A Den Bosch Photo Hunt with Ayush

You remember Ayush, right?  Before this past Saturday in Den Bosch, we've met up with him 3 times previously:  first in Venlo (Nov. 2015), where he works when in the Netherlands, next here in Gorinchem (Mar. 2016), and then last year in Utrecht (Apr. 2018).

Ayush is one of our Shutterchance buddies.  He's from India but lives in Singapore where he works as an engineer for OCÉ, a Canon company that develops, manufactures and sells printing and copying hardware and related software.  From time to time he is asked to work in Venlo, NL, where he has been this past year.  At the end of February he flies back to Singapore, so we caught him right under the wire.

This time we agreed to meet up in nearby Den Bosch, 40 km from home.  Technically, it's 's-Hertogenbosch, colloquially known as Den Bosch (pronounced Den BOSS).

Ayush took the train from Venlo to Den Bosch (one hour) where we met him.

While we waited for his train to arrive, we took photos, of course.

And then we walked together from the station into city center, past the dragon fountain,

Den Bosch's most famous monument from 1903.

Actually, Astrid had printed a walking tour of the city center passing some of its statues.

Ayush had first sent it to her but now needed to get bearings between paper and smart phone.

Since the dragon above is one of the statues, let's continue on with the other statues we saw.

Zoete Lieve Gerritje (sweet, gentle little Gerrit) is a singing woman with her cockerel.

Except that she's not a woman but a man and not sweet or gentle!

He'd steal from the farmers and then celebrate by dressing up as the farmer's daughter.

In the market square is Den Bosch's namesake, Jheronimus (aka Jeroen) Bosch (right).

He's a world-famous painter representing the Early Nederlandish painting school.

He lived from 1450- 1615.

The Dieske statue (1991) is of a little 15th-century boy who would secretly pee in the canals.

While peeing one day, he discovered the enemy approaching the city across the canal in the reeds.

He warned the city and thereby became an overnight hero (he's the one on the pedestal).

This is the Musician with Dancing Children, from 1969.

And this one???  

I have no idea what it is, since it wasn't on the list and I can't find it yet by Googling.

But you get the idea of the charm of the city by it's statues alone.

Of course, there's much more than statues.  See the "rainbow" crossing (right-middle)?

This is what Astrid put up on our Shutterchance blog this past Monday.

Don't you love her take on it with the selective coloring!

And listen to that busker!

As we walked around, I started collecting gable stones, like I've done in the past.

Gable stones and those "things" that catch my eye.

A surprise was The Morian, the oldest brick house in the Netherlands, built in 1220.
It sits right on the market square, with hardly anyone paying attention!

And speaking of the square, evidence of the upcoming carnival was everywhere.
Many cities have an alternative Carnival name and Den Bosch's is Oeteldonk.
Carnival is celebrated mostly in the southern parts of the Netherlands,
closer to Roman Catholic Belgium.
Den Bosch's Carnival colors are...GUESS:  red, white and yellow.

Roman Catholic Carnival is a good segue to my own personal goal of the day,
 to see St. John's Cathedral, designated a Basilica Minor in 1985 by Pope John Paul II.

Thankfully, it was open!

A service was being held near the altar, so we couldn't get much closer than this.

But we could look up and around elsewhere...

...especially in the back of the nave, where the high pulpit and organ are.
Remember, I always look with Preacher Dad and Organist Mom, as though they are with me!

Our Baptist eyes stare shamelessly.  We can't help it.

As we left city center and headed back to the train station to say goodbye to Ayush,
we were reminded that we live in a "changing" world.

It's friends like Ayush who keep us grounded!

♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

Totally changing the subject, guess who arrives today here in the Netherlands???
Astrid and I are on the way to Amsterdam this morning to pick up daughter Amy
who's taking a week's break with us between jobs in Atlanta,
her first visit to us here in Gorinchem!