VERONA 2017: The Castelvecchio Museum and Bridge

One of the beauties of Verona, Italy, is its bridges crossing the Fume Adige, the second largest river in Italy.

There are 6 main bridges, starting from left to right:

Castelvecchio, Vittoria, Garibaldi, Pietra, Nuovo and Navi.

We stood on or crossed all of them in our 4 days there.
[scan of our Verona map/guide]

Sometimes we saw them from tower vantage points.

Most of the time we viewed them from one bridge to the other.

Our favorite was the Castelvecchio (bottom-left), which this post is about...

mainly because it's part of a castle and a museum.

We first saw the castle on our way to visit the San Zeno Basilica on our first day.

This was a pass-by because it was already late afternoon.

Still passing by, while walking to the basilica, we knew we'd definitely come back...

...which we did the next day for a proper look.

The Castelvecchio (castle) is "the most important military construction

of the Scaliger dynasty that ruled the city in the Middle Ages."  (Wiki)

The Arco dei Gavi was commissioned to be built in the 1st century by the Romans.

It stands next to the castle and was used as an entrance gate to the city during the Middle Ages.

From the arch side of the castle (the right side), we had views of the bridge we'd see later.

We decided to see the museum first before ending with the bridge.

The courtyard in front of the museum was its own...museum,

and photo op!

We did a quick run-through of what the museum itself exhibits.

Think Romanesque and you've got it covered.

Out the back side of the museum was another courtyard.

Back to the front of the castle, street side, we found the entrance to the pedestrian bridge.

THIS is what we had really come to see, saving the best for last.

Talk about red brick with its upright M-shaped merlons!

And see that church (bottom-right)...that's the San Zeno Basilica we visited the day before.

Later that day, while up the Lamberti tower at the other end of the city,

 I captured the castle from afar.

And the next day, while visiting several churches, I captured the bridge again,

this time from the Ponte della Vittoria bridge to the east of it.

It was our full-circle highlight of one of Verona's most memorable landmarks.

Backyard Bits-n-Bobs

In America, of course, we say bits-n-pieces.  But don't you just LOVE the British bits-n-bobs!

Anyway....

Thanks to our Dutch friend, Janny, we've already had two fun outings this new year not far from home, one weekend after the other.

First, we drove to pick Janny up to go see the Leather Museum (De Looierij) in Dongen, 30 km. from home.  It's a museum about the history of tanning and the leather-making process, dating from the 1890's.  Dongen happened to be the home of a profitable leather industry in the Netherlands, back in the day.

Too bad we didn't know we could take photos until our visit was almost over.

But here are a few pics I snapped at the end, most of which are of the times, 

not of the leather-making process.  Oh well.

HOWEVER...not to be disappointed...a block or so away was this church with its half-ruins.

This is the Oudekerk (Old Church) from the 15th century.

Originally Roman Catholic, it was "confiscated" by the Reformed Protestants in 1648.

During a storm in 1928, the roof of the nave caved in and has remained a ruin since then.

I don't know if they still hold church services there but they do have a Facebook page!

Can you imagine getting married in those ruins on a sunny, gorgeous day?

We ate lunch there in Dongen where Astrid and I had our favorites:

latte macchiatos and uitsmijters!

The three vanes on the right are the ones we saw that day.

The bottom-right is apropos, of a leather tanner.

And the bear is from the home of someone whose last name is Bear (in English).

Thanks to Janny for scouting out my first bear vane ever!

♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

That was the weekend of January 14th, the day my brother, Nelson, turned 75 (since we're talking about bits-n-bobs)!

During that weekend, Janny told us about a vacated swimming pool in Oosterhout, 29 km from home, not far from where we were in Dongen.  Without even thinking about it, we went to see it the following weekend (which happens to be last Saturday).

Like I said, it's a vacated swimming pool, but did I mention...with 18,000+ art tiles!

Who thinks up these things?!

All I could think about was how my little camera could pick up details from 1200 mm away.

But first, I wanted to see the forest before zeroing in on the trees.

Some of the sections had multiple tiles in their themes.

Some were grids of only 9 tiles, following a theme.

"We are all angels with one wing.  We have each other to embrace in order to fly."

(How wonderful is that!)

This was one of my favorites of the multiple tiles.  :)

Then, from individual tiles, here, there and everywhere, I picked out my own themes.

This one for me is everything Dutch.

There were body parts lying around.  HA.

And animals, birds, insects and fishy things.

Some things actually reminded me of some of you who frequent here...

like Ruth's sumac in Michigan, and Robin's cactus in Arizona.

We're everywhere, aren't we.

But did I expect this?????????  NO!

And that reminds me of the Dutch response to Trump on YouTube, for those who haven't seen it yet:

It hit me after seeing this that one of the reasons why I fell in love with Astrid is
because of her humor, not connecting that it's DUTCH humor.  OMG.  It's true.

But back to the swimming pool...so many bits-n-bobs.

And when I went down to the "water's edge," I was able to see the 3-D effect on some of the tiles.
Not all were ceramic tiles.  Most were paper.  But what an effect.

THANK YOU to Janny who gave us the shout-out to these two outings in January.
What a great visual start to this new year!

Candler Field Museum and Peach State Airport

By now you know that when we stay with Bob & Peggy while in the Atlanta area each October, we love to find things to do.  Besides the Skyview Atlanta Ferris Wheel, we had fun driving to Williamson, Georgia, 26 miles away, to see their airport and museum.

This was the short version on Facebook.

