From jwagener@amoco.com Fri May 28 12:00:19 1993 Received: from interlock.amoco.com by dkuug.dk with SMTP id AA05176 (5.65c8/IDA-1.4.4j for ); Sat, 29 May 1993 00:00:16 +0200 Received: by interlock.amoco.com id AA09654 (InterLock SMTP Gateway 1.1 for SC22WG5@dkuug.dk); Fri, 28 May 1993 16:53:11 -0500 Received: by interlock.amoco.com (Internal Mail Agent-2); Fri, 28 May 1993 16:53:11 -0500 Received: by interlock.amoco.com (Internal Mail Agent-1); Fri, 28 May 1993 16:53:11 -0500 Date: Fri, 28 May 93 17:00:19 CDT Message-Id: <9305282200.AA20343@trc.amoco.com> From: Jerrold L. Wagener To: SC22WG5@dkuug.dk Subject: X3J3 126 X-Charset: ASCII X-Char-Esc: 29 To X3J3 - Dick was having email problems, so I think I'll go ahead and send this around; my apologies if you get this more than once Jerry ------ Forwarded Message Jerry, [ ... some stuff deleted ...] Will you keep a copy of this and if it doesn't get sent out by me or kurt in the normal way within a day or so try to work it out with Kurt. Thanks dick ----- Begin Included Message ----- >From MAILER-DAEMON@newton.ncsa.uiuc.edu Tue May 25 12:44:14 1993 Date: Tue, 25 May 93 05:44:47 -0500 From: Mail Delivery Subsystem To: hendrick@acset.be Subject: Returned mail: unknown mailer error 1 Content-Length: 11846 ----- Transcript of session follows ----- sh: /afs/ncsa.uiuc.edu/user/hirchert/bin/seqmail: No such device 554 "|/afs/ncsa.uiuc.edu/user/hirchert/bin/seqmail x3j3"... unknown mailer error 1 ----- Unsent message follows ----- Received: from ub4b.buug.be by newton.ncsa.uiuc.edu with SMTP id AA29650 (5.65a/IDA-1.4.2 for /afs/ncsa.uiuc.edu/user/hirchert/bin/seqmail x3j3); Tue, 25 May 93 05:44:47 -0500 Received: from acset.UUCP by ub4b.buug.be (5.65c/ub4b_02) id AA07269; Tue, 25 May 1993 12:45:17 +0200 Received: from gr09.acset by acset (4.1/SMI-4.1) id AA23017; Tue, 25 May 93 12:32:42 +0200 Date: Tue, 25 May 93 12:32:42 +0200 From: hendrick@acset.be (Dick Hendrickson) Message-Id: <9305251032.AA23017@acset> To: x3j3@ncsa.uiuc.edu Subject: July meeting This is an e-mail version of the meeting details. I will mail a paper copy of this to all of the principal members and the others who said they really planned on coming. The mailing will include an annotated map and a swell hotel brochure. Dick ------------------------------------------------------------------- TO: X3J3 FROM: Dick Hendrickson SUBJECT: Meeting 126 arrangements Meeting 126 of X3J3 will be held in Brussels, Belgium from July 12 through July 16. The Hotel arrangements are: Hotel Embassy 159 Boulevard Anspach 1000 Brussels Belgium Telephone: (011) 32 2 512 8100 FAX (011) 32 2 514 3097 [Note, 32 is the country code for Belgium and 2 is the city code for Brussels, the "011" international access code may vary from place to place] A block of rooms has been reserved for from Saturday, July 10 through Sunday July 18. THE CUT-OFF DATE FOR RESERVATIONS IS JUNE 21. I would suggest making reservations by FAX. The people who answer the phone probably do not speak English as their first language, although everyone I have spoken to there does speak English reasonably well. Also, there is a 7 hour time difference between central time and Brussels time. The keyword to use when making a reservation is "the meeting arranged by Dick Hendrickson". Room cost is 2500 Belgian Francs for a single and 2800 BF for a double. This includes both taxes and breakfast. The hotel apparently does not require a credit card to guarantee your reservation. General information. Belgium has two official languages: French in the southern part, and Dutch in the northern part. Brussels is officially a bilingual city; signs and menus will be in both French and Dutch. Most of the people you will deal with in tourist-oriented places will also speak some English. There is some tension between some of the people in the two language groups. If you are unsure of the language that someone is speaking to you in, ask him if he speaks English. If he says no, then try your high- school French or Dutch. Of course, if you are sure you recognize the language, it's best to respond in the same language. The hotel is on the edge of the center of Brussels, within easy walking distance of all the nearby tourist attractions and a large number of restaurants. I