Music

‘La Boheme’

Marilyn returns to radio with her special “Chansons Francaises” a 5 series podcast in Hebrew about French classics at her new radio home EOL Essence of Life רדיו מהות החיים

1 Jacques Brel featuring live studio guest Sylvain Biegeleisen

 

מפגש אינטימי סביב השירים והטקסטים של ז׳אק ברל
הרקע הבלגי שלו, ושל האורח – סוליוואן ביגליזן והגיטרה שלו, שעוזרים לנו להבין גם את הזמן שבו כתב, גם את המשמעות וגם את הרלוונטיות והמורשת שהשאיר לכולנו

סדרת פודקאסטים על סודות הקסם הצרפתי, מבט ואוזן לעולם השאנסונים

שנמצא בליבם של כל כך הרבה אנשים משנות השישים ו.. לנצח? יצירות שהשפיעו ועוררו השראה, עם החיתוך הככ מיוחד והרומנטיקה, בשילוב סיפורים על חייהם ודרכם של גדולי השאנסונרים

 

2 Charles Aznavour featuring live studio guest Leah Haggai

 

3 ״French Kiss״

song list

  • Michel Berger – La groupie du pianiste
  • Starmania – Stone le monde est stone
  • Daniel Balavoine – Le Chanteur
  • Celine Dion – S’il suffisait d’aimer
  • Jean-Jacques Goldman – Pas L’indifference (live)
  • Johnny Halliday & Lara Fabian – Requiem pour un fou (live)
  • Richard Cocciante – Marguerite
  • Diane Tell – Si j’etais un homme
  • Serge Gainsbourg – Sea, sex & sun
  • Carla Bruni – Quelqu’un m’a dit
  • Michel Polnareff – Lettres a France
  • Veronique Sanson – Chanson sur ma drole de vie
  • Sylvia Vartan – L’amour c’est comme une cigarette
  • Michel Jonasz – Dites-moi
  • Dany Brillant – Histoire d’un amour
  • Barbara – L’aigle noir
  • Georges Brassens – Chanson pour l’auvergnat
  • Edith Piaf – Hymne a l’amour
  • Serge Reggiani – Ma fille
  • Daniel Guichard – Mon Vieux
  • Yves Duteil – J’attends
  • Les Enfoires – L’envie (live)

 

4 The Israeli French Connection

song list

  • Claude Francois – Comme d’habitude
  • Dalida & Alain Delon – Paroles Paroles
  • Julien Clerc –  Ma preference
  • France Gall – Ella, elle l’a
  • Michel Sardou – La Maladie d’amour
  • Joe Dassin – Et si tu n’existais pas
  • Francoise Hardy – Tous les garcons et les filles
  • Alain Barriere – Elle etait si jolie
  • Christophe – Aline
  • Gilbert Becaud – Nathalie
  • Georges Moustaki – Ma liberte
  • Michel Fugain & Le Big Bazar – Une belle histoire
  • Adamo – Inch’allah

5 Rotem Bar Or, Edith Piaf and everything in between

Uncategorized

A few words from Josephine

Hi guys,

After 2 years of blogging i decided it is time to focus on new opportunities. I hope you have enjoyed my posts as much as i enjoyed writing them. Marilyn will keep you informed and entertained with stories about Tel Aviv and Israël. I like to thank her for our cooperation and wish her a lot of success.

Cheers,

 

Sien Josephine

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Antwerp

Photoblog: Antwerp’s Docks

The North of Antwerp, or as we locals call it ‘t Eilandje – intermezzo: 😉 allegedly, it was called ‘t Eiland, but this name was pronounced in Antwerp dialect as “Thailand” and it caused a lot of confusion between the poor souls working at the Antwerp docks – anyway – ‘t Eilandje has seen some crappy times, but it is well on its way to become  a mini version of New York City (ok a very tiny mini version, but still…) High rise towers are being build faster than you can say “my place is on the 38th floor and the elevator is down… FML” That’s pretty fast, right? While on one of my many weekend-phototours i took some shots to give you an idea of the atmosphere. Enjoy!

Oh by the way, had lunch at an amazing place called Balls & Glory (amaze-balls!). Will write about it very soon.

Love,

SJ

  (c) Sien Josephine

(c) Sien Josephine

(c) Sien Josephine

(c) Sien Josephine (c) Sien Josephine (c) Sien Josephine

(c) Sien Josephine

(c) Sien Josephine

All pictures are owned by © Sien Josephine

Please do not use them without consent of the author.

