King's Day Celebration

On the heels of my own "Dutch celebration" last week, it's appropriate that this week we celebrated the King's 48th birthday.

It used to be the Queen's birthday, every April 30th!  But when Beatrix abdicated her throne in 2013, her eldest son, Willem-Alexander, became the King of the Netherlands, with his wife, Queen Maxima, at his side.  More on that later.  But the King's birthday is April 27th, so the big national holiday is now 3 days earlier than it used to be forever (Beatrix used her queen mother's birthday, thus 65 years between them).

Since the birthday was this past Monday, the Dutch used the entire weekend to celebrate.  Of course.  And one of the goodies that happened in Gorinchem, where we live, was...ta-da...the hand-turned organ grinders!

This is the collage I put up on Facebook, showing different organs with their owners.
(Any similarity to dogs and their owners???)

But what was fun to see was 2 or 3 grinders grouped together.

While one was playing, the other was getting ready for their next "grind."

Made lots of sense.  Saved the grinding arm, too.
(And, yes, we had on-n-off rain that day.)

You know the saying "Not my circus, not my monkeys," right?

Even organ grinders are being politically correct these days.

Are you fascinated by contraptions like this?

I think it would be quite fun to belong to an organ-grinder's society!

Speaking of which, look at Astrid go!
As soon as we approached this grinder, he immediately offered her the reins.
No one could have wiped that smile off her face, trust me.

And then he talked to her about his hobby...and gave her one of his CDs.
He said he was one of 6 German grinders who came to celebrate King's Day in our city.
Woo-Hoo.

A real catch for the kids of all ages!


And just for the halibut, here's one of the cutest organs of them all.
Look at those popping hats!  Who thought THAT one up, I wonder.

♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

Actually, all the above happened on Saturday, April 25th, of the Big Birthday weekend.

Monday, April 27th, was the national holiday in honor of the King.  And that day, Astrid and I were glued to the TV for 3 hours, watching the Royal Family descend on nearby Dordrecht.  Every year this happens:  the Royal Family (including all the cousins!) picks a city to visit and that city puts on a show.

Here's a 5-minute synopsis of those 3 hours.

Did I mention that I am in love with the Dutch King and Queen!
What I should say is that I'm in love with Queen Maxima and their amazing love story!
She's Argentinian, so the Dutch Parliament said if Alexander married her, he couldn't be king.
To which he said he didn't care what happened because he would marry her no matter what. 
The entire country fell in love with her.  Even Parliament (who obviously changed their mind)!
She's the first Dutch queen consort since 1890.

That's what they looked like on Monday (above).

Look at them on Willem-Alexander's coronation day, April 30, 2013.
That's the former Queen Beatrix, his mother, left-center.
(all images above and below are from Google Images)

They could even pass for a "normal" family with their 3 girls, right?
The princesses are Amalia (11), Alexia (9) and Ariane (8).

See what I mean about King's Day celebration.
I can hardly wait to see and experience it next year.

Bruges, Belgium: 2014 Christmas Market

Moving right along...and finally getting to the day for which we actually drove to Belgium, that last weekend of November!

I'm totally going backwards from when this all happened.  I started with Veere, NL, which we stopped to see as we drove home.  Then I showed you what happened on the day of our coastal tram ride.

Today is when we took the train to Bruges from our hotel in Ostend, a 15-minute no-brainer, no-hassle ride to the outskirts of city center.  And we weren't the only ones visiting Bruges that first weekend of their Christmas market, Saturday, November 29.  (We first stopped at the ice festival outside the train station, but that's another post, coming up.)

Immediately, walking into city center, we noticed how autumny it still was on a gorgeous day.

And of course, I started snapping away at all the architecture that still enthralls me.

That meant also noticing all the niches everywhere.

Remember that Belgium is Roman Catholic (while Holland is mostly Protestant).