As airports go, it's like a Mom & Pop kind of place.  HA!

Peach State Airport.  Peach State Aerodrome.  Candler Field.  Take your pick.

"There are twenty-one aircraft based at Peach State Airpot, including one multi-engine.

Average operations per day is a total of nine, seven local flights and two transient flights."

When you walk in, the museum is straight ahead and the restaurant is to the left.

See what I mean about Mom & Pop?!

We started out with the Candler Field Museum, which recreates how the 

now Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta Int'l Airport appeared in the 1920-30s.

Planes, Tractors, Autos and Bikes.

Sounds like a movie.

If any of that looks familiar, I think you're aging yourself?

Those were the days, you know.  Roaring 20s and 30s.

It didn't take long to reminisce.

One could say the main attraction is their Barnstormers Grill.

Astrid and I had already checked the menu at home and knew we'd get a Reuben sandwich,

her very first and one of my favorites ever.  The chicken carbonara also caught our attention.

From where we were sitting, we looked out onto the flying field, but not too much action that day.

Did you notice the airplane weathervane hanging inside the restaurant (above)?

And did I ever mention how addicted we are to trying new beers?

How can you resist one with a "Drink.  Laugh.  Repeat" mantra?

After lunch we walked to the hangar...

and then onto the field where the planes were being parked for the day.

If I had been quicker on the draw, I would have caught him pulling the plane from the hangar.
Who knew you could pull one of these by hand!
And then someone flies it?

Don't you love getting your education at these out-of-the-way places!
The more we look each year, the more we find them.

Thank you, Bob & Peggy.

Grandson Nicholas in the Netherlands: Week One

A week is now under our belt, so to speak, and we're thrilled by what g'son Nicholas has already seen!  Remember that he just turned 15 and I just turned 70...so we're really celebrating big-time!

And for the record, here's a quick synopsis thus far, based on the collages I've been posting every day at Facebook.  Later, after he leaves, I plan to make a photo book with many more images in detail.

Day 1, Friday, 17 July:  Arrival at Schiphol Airport in Amsterdam

Right outside the airport terminal is this art sculpture "I AMSTERDAM."

Talk about a tourist attraction we couldn't avoid/miss.

Later at home we walked into town to pick up museum cards...and an ice cream!

Day 2, Saturday, 18 July:  Fort Vuren, Loevestein Castle, and Woudrichem

We stayed pretty close to home but covered a lot of territory, starting with Fort Vuren.

It's an underground fortress from 1844.

We drove on the dijk along the Merwede river, crossed the bridge at Zaltbommel,

and drove back on the other side of the river to the Loevestein Castle, from 1357,

directly across the river from where we just were at Fort Vuren.

 With our museum cards we were able to go inside...my first time!

It didn't take Nicholas long to get the hang of walking on stilts.

Next door to the castle is a delightful town called Woudrichem,
our sister city across the river from us here in Gorinchem.
The "Nooit Gedagt" windmill sells the flour we use for Astrid's bread machine.
It also allows visitors to climb to the top, which we did.

While in Woudrichem we ate at the De Stroming restaurant.
It was Nicholas' first time to experience a Dutch uitsmijter!

Day 3, Sunday, 19 July:  Gorinchem Citadel Walk and Dinner with Jeroen and Eva

We had a stay-at-home day to walk around our Gorinchem citadel.

We stretched the normal one-hour walk into 2, stopping all along the way.

And as a huge surprise that evening, Jeroen and Eva invited us for Indonesian.

Jeroen is Astrid's son, so it was cool to see him, Eva and Nicholas interact.

Day 4, Monday, 20 July:  Kinderdijk and the Pannenkoeken restaurant

It happened to be a misty-rainy day but we enjoyed it nonetheless.

Nicholas said it felt "sacred."  His word.

And at our favorite pannenkoeken restaurant out in the polder,

Nicholas ate his first Dutch pancakes.  

Day 5, Tuesday, 21 July:  Paper Exhibition at the Gorinchem Museum

Again, because we had museum cards and were staying close to home,

we decided to see the Paper exhibition in our own city center.

Later that evening, Nicholas and Astrid did the dishes.

He's quite the sport, earning his keep.

Day 6, Wednesday, 22 July:  Amsterdam

 Have you noticed that we're pacing ourselves with days of rest between the big days?

Amsterdam was a long day but we did it, driving back-n-forth to the AJAX soccer arena,

and then taking the METRO into the city.

We started at the Rijksmuseum to see Rembrandt's "Night Watch" 

and then hoped to get into the Van Gogh and Anne Frank museums until we saw the long lines.

We walked by the apartment where Donica and I used to live, ate at Wagamama,

took the tram to the floating flower market, saw Central Station and the St. Nicholas Church,

and even walked the Red Light District, just to say we did it.

Nicholas giggled all day at the drug and sexual innuendos.

Day 7, Thursday, 23 July:  Malle Molen Restaurant and Mixed Fighting

  Besides going grocery shopping together and starting a 1,000 dot-to-dot drawing of Amsterdam...

 ...we went to the Malle Molen (Silly Mill) for supper (what the pot cooks),

and then immediately drove to Eva's father's house for  an adventure.

Nicholas had the chance of a lifetime to be mentored in Mixed Fighting

by Alex Hesseling (Eva's father), a real pro and instructor.

What a special and unexpected treat for all of us,

especially for me to watch and capture.

"Fighting isn't about winning or losing," the instructor said, 

"but about learning yourself and what you can or cannot do."

How's that for the first week!