DO NOT RECOMMEND RENTING A CAR. Traffic is intense and parking is difficult to find. The hotel does not have a parking facility, although they have a deal arranged with a nearby one. Brussels is well served by the Metro and the bus lines. Electricity here is 220 Volts, 50 cycles and uses a different plug from American standards. I do NOT plan to provide any computer services for the meeting. Weather in July is likely. The average high temperature is about 74 and the average low is about 54. It rains about 250 days a year in Belgium, so some rain is likely. It is frequently cloudy all day, but the rains generally are off and on rather than a 24 hour downpour. Money The current "official" rate of exchange is about 33 Belgian Francs to the dollar; 100BF = $3.00. Thus the hotel is about $75.00 a night. The basic unit of paper money here is the 100 Franc note and you'll wind up using them pretty much like you'd use an American dollar bill. The hotel will exchange currency for you at the rate of 29 BF to the $. The last time I was at the airport the offered rate was about 30.5 to the $ There is a currency exchange place located about a block from the Hotel (between the hotel and the MacDonalds) which offered 32.40 BF last Friday, BUT, I do not know what sort of fees they charge. They also take Visa, Master Charge, and Western Union There is a Bank less than a block from the hotel and a Thomas Cook agency in the Grand Place. The last three places are generally open during "Banker's Hours" and not on weekends. Generally speaking, the banks are likely to offer a better rate (or smaller fees) than the 24 hour currency exchanges. I'm trying to see if there are any nearby cash machines which take VISA, CIRRUS, etc., cards directly. If the exchange rates available are really bad I'm willing to serve as a currency exchange and "cash" American checks (sorry, no VISA or traveller's checks!). Credit cards are not as popular here as in the states. Many of the restaurants and stores will only accept cash. Food: I'll provide more information at the meeting. The hotel does not have a restaurant, but the bar will serve sandwiches, omelettes, and snacks from around noon to around midnight. There are several restaurants in the neighborhood. In case of emergency, there is a MacDonalds and a Pizza Hut located about 320 meters from the hotel, opposite the Bourse (see map). There are a large number of restaurants and cafes located on Anspach avenue near De Broucker. In general, it is much cheaper to order a plate of the daily "plat du jour" than to order separate menu items. Restaurant prices always include tax and tip, so what you see is what you pay. A 3 or 4 course supper in a tourist restaurant, with wine and coffee, will run around 1000 BF ($30.00). There is a Chinese take-away place a block from the hotel that offers a lunch (chicken with a word I didn't understand or pork with rice) for 120BF. The MacDonalds "meal deals" run about 250 to 300 BF and the Pizza Hut lunch time buffet is 249 BF (Salad bar plus choice of 3 pizzas). Delicious take-away sandwiches are in the 50 to 100BF range from street vendors (note that "steak americain" or "americain" means raw-beef here). In general, beverages (like coffee, beer, and water) are extra. (Many of you will be surprised at what a little cup of coffee you can buy for 100BF. Don't worry, it has the full level of caffeine) There's a neat little book called "European Menu Reader" put out by Berlitz and it has the restaurant sections from about 17 of their "XXX for travellers" language books. It even has sections that translate English food words into American ones (and vice versa) (There's no truth to the story that people here eat dried mushrooms for breakfast and call it the "breakfast of champignon's".) Getting there is all the fun: Easiest way. Take a cab from the airport or train station (depending on how you arrive in Brussels). The hotel sells cab vouchers for a trip from the hotel to the airport for 950BF, so I'd guess that the fair from the airport to the hotel will be somewhat more than $30.00. Other choices. The airport has a train station and there are three trains an hour to downtown; the trip lasts about 20 minutes. The cost is about 150 BF. The train station is in the basement, take the stairs that are near the "meeting point" or the bar in the arrival area. Ask for a ticket to Brussels. All of the trains go to Brussels Nord (first stop) and Central (second stop) stations (be careful, two of the hourly trains terminate at Central, the other goes on to Paris). From the train stations there are obvious options. 