Side Trip Part 1: Oudenaarde
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This will be a five part recap on the what i have experienced in the 5 cities or towns ( please correct me if im wrong ) we've stepped our foot on the European continent. First will be Oudenaarde, then Ghent, then Brugge, then Amsterdam and Lastly.. my Favorite... Paris! :D
My Stay in the European continent lasted for 14 days, with the gracious blessings from the Man Above and with the help of my counterparts on Calamba plant and Belgian colleagues, I was set off to Belgium! Wohooooo!!!
To be honest, when i heard of the news that i was selected to be trained in Belgium for a Tester training, i quickly researched on the places that i can go quickly experience, who would not be excited? its a chance of a lifetime to go Europe, and when you're at Europe, you can easily access all places by land or by air in just less than 5 hours :D and also as they say also in Belguim... everything in Belgium is within 45 Mins.. you want to go to Brussels... 45 mins.. you want to go to Ghent... 45 mins *lol* :D
So first on the list.. Oudenaarde! There's a ON Semi site in Belgium, a Fab house also.. i think, which houses 4 inch wafers to my knowledge. Our Training will be held there in the plant. Our HQ for two week, and Base for our trips, hahaha! :D
Here it goes!.... Oudenaarde
When we arrived at AMS Schiphol (ishkiphol) airport, i already felt the cold weather *brrrrrrr* 2 weeks this cold.. i said to my self. then we Hopped on the Plane (btw, im with two pinoy collegues Natz and Agot) to Brussels where a taxi would pick us up to drive us to the hotel in Oudenaarde. The Hotel room was cozy, just enough amenities to survive the stay, a heater, three lamps, a Big Bed, TV, minibar, Toilet/Bathroom :D ( weird thing there was no light bulb in the ceiling ) anyhow... i slept hoping that it would be a sunny day the next morning....
viola... wish granted! sunny morning indeed.... took breakfast at the hotel, with 4-5 kinds of diffent breads like in the French Baker's stalls back here in our country then we headed out....
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It's Sunday... its like a ghost town... not much people on the streets, maybe they're out on vacation :P The food is great here... we ate Rabbit meat cooked in local Oudenaarde beer, also tried the Deer meat, good food... of course... kind of a little expensive, but it's the only restos we can find open during our stay, they have big servings on every plate in tandem with mashed potatoes or fried fries... their fries here are not oily, maybe a different kind of oil they use here... so i think fries to eat here in Belgium are healthy... i found also the stroopwaffels that i was looking for... its a 2 belgian waffle that has a syrup ( honey or caramel) squeezed in the middle of the 2 waffles. Local bakeries here are like French Baker stalls in malls, wooow..... and they sell a huge amount of assorted breads! with matching chocolates:D... stores here closes as early as 4 pm except for restos that provide dinner and pubs... Also Tried the Beers here and it tastes far more better than he local beers we have back here in our country. Every beer here in Belgium has it's own special glass to go with the beer, and take note... they have more than 350 different kinds of Beers!!
Bike lanes are every where, a lots of roundabouts... and confusing intersection traffic lights ( confusing for me :P )!, strict road rules are followed or else youll be heavily fined... , if you flash your headlights here, it means you'll give way to the other car, they dont use their car horns very often... if somebody use their car horn on you, it means they are very mad, maybe youve broken a traffic rule or you did not give way to them in the road... , there are no gasoline boys to fill up your gas tanks, so i tried filling up our rental car during our stay, hehehe. They take care of their history very well, they preserve and restore their buildings even their city hall or Staduis as they call it is very well restored when you see it in the outside.
overall, Oudenaarde is a beautiful town, lots of history in it, great architecture and of course the most important thing of all.. Great company... Great Food and Great BEERS!!!! CHEERS! :D
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