A meet-Up with Ayush in Venlo, NL

This post has been languishing in the wings since 7 November of last year and comes out now in anticipation of another meet-up with Ayush 3 weeks from now.

And who is Ayush, you ask!

Ayush Basu is a fellow Shutterchancer from India, living in Singapore.  He posts at AYUSH.

Do you remember that Astrid and I first met as photo-bloggers at Shutterchance?

Astrid posts at Picturit.  I post at Hart & Soul.

When we found out that Ayush works in Singapore for OCÉ, a Dutch Canon printing company,

and that he often comes to the Netherlands to lend his expertise,

we made the arrangements to hook up with him where he stays, in Venlo, 135 km SE of us.

We met Ayush at the train station, where we also parked our car.

As you see, we arrived at 11 a.m. and left shortly after 3:30 p.m.

And because 11 a.m. is definitely koffie-break time, we stopped at the city hall

in city center to chat and get to know each other better.

In fact, that's when he graciously gave this wee interview,
just because I wanted our Shutterchance friends to hear everything straight from the horse's mouth.
He has also met Ray from Thailand, whom also we met last year in England.
Let's just say we all get around!

Once we got all that settled, we started walking around city center.
This is when I realize how many statues are everywhere, all over this country!
But have you ever seen one that is loaded with already-chewed gum???

At one point we walked to the harbor on the Maas river.
Venlo is near the German border in the province of Limburg.

Astrid calls this "subsidized art."   You see it everywhere here in the Netherlands.

But as you already know, there is art in one form or another everywhere you look.

See what I mean?!

Walking back into city center from the harbor, I asked if we could see the church I had seen.
Of course, there was more "art" to see along the way.

And yes, the church was open.
St. Martin's Church was first built in 760, rebuilt in 1410 and then in 1610, the current church.

Backwards and forwards in the nave...my prerequisite shots!

Then...lots of impressions.
Can you tell that this is a Roman Catholic church?

The artwork in these churches always blows my mind.
I did not grow up with it in Dad's Baptist church!

But THIS is what actually speaks to me...a soulful alcove/niche that seems set aside.

On that note, we found a delightful Thai café and enjoyed good food and drink.
"Please enjoy Chang beer responsibly."  And we did.

Even in early November the street lights were on for the holiday season approaching.
It was a good way to end the day, walking back to our car...
and saying Good-Bye to a new friend.

Ayush is a genuine, conscientious, kind and attentive gentleman!

We made him promise to tell us when he'd be back in the Netherlands
so that we could return the hospitality favor here in Gorinchem where we live.
And THAT is now.  He's here for a month and plans to visit us on March 12-13,
God willing and the creek don't rise.

Stay tuned....

ANTWERP, Belgium: Part 1

True to form, it's taking me two weeks to get all my Antwerp photos processed!  So, let's start at the very beginning....

Antwerp is only an hour's drive, 100 km, from our apartment here in the Netherlands.  To give even me some perspective, it took us an hour to get to the airport from where I used to live in Atlanta.  That's nothing!  But when you think about it being in another country from where we live now, it just seems farther away.  But it's not!

If you need to cover your eyes, do it now and skip this collage....

but if we can't take a joke, right!?!

This was the first corner where our cameras got busy as we walked towards city center!

Robin had already warned us about it when she was there recently.

 By now you know that the market square is the center of these wonderful European cities.

The town hall and the guild houses mark the perimeter of the square.

The huge Christmas tree was up, ready to be trimmed, probably the following week.

And see that statue (bottom left above)?

Yup.  That's the giant's hand being thrown into the Scheldt River. 

The giant, Druon Antigoon, severed the hand of anyone who wouldn't pay his tax to cross the river.

Eventually, he was slain by a young Roman soldier named Brabo, 

who cut off the giant's own hand and flung it into the river.

Thus the name of the city, Antwerpen = hand and werpen = hand throwing.

And with that history, we were ready for our koffie met appeltaart!

Energy for the Church of Our Lady, to be exact....

Onze-Lieve-Vrouwekathedraal, a Roman Catholic church.

One of those churches you see from almost everywhere in the city!

And then you go inside.  Very Roman Catholic!

In fact, more Roman Catholic you cannot get.

Besides, the country itself is a Roman Catholic country

(compared to the Netherlands, which is Dutch Reformed).

So, Madonna niches were everywhere as we walked around.

Everywhere means everywhere!

(Does it make up for the first collage???)

Don't you love how some things really catch your attention?

Umbrella in Dutch and French is parapluie.

See how it stands in the shadows of Our Lady!

 Robin had also told us about the Goossens bakery from 1884.

The site tells you to be prepared for a long line.  They're not kidding.

But it was totally worth it.

And how can you resist these penguins just waiting to be captured!

By then our appetite was fully whetted.

Astrid had been dreaming of mussels for as long as we were planning the trip!

She can have them!  And I enjoyed my pork medallions.

Lovely.  At De Kleine Post. 

We then took our time, as it started getting dark, to walk back to our car.

Lots of window shopping, getting ready for Christmas.

We got a good night's sleep at a nearby hotel and prepared for the next day.  To be continued....