Seven Sisters

Alex and I are trying to make an effort to Get Out Of The House on weekends. A few weeks ago, on a very windy day, we visited the Seven Sisters chalk cliffs. We walked along the beach, explored tidal pools, and said hello to some sheep. We plan to go back in the spring when it's warmer and less windy, and walk along the South Downs from Birling Gap  to the River Cuckmere.

Autumn Half Term Break: The Netherlands and Belgium

This post is so grossly overdue now that we are approaching our second, week long half-term break. I can blame this partly on work consuming my life, but mainly it’s just that I take too many photos, and sorting through them takes a long time, and up until the new year I just DID NOT want to do it.

We stopped in a book store and unexpectedly were treated to a beer and food tasting. We spoke with one of the managers of De Prael, who told us about a beer festival that was happening over the weekend. We decided to check it out the following day.

 

 

 

 

 

Our second day in Amsterdam was spent exploring the Rijksmuseum after having breakfast overlooking one of the canals. It was warm enough that we were comfortable spending the majority of our time outside, and it only ended up raining twice during the entire trip.

 The museum was holding a special event called Start Drawing. Visitors were given sketchbooks and 'drawing assignments' throughout the gallery.

 While in Amsterdam we also visited the Van Gogh museum, wandered the city, ate a lot of great food, and drank some lovely beer.

We spent an evening in Den Hague and had enough time to visit the Mauritshuis where Vermeer's Girl with a Pearl Earning and a number of Rembrant's are on display. It's a wonderful space and very intimate. We also treated ourselves to Indonesian rijsttafel.

After spending an evening in Den Hague (which ended up being my favourite part of the trip) we took a train to Breda to visit my Great Uncle Wim (Joe) Kavelaars. He spent a day driving us around Western Brabant where the Kavelaars are from. It's a farming community and many of the roads are still cobble stone.

We spent time in the village of Oudenbosch which is the proud owner of it's very own Roman Catholic Basilica. The building of Oudenbosch Basilica was initiated by the parish priest Father William Hellemons who had a great devotion for to the Pope and the city of Rome. The church was designed to be a copy of St. Peters' Basilica in Rome, while the facade was modelled on the front of the Basilica of St. John Lateran in Rome. Building began in 1865 and it was completed in 1892.

The building is a clever mix of building materials. Anywhere of spiritual importance (or just areas which are main focal points) are made of marble and precious metals. Everything else is plaster and paint to create the illusion that entire building is in fact St. Peters' in miniature.

This is the building where my Opa and his brothers attend school. Oudenbosch Saint Louisplein was formally a Jesuit College. The building is now used for private apartments.

Finally we visited cousins who own a tulip farm. While not the best time of year for a visit, it was really interesting to see how the farm operated.

The end of the trip was spent in Belgium. We had originally planned to take the train to Bruges, but decided to visit Brussels instead because it was closer. After dropping off your bags we headed into the older part of the city. It was Saturday so the Friends of Manneken-Pis were out celeberating/protesting. We needed to ask what exactly was going on. Apparently it was something to do with a milk tax... hence the papier mâché farm animals.

 Manneken-Pis was all dressed up for Saturday/Halloween.

Brussels has some beautiful buildings (and doors!) and we spent most of our time there wandering around just looking at things.

The Grand Place is perhaps one of the most beautiful squares in Europe. We visited it twice: once during the day, and then a second time at night when it was all lit up.

 

 

We stopped for some fish and wine before heading into a pub to have a few final Belgium beers before our vacation was over.

 

 

 

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The Grand Place at night was really difficult to photograph with my weak photography skills. But trust me when I say it was beautiful.

Manneken-Pis naked once more.

Finally a museum for Alex! On the last morning of our vacation we visited The Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Science. Their collection includes 30 fossilized Iguanodon skeletons, which were discovered in 1878 in Bernissart. The fossils are displayed in a massive room behind glass, and are arranged in their original and now outdated bipedal posture (the one in the photo is correct).