1) From Nord or Central station, take a cab to the hotel. 2) From Nord take the metro (subway). I believe Nord is the end of the line, so you can't get on the wrong metro. If it isn't the end of the line, take the metro going to "MIDI" or "ZUID". (These are both the same, one is the Dutch name and one is the French name). Get off at "ANNEESSENS, this is within a block of the hotel. 3) From Central station: a) walk, it's not far but the streets are twisting and it's easy to get lost. There has also been lots of construction near the station, so some streets may be closed. b) Take the metro to De Brouckere and walk, it's closer and the street is straight c) Take the metro to De Brouckere and transfer to the one going to ANNEESSENS. Riding the metro's is easy. There are large maps in all of the stations. The trains are named by the last station in the direction they are going to. Generally, you wind up going to a different platform for each direction. The cost for a single ticket is 45 BF and there are both ticket machines and human ticket agents at most stops. You do not need another ticket to transfer from one line to another as long as you are going in the same general direction. Note: not all of the cab drivers speak English. It is a good idea to have the hotel name and address on a piece of paper to show them. What to do? I'll provide more information at the meeting. This will get you through the first weekend. Get a guide book, there's lots of interesting things to do. Stuff that I particularly like includes: Walk through the Grand Place. There is a tourist information booth there and a "city tours" bus line on one of the little side streets just off the Place. On Sunday morning there is a Bird and Flower market there with about a million parakeets and flowers. Visit the Sablon area. There's about a million antique stores there and on Saturday and Sunday morning there is an open air antique street market. Walk up to the Palais de Justice for a good view of the city. Visit the Midi station street market. It's open Sunday morning and features a wide variety of stalls. The major theme is near Eastern, but there is also food and junk. A great place to people watch. If you only have time to visit one place, go to Bruge. It's a beautiful city a couple of hours away by train and well worth a visit. Other interesting cities are Namur, Dinant, and Louven. Shopping? Department stores are closed on Sundays. Most stores close at around 6:00 or 7:00 PM, except for the tourist/souvenir places around Grand Place, etc. Motorcycles can be rented from: Baele & Schmitz 13, Ave Georges Henri 1200 Woluwe St. Lambert (011) 32 2 762 6027 (011) 32 2 762 4235 fax They speak English. A Yamaha 850 rents for about 12000 BF for a weekend with unlimited mileage and they need a 25000BF deposit. Summer is the busy season, so it is probably a good idea to make arrangements ahead of time. Paper Whilst preparing items to be distributed at the meeting, recall that they use a non-standard paper over here called A4. It's a little taller and narrower. If you are reading the paper copy of this note that I sent you, you are reading A4 paper. Last resort I'll be happy to help with any problems. My work phone is (011) 32 10 470 923 and my home phone is (011) 32 2 731 5708 fax at work (011) 32 10 470 899 Unfortunately, I'll be out of town from May 26th through June 9th. If there are problems you can contact Rich Simpson here at ACSET (He's an American, so he speaks English as good as me) phone (011) 10 470 639, e-mail simpson@acset.be. Map The map marks the hotel, the train and metro stops, and some interesting tourist places. Rue de Bouchers (near Grand Place) and the area by Ste Catherine's church are the major nice restaurant areas. Scale. It's about 320 meters (350 yards) from the hotel to the Macdonalds/Pizza-Hut near the Bourse. ----- End Included Message ----- ------ End of Forwarded Message