Antwerp · Tel Aviv · Tourism

Guestblog: Joy Anna Thielemans in Tel Aviv

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“Mommy mommy, I’m going to Tel Aviv for work!”‘ – “Isn’t that dangerous?” – she immediatly replied. Keep that conversation in mind when I tell you that it repeated itself in every other conversation I had the week before I left. Do replace “mommy” with any other name. Exactly. That. Conversation. Every time. Everyone.

I was extremely excited to go abroad for work. All I had to do was meet interesting, talented and sweet people. And smile, always for the camera but that’s not really hard when you have the best crew ever. With all my love I introduce to you: Dimi(tri) and Karolien. Without these two, I wouldn’t have been smiling all the time. They are the reason why I was able to make these amazing reports. They made them, I smiled and met talented people. I am one spoiled brat that can call smiling and meeting people my job.

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Tel Aviv, Tel Aviv, Tel Aviv. In every conversation I realized more that I knew so little about the city. Let me make you a list about everything I knew. The weather must be better than in Belgium (that’s not really hard) It is located in Israel. And that’s about it. So I left. Didn’t know what to expect. And I came back. Overwhelmed. Tel Aviv is an amazingly lively city filled with talented, happy and welcoming people. The first guy I met in the city…

– Wait let me tell you how I met him ’cause I do like the story: At around 8 am, on our first day we were sitting in a coffee bar on the ground floor of our apartment building. Enjoying the early sun, good coffee and cereal. He passed us by and walked towards me: ‘You are amazingly beautiful’ he said. I didn’t really know what to reply. Me, not knowing what to reply, that’s a first. I’ll blame the (non existing) jetlag. Couple of minutes later he came out of the bar, holding a cookie and coffee. He gave me the cookie, “cause” – and I quote – “you are worth it”. I loved Tel Aviv from then until forever. Dimi, my lovely cameraman joked around that guys would have all the attention for me the entire trip. Funny thing is, mister cookie guy was the only who saw me. Dimi, the pretty looking dude, got all the attention. –

So, this guy told me the city has this continuous party atmosphere 24/24h. Oh boy was he right. I went to several bars and restaurants, open 24h (almost all of them). I ate the best food ever (including grilled Kale, soooo yumm!) at Port Said, most of all loved Hotel Brown’s cozy bar, Café Europe’s excellent food and the diversity of music in the clubs. Cabs take you anywhere you want or you can choose to stay at Rothschild Boulevard. That includes restaurants, café’s, clubs, anything you need for a perfect night. At 2 am we left our last party and closed the night by eating ice-cream on Rothschild, next to a restaurant where people were mailing, drinking, working and laughing. No one ever has a bad mood in Tel Aviv.

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The full nightlife report 23/01 in Lust For Life on Belgiums public broadcasting net één, 22u30. Fun, laughter, pretty buildings (Bauhaus much, my favourite. A report about that 16/01 on één), flawless design, lovely people, party’s, good food (and drinks), amazing rooftop views, the perfect weather for nice outfits (no jackets needed), a city with a beach (that’s so perfect) sweet people and sun. That’s what Tel Aviv is. I loved every second of my (too short) trip. And I could tell you so much more. But what really explains are the video’s. 16/01 and 23/01 the last one’s will be online.

Things I want to do next time I go? The shopping area – be amazed, I didn’t go there -, Café nachmani, Baranowitz Kronenberg, and the Tel Aviv museum of Art and every single beach/street/corner I haven’t been to. We’ll meet soon sweet Tel Aviv. Very soon!

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Joy Anna Thielemans (August18 1992) is a Belgian actress/host for national television. She is mostly known for her role in the Flemish soapseries ‘Thuis’ She presents the new show Lust for Life in which the most vibrating cities of this time are visited. It’s a show about design, culture, fashion, travelling and everything in between & beyond. But most of all Joy Anna is a dear friend, always in for some coffee and a chat. Love you longtime, Joy!  Superspecial thanks to you and your crew.

x Sien Josephine x 

 

Antwerp

Antwerp’s best swimming pools.

With a new year come new resolutions. 2014 for me will be a year of mostly travelling, but i also plan on being a bit more sportive, preferably by swimming. Let’s get a round up of Antwerp’s best indoor and outdoor swimming pools.

