Sunday, July
01, 2018
“Our battered
suitcases were piled on the sidewalk again; we had longer ways to go. But no
matter, the road is life.”
Jack Kerouac, (1922
– 1969), American novelist
Namur (or Nameur in Walloon) is the capital of the province of Namur and
Wallonia, hosting the Parliament of Wallonia, Walloon Government and
administration (Wikipedia). As I've noted
before, Belgium is made of two major parts: Flanders in the North and Wallonia (Wallonie in French),
the predominantly French-speaking southern region of Belgium. With a land area
of 16,844 km2 (6,504 sq mi), it makes up 55% of the territory of Belgium,
although its 3.5 million inhabitants only represent 1/3 of the whole Belgian
population. Most of the cities are located along the west-east axis formed by the
Sambre and Meuse Rivers. And here am was, in the French center of Belgium,
Namur.
 |
| Namur with Citadelle and Bridge of the River Meuse |
When I woke up
with a smile I took a nice shower first. For me, it is necessary to stay as
clean as possible just to avoid and health and in particular skin on the trip.
I packed my things and left the hotel. To reduce some of the high prices I did
not order a breakfast; I've planned to eat somewhere else. As I checked out no
one of the three receptionists was interested in this guest, I was not even
worth a 'thank you' or 'goodbye'.
After I left I
took a picture of the African Museum opposite the hotel and decided to go to
the train where I saw an American fast food restaurant yesterday. Not many people
were eating there so I've ordered an Angus Beef Hamburger Menu as breakfast and
put the receipt in my wallet, not thinking much of it.
As I ate I
watched an elderly couple ordering breakfast and the man stood in front of the
toilet, took out his receipt and pressed numbers into the lock beside the
toilet and it 'magically' opened and stepped in...I thought this is strange and
I took out my receipt. After I finished my meal I separated my garbage and disposed of them in the proper boxes. I packed
my things, took my sports bag and went to the toilet door. There I punched my
'secret number' from my receipt in a safe lock like in a prison cell - and I was able to open it and get in!
In my over 50
years on this earth, this was the first time I opened a door like a safe but in
this case, so something ordinary like a toilet. Inside it I had to take out my
camera to record one of the cleanest and loneliest toilets I had ever the
pleasure to visit in my whole life! In amazement, I still asked myself "Is
this effort just to 'easy your daily business' really necessary?"The
Belgians believe this...
Full and
energized I wanted to give the tourist information and 2nd chance; as I already
wrote it was closed yesterday. So I walked to the nearby train station and, to
my surprise, I opened the door to a bright and friendly room with three kind
ladies only waiting for a tourist like me on this early Sunday morning. I chose
one counter and asked if there is a Youth Hostel in Namur. With a friendly
smile and a clear French dialect, the lady answered 'of course'! She took out a
free map and drew the way with a blue ball pen on it.
 |
Train
Station of Namur with a Construction Crane towering over it in the Back
|
As it was early
Sunday and my French is limited I asked her if she could call and make sure if
they are open today and - she called. I did not understand their conversation
but after she hung up the telephone she replied with a smile: "They have
opened!" "Oh, mercy!" was my answer but even if I tried, my
smile could never be as shiny as hers, that I am sure of!
With a map,
good news and even better spirit I stepped out into a wonderful morning and was
on the way to the Youth Hostel to make a reservation for the next night. As
this part of Namur can only lead downhill to the Meuse River I've tried to
choose another way but somehow I came again to the African Museum. There I took
a picture of an African statue standing in a hallway - in other countries it
might be gone long ago...
 |
Statue of
African Mother with Child
|
Looking at this
statue, a mother carrying her baby, I could sense the power of the female in
general and here the African women especially. But they often are mistreated
and broken not only by men of her own race. Surely God created the women out
with the rib of men but as a 'helper', neither as a slave nor as a toy for men.
A male does not have the right to look down, be subject to sexual harassment or to control
them but should rather respect the women and their sacrifices.
The USA had the
chance to vote for an experienced female politician like so many other
developed countries in this world. But they rather choose a coarse
self-proclaimed ‘successful’ dominant
male with too much testosterone who believes in steamroller approach than
diplomacy to be their president. And now the Americans have to deal with what they earned...
(to be
continued)
Disclaimer: I
traveled Belgium by myself, I am not sponsored by anyone. Interested
subscribers and/or followers in traveling an in this small but beautiful
country are more than welcome!
