Bruges: A Dialog Across Time

I had a friend tell me to be sure to travel like the Dutch do. On our visit to Bruges, we did just that. The Dutch way is to view a few sites, then take a break and have a coffee. Then visit more sites and take a break to have a beer.

It was very good advice and we relished our visit to this medieval city filled with canals and cobblestone streets. There is something very poignant about being in an ancient European city filled with so many young people. The contrast makes you realize the permanence of a given place and the dialog across time. This permanence is not to be taken for granted in Europe where Hitler destroyed so much.


We enjoyed the Half Moon brewery (Brouwerij de Halve Maan) tour  and beers and also the many Belgian chocolate shops. The cafes along the canals were relaxing and made the day even more enjoyable. The town closes at 6pm and that is when we got most of our photos with the best lighting without the crowding of people to disrupt us. We spent the night at a Bed and Breakfast out in the country side and it was very nice. I highly recommend Hotel Stokerij in Oudenburg. Their breakfasts were entirely home-made, even the butter, the cheeses, the pates, and the breads.


We visited the Church of our Lady to see the Madonna and Child, the only Michelangelo sculptures that has left Italy. It was the art piece that was part of the ending scene in the movie The Monument Men. I love the depiction of little Jesus stepping off his mother's lap as she smiles at him. It is carved out of Carrera marble and is very white against the black altar.

To end the day we took our last photo of the four of us as we left the city. With Bruges behind us,  we returned home to savor our photos, our memories,  and our stash of Belgian chocolates.

Rotterdam-Dam-Dam

Son-in-law John and daughter Stephanie came for a visit. And where do you take a fellow who loves architecture and redevelopment? Rotterdam-dam-dam. It is a major seaport of Europe and was destroyed in a 1940 air blitz during World War II by Hitler's Luftwaffe (air force). This port is also where the slave trade was established to the United States. The depiction of the slave breaking free from the chains on top of the anchor was very symbolic of what happened here only 200 years ago.

 

The rebuilding started in the 1950s, had a major push in the 1980's near the port area with residential developments and continues today in the market area. The architecture is very unique - this housing development is actually over a street and the units appear to be at an angle that would make it impossible to walk around in. We saw some people inside their units and it is normal housing, but the outside is an optical illusion. We found ourselves studying these units for quite a while.

Office Building near the Port

Residential Units

We found this phenomenon of a combination market square and residential units which has been in progress since 2009. The outer porches are residential units and underneath is where the market will exist. The built the right and left halves and then joined them recently. It will be fun to come back and see the finished product.

And while we were there, we saw an urban mountain biking competition for all ages around a church. Our favorite was an 10 year old girl, who was fierce and focused competing with all the others in the event.

Tiptoe Through the Tulips

My sister Jane and her husband Bill came to visit for a few days right after my permanent move here. We visited Keukenhof - the famous tulip gardens in Lisse, Netherlands for the day. We've all seen tulips, but there is something about this garden that makes one appreciate how important it is to take time to smell the . . . tulips!

Just photos for this. Words do not suffice. Except perhaps this quote from Marianne Williamson: "A tulip doesn’t strive to impress anyone. It doesn’t struggle to be different than a rose. It doesn’t have to. It is different. And there’s room in the garden for every flower . . . You are unique because you were created that way. Just shine because you are." 

Jane and Bill

My sweetie

Not All Those Who Wander Are Lost - Honest First Impressions

I am realizing that the best part of this adventure is the opportunity to  wake up each morning with the day completely undefined. It's like looking at a blank canvas and deciding what color or object to paint on it.   I wake up in a new place, without most of the things that made me comfortable in my former home in Texas. I don't have a schedule, nor people to meet, and really not a clue where essential things are and how to get to them. What would have made me panic before, I now embrace.

This journey involves a deep change in the ideas of how to live and also the internal change that goes along with this. The first week, I've definitely had more questions than answers and have had to improvise and rethink how I normally do things. I love the process.

To get assimilated into this new culture, my first purchase was a Dutch bike. My bike has saddlebags on it to carry  items home from the markets. It also has a dual locking system to prevent theft (the biggest crime in the Netherlands I hear) and a bell on the handlebars to let others bikers know that I'm behind them (like I'm going to pass or something?). On the way home from the bike shop with my new bike, it began to rain and then hail on me. I ducked under an awning to avoid the pounding from the hail. But after the hail stopped, I proceeded to ride in the cool rain and laughed all the way home. The first adventure to the market, I made a total of four  trips in one day to get ready for my sister's visit. I could only buy at one time what I could carry home on the bike. There is a simplicity of buying only what you need for the day and also only buying what you can carry home on the bike that drives choices at the market. It changes the way I think about things.

It takes several weeks to get a new cell phone in the Netherlands. It was huge for me to go without a phone. I've had a phone in my hand for the past 5 years with many calls every day for Picture This! And here I was traveling around in a new place and didn't have the phone to rely on for maps and for that desperate phone call to Paul if I got lost. It made me pay attention to where I was and where I was going. It frightened me a little bit to be without it, but it was freeing as well. It occurred to me that it's not a bad thing to just wander around a little bit. Half the fun of travel is that it brings this feeling of lostness, of going places in a way that you haven't gone before. In fact, true places aren't really on any map.

Not knowing anyone and also not knowing the language is giving me some time to be alone.  It's not really loneliness, but solitude. It's not an empty space. I've mastered "Good morning or Good day" and hello "Hallo" in Dutch to greet those around me.  At the city street market, I asked for 4 komkommers. An older lady laughed with the market clerk at my request (pretty absurd really to use the English number four and use the Dutch word for cucumber).  I was surprised at her response, but just joined in her laughter. Laughter is the same in all languages.

I'm hoping this journey gives me an opportunity to travel around and visit many new places. I hope it also allows me to go the distance within.

imple grateful thought turned heavenwards is the most perfect prayer
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purpose of art is washing the dust of daily life off our souls.
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The purpose of art is washing the dust of daily life off our souls.
Read more at http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/keywords/daily_life.html#LCcVxWBLsK42V08a.99

The purpose of art is washing the dust of daily life off our souls.
Read more at http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/keywords/daily_life.html#LCcVxWBLsK42V08a.99