Olympic Pool Wezenberg

The Wezenberg Olympic Pool was erected in 1920 when Antwerp hosted the Summer Olympics. Wezenberg is a 50 meter eight-lane swimming pool with seating for 800 spectators.

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Olympic Pool Wezenberg, Desguinlei 17-19, 2018 Antwerpen

Veldstraat Art Deco Swimming Pool

Antwerp’s oldest pool is a true gem. Built in 1933 in complete art deco style, it is undoubtedly one of Belgium’s most gorgeous pools. Note: the Veldstraat swimming pool also houses a great spa (photos: Jef Claes).

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Veldstraat 83, 2060 Antwerpen

Outdoor fun at Badboot

Since 2012 a giant boat-construction houses an outdoor pool right on the river Scheldt. The construction itself is about 120m long. It feels like swimming in the Scheldt itself. Since this outdoor pool is such a great succes, it is advised to make reservations. In wintertime the pool is traded for a giant iceskating slope (photos: City of Antwerp).

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Kattendijkdok-Oostkaai, 2000 Antwerp

Boekenberg Park

Antwerp’s Boekenberg park is a completely natural, eco-friendly swimming pool that used to be a pond. Contrary to most pools, it has nothing of their usual artificialness and beautifully blends in with the green surroundings (Photos: Jef Claes).

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Boekenberg park, Van Baurscheitlaan – 2100 Deurne-Antwerp

Inspired by The Word Magazine.

 

Antwerp

Guestblog: Marie-France Vodikulwakidi showing us ‘her’ Antwerp.

 

On a Saturday afternoon, Sien and I met up, and we took a stroll to the places I love in Antwerp.
First and foremost we stopped by Corto, a lunch bar with a homely feeling, where we had a succulent chicken pasta soup.

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Hanging out at the exotic market, in the same neighborhood, we took the opportunity to buy some scrumptious chouchous also called Caramelized Peanuts.

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To stay away from the crush of Antwerp’s main shopping area, the Meir, we’ve passed by the Stadsfeestzaal a neo-classic, very bling bling 20.500 m2 space, housing numerous shops. Always at the same spot, a recognizable group of skilled Israeli salesmen is so good at selling the magical products from the dead sea.

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To avoid the threatening weather, we hopped in the subway which took us to the main train station.

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I used to come to work by train but due to my irregular PR working hours, traveling in my own car ‘bubble’ seemed a much better option to me! This summer during the heatwave (unusual in Belgium, counting approximatively 200 raining days per year) Marilyn and I showed  the city around to a friend.  Antwerp Central station was on top of our list!  This railway cathedral  from the 19th century has been named by the american magazine Newsweek as the fourth most beautiful train station in the WORLD!

1400769_10152045948770837_2048453932_oCopyright Amir Feingold

We went to the same place with Sien to capture the hugeness of the edifice.

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As daylight faded we headed to Lombardenvest ( a posh-er shopping area) where all the christmas lights displayed reminded us that christmas is just  around the corner.

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Marie France

Personal

Growing up or growing old?

Recently i turned 29. This means i’m in the last year of my irresponsible life, where i can casually keep it immature without people judging me for it. However, i feel things are changing: i can’t go out and party anymore like i used to. Usually around 2am i’m either dead tired (or dead drunk, as the amount of alohol needed to get drunk decreased a lot). I rather stay home on a Friday night with a good movie (asked me this 5 years ago i’d be like: hell no!). Most of my girlfriends from University are married or slowly getting there. And according to my Facebook newsfeed: 2012-2013 has been a very sexual active year since half my facebook friends recently got babies. It also means i’m almost 30 and being single in this society when you are a girl + 30: that’s a whole different thing.

