Thursday, July 15 Sisteron > Bourg-lès-Valence 180 km
Stage 12 Hilly
Friday, July 16 Bourg-de-Péage > Mende 210 km
Stage 13 Flat
Saturday, July 17, Rodez > Revel 195 km
Stage 14 High Mountain
Sunday, July18, Revel > Ax-3 Domaines 184 km
Stage 15 High Mountain
Monday, July 19, Pamiers > Bagnères-de-Luchon 187 km
Stage 16 High Mountain
Tuesday, July 20, Bagnères-de-Luchon > Pau 196 km
Wednesday July 21, Rest Day Pau
Stage 17 High Mountain
Thursday, July 22, Pau > Col du Tourmalet 174 km
Stage 18 Flat
Friday, July 23 Salies-de-Béarn > Bordeaux 190 km
Stage 19 ITT
Saturday, July 24, Bordeaux > Pauillac 51 km
Stage 20 Flat
Sunday, July 25 Longjumeau > Paris (Champs-Élysées) 105 km
Brussels, Belgium Bike Tours
It only takes 4 hours to bike through Brussels. Most find riding a bike a fun, relaxing way to view the city.
Others complain that more bike paths need to be available to avoid the automobile traffic.
Brussels Airport also called Brussel Nationaal/Bruxelles-National (Brussels National) is an international airport located in Zaventem, 6 NM (11 km; 6.9 mi) northeast of Brussels, Belgium. Brussels Airport that has a special separated road that provides access to the airport for bikers and pedestrians. There is also a special place to park bikes.
Charter of Brussels
In 2009, 27 cities plus the European Commission and the European Economic and Social Committee signed the Charter of Brussels. The Charter commits the cities to achieving a target of at least 15 per cent of all trips made in urban areas being made by bicycle. The Charter of Brussels was signed by representatives of several European cities (Brussels, Milan, Munich, Sevilla, Tartu, Reggio Emilia, Houten, Edinburgh, Copenhagen, Aalborg, Helmond, Breda, Hertogenbosch, Tilburg, Eindhoven, Toulouse, Bordeaux, Timisoara, Gdansik, Izmit.), and the US city of Portland also signed up.
Contests and Biking
If you like contests and biking you will want to check out the Competition: Design your own Ridley - Win a unique Ridley Athena worth £4500 . To celebrate the launch of its Customizer, Ridley is challenging you to design the ultimate paint scheme for a Ridley Noah racing bike worth £4500. The best design will then be painted onto a Noah specced with Campagnolo’s 11-speed Athena groupset and presented to the winning designer!
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