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So what do single girls in their almost thirties do? They get reality checks. Cause somehow whenever a girl hits that 3.0 mark it’s a bullet train ride: get a decent guy, get married, get some kids, get a house, get a .. life? Yeah, society pulled that little trick on us ages ago, and in the great evolution “from housewife to who’s wife?” this is the one thing we forgot to get rid of. And the pressure of what is generally expected, weighs on me like an elephant on a mouse. Cause, seriously, what do i want from life? Do i want the perfect husband? The perfect family? Does that even exist? In my opinion, perfect husbands died with Clark Gable (they are literally Gone with the Wind). And a perfect family? Being raised between kids with divorced parents and later ending up one myself, I simply can’t believe in perfection. It just does not exist. And even if it does, it’s not what i want. I want imperfection cause that’s what interests me. It really does. Perfection is boring. But then what do i get? Imperfect relationships? Intense acquaintances? Impossible situations? When i was only just in my twenties, impossible relations were okay. Cause when you’re young you can allow yourself to have fun and most of all: you can allow yourself to get your heart broken. But the older i get, the more i get to know myself and the more i want to stay true to the person i am becoming. I think more before i act. My voice of reason usually speaks louder than my heart or desire. I accept more and i accept less at the same time. I am less selfish and i understand that things can’t always go like i want them to, but on the other hand i protect myself more and therefor accept less bullshit. Or don’t i? I genuinely believe i am growing, and at the same time i find myself in situations where i’m pulling myself in every direction as long as i don’t have to face the biggest fear of all: What if i End up Alone. Panic Attack.

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We live in an era where everything is blurred. On one hand we all want to feel free. More and more young people start their own businesses to be free from a boss, we all want to travel the world, and a lot of us don’t want to commit to anything. This is understandable. In a generation where speed is a principle, more than a tool, we can’t commit, because every day might bring something new. A new challenge, a new project, a new job, a new person. Why should we commit to one person, when you can go on the internet and easily communicate with millions of people from all over the world. Look at our phones: we have so many different apps to chat or to publicly display our life: whatsapp, facebook, imessage, email, instagram, facetime… Even a plain old text is getting out of fashion. And sending out texts means wanting an immediate response. Time has no meaning anymore. Time seriously does not exist. Months have become minutes and days have become seconds. The last few years on the other hand, due to economic crisisses, we started to feel limited in our freedom. Suddenly we realised that stability is not such a bad thing. We started to appreciated old values again. But did that change our lifestyle? Did it slow us down? I don’t think so. I think it left us even more confused. We want to go there, but also stay here. We want to feel safe, but we need to feel challenged at the same time. We want to be happy, but we can’t be happy with what we have, we always want more.  And this is how i experience my “relationships” as well. Everything goes so fast, and before i know it i find myself in that same old awkward situation: “where do we go from here? what the hell am i doing?”. We are not together, we are not “apart”. But do we want to be “a part of” eachother?  How do we get there? Yes, hitting 29 got me thinking. A lot. And i still haven’t figured it out. Should we go back to pre-Clark Gable time? It wasn’t all perfect either back then, but at least there was some feeling of security. I don’t know actually what i want. Good thing i have another year to figure it all out.

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Antwerp · History

The Red Star Line Museum

It’s the 19th century. America’s industries are flourishing, promising Europeans, poor and rich alike, a new world and a better life. With their whole life packed in a few suitcases, millions of people sail to the United States and Canada. For many people, the trip to the New World begins in a warehouse in Antwerp. Red Star Line ocean steamers pave the way to a new life for about two million men, women and children between 1873 and 1934. It is in this warehouse that the Red Star Line Museum opened its doors only some days ago, telling the story of millions of Europeans who were courageous or desperate enough to leave their old life behind and look for a better existence.

 

1. A brief history

The Red Star Line was created as a trade name in 1873, and was co-operation between the International Navigation Company (Philadelphia) and the Company Société Anonyme de Navigation Belgo-Américaine (Antwerp).  A complex of three brick-red buildings faces the Rijnkaai (Rhine landing stage), a section of the docks in the old Antwerp harbor district. For more than sixty years the Red Star Line ocean steamers docked right there.  They took on passengers by the hundreds from all over continental Europe, all pursuing the American Dream.

Belgians, too, were among those who sought a new future on the other side of the ocean. However, Belgians figured only as a small portion of the Red Star Line’s passengers. Belgian emigration to countries outside of Europe was relatively limited. Antwerp was however a particularly popular port of emigration among Jews from Central and Eastern Europe. These people constituted a sizeable proportion of the Red Star Line’s passengers. To take one statistic: of the 2.8 million people to exchange tsarist Russia for the United States between 1899 and 1914, 40% were Jewish. In many cases, these were people of very limited means who were assisted by several Jewish relief organisations in Antwerp. Many Eastern European Jews emigrated because of the socio-economic situation, but also because of the climate of discrimination against them and outbursts of anti-Semitism – the pogroms. One of the more famous passengers of the Red Star Line is the future prime Minister of Israel Golda Meir.

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2. The museum

The former warehouses of the Red Star Line were reopened as a museum on September 28, 2013. The main focus of the museum are the travel stories that could be retrieved through relatives of Red Star Line passengers. Visitors follow in the footsteps of the emigrants. The exhibition shows the different stages of the journey. Eight themes are presented over two floors: a travel agency in Warsaw, a train compartment, the city of Antwerp, the Red Star Line building, the deck of an ocean steamer, the interior of a ship, arrival at Ellis Island, and a new future in the US. The exhibition depicts how the average European emigrant would have experienced his or her journey at the beginning of the 20th century via attractive images, striking scenography and authentic objects. A strong focus is placed on the personal stories of Red Star Line passengers. Six star witnesses are central to the story. Some of them are still alive, for others the well-documented story is told by a descendant. The witnesses include Albert Einstein and Irving Berlin, two icons of the rich Red Star Line history.

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For more information on the Red Star Line Museum visit the website.

Red Star Line Museum

Montevideostraat 3
2000 Antwerp
Belgium
tel. +32 3 298 27 70
redstarline@stad.antwerpen.be

Antwerp

Goodbye Summer.

As you probably have noticed, we were not very active this Summer. Blog-active that is. And it’s all because of one hot thing: SUMMER. As days get colder and leafs start to fall from the trees, it’s time to start a new season of articles from your dearest Marilyn & Josephine. But for now, I just leave you with some impressions of what went on these last few months!

Collages11Second hand market, dancing at Remembrance of the Liberation Day, Festival in the Park, Holland Sea Side, chilling at Bar Left.

Collages12View on the Galgeweel Lake on the Left Bank of Antwerp, homemade cake for SunCake Day @ Bar Left, jumping in the river in Holland, shooting at the poolside for BE-By Magali Pinchasi

Collages13Dad posing in front of some tall ship in the Antwerp harbor, and some nice Antwerp views.

Desktop9On the roof of the MAS Museum, sipping on milkshakes with friends, losing my clothes to boys at Bar Left, summer legs, some more shooting for Frederick Schnieders, flowertime at the market place.

I hope you all had a great summer as well. We are fully recharged and ready for autumn. Well… kinda. Time for sweater-weather! Here are some of my favorite tracks to make it easier to say goodbye to Summer 2013! ON TO THE NEXT ONE!

Cheers,

Josephine

Antwerp · Tourism · Travel guide

Touring with Tanguy

I have been so incredibly busy these last few weeks that Antwerp wasn’t well represented on our blog. Thank you Marilyn for making up my lack of free time with some great articles about (her life in) Tel Aviv.

Being busy isn’t always that bad though. For example last weekend, i was booked as a photographer for the nice people of the Yelp Community. Yelp is a social local review website, founded in America, with a focus on the “Real Reviews” feature where users could write and publish unsolicited reviews. And the more reviews you write, the more Yelp gives back to you. So from time to time a group of selected Yelp Elite members can enjoy a good Yelp Event, and this time this event was no less than a tour through Antwerp with – according to CNN – “one of the 7 savviest guides in the world”: Tanguy Ottomer.

Tanguy is quite the know-it-all when it comes to Antwerp and he has an entire wall filled with books exclusively about Antwerp to prove it. Like music is to John Miles, Antwerp is to Tanguy: his first and last love. Touring with Tanguy through my favorite city has been on my wishlist for quite a long time. However, our agendas never seemed to match so I was quite thankful to be booked on the special Yelp Tour. Tanguy talks with such fun and passion about his beloved city, it’s hard not to fall in love with it yourself (or re-fall, since i had actually already fallen for Antwerp’s charms when I moved here 10 years ago). He unfolds Antwerp’s little secrets in such an interesting and fun way. Even I didn’t know half the things he told us about Antwerp. Next to a brilliant guide, Tanguy is also a fashion-fixer, a personal shopper or just a guy with the proverbial key to some of Antwerp’s coolest and most unreachable fashion walhalla’s. Of course I’m not gonna spoil the fun and share the secrets here. If you wanna know, you’ll have to book a tour yourself. Tanguy offers a whole lot of special tours on his website. Go check it out. Can’t wait and want a preview? Watch a little tour Tanguy did for the Flemish TV show ‘Fans of Flanders’ here. Typical Belgian weather included 😉

Here are some of my pictures for the Yelp Community Event:

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