 Speaking of Roman Catholic, here's Bruges' city church, St. Salvator's Cathedral.
In the 10th century it began as a parish church, becoming a cathedral in the 19th century.
It wasn't open as we entered city center...but it was as we left (see end of post).

The gable stones even in Belgium never disappoint.

As I mentioned on FaceBook, the bottom-right one is a typical "gaper head" (literally:  yawner) 

depicting the place as a pharmacy (see the pill?). They always make me laugh.

 Don't forget the weathervanes and manhole covers....

 ...and the roof toppers/ornamentals, very special to Bruges, and surely meaning something.

 When we see the organ grinders, we always want to take pictures,

so we toss in some coins and snap away.

Sometimes I even remember to take a video.  Short but sweet.
(You can even see the perforated scroll like for player pianos, which I always loved.)

 Once at the market square, we took our bearings...to remember what we both had seen previously,
even if separately, in our past lives.  Yes, this is Bruges.

But first, we took a side street to find this café for lunch:  Beethoven.
What a quaint little place, serving French cuisine for up to 20 patrons.  Delightful.

Every time we go to Belgium, Astrid tries to get mussels...and these were the BEST, she said.
Since I'm not a mussels nut, I chose something I rarely have these days:  beef stew.
(Notice that my "stew" wasn't stewed with veggies but it still melted in my mouth.)

After lunch, we were on a mission!
We walked on the outskirts of the Christmas market in the square, to save it for late afternoon.
This Provincial Court building from 1294, on the square, is a masterpiece.

We wanted to get to the canal for a boat ride before it was too late.
But see that long line (top right)?

We decided to just hoof it around (on foot, that is) and get the main points,
always with the 12th century Belfry tower from the square looming overhead/behind.

When we wound our way back to the Christmas market, we window-shopped along the way.
Surely you know Belgium is known for its lace....

 ...and did someone say BELGIUM CHOCOLATE???
(just like the Dutch, the Belgiums can take a joke!)

By now, late afternoon, it was time to pay attention to the Christmas market.

After all, this is what we had come for.

HO-HO-HO

Fun, irreverent, Christmassy Belgium.  How can you resist it!
Half a moon (as we left) was better than no moon at all.

And as we walked back to the train station, St. Salvator's Cathedral was open for Vespers.
Half a peek was better than no peek at all.

As we neared the train station, the morning's ferris wheel was all lit up.
It seemed an appropriate Good-Bye for what had been a delightful, sunshiny day.

Breda, NL...and I'd Rather be Fishing

A couple of weekends ago Astrid and I were out-n-about in the countryside on our way home after a delightful drive to nearby Breda. We love driving the back roads coming and going whenever possible. It's such a different look than what you get from the freeway.

Lo and behold, while minding our own business but keeping our eyes open, there she was, fishing. Astrid hears something out of me...a grunt...body language...intuition--"Ginnie would like this"--and she stops. I get out of the car and snap the pictures.

Were they sisters? Actually, there was also a boy nearby at the bank of the canal and I wondered if they all belonged to each other. All doing what they love.

It's my turn at Vision and Verb again today, where you can read about what I'd rather be doing...and where this experience took me.

But speaking of Breda, since that was the day, take a peak with me at another fun city that's almost in our backyard, 19 miles away. It's Grote Kerk (Big/great church), or Onze Lieve Vrouwekerk (Church of Our Lady), was the main attraction for us, as almost always. Nor were we disappointed!

This is a gothic, protestant church that dates back to the 15th century. It's tower is 97 meters high. Sadly, very few services are held there anymore...except for baptisms, weddings and funerals, concerts, exhibitions, symposiums and fashion shows. But this is what's happening these days all over Europe.

When I see churches like this, visible from all over the city, I marvel. I still haven't gotten used to them. Surely the residents who have lived there all their lives are ho-hum about them...as I'm almost becoming of the one just two blocks from our apartment. [Did I say that?]


Lucky for us, this church was open on a Saturday. Actually, the map we follow religiously has a different icon for city churches that are open to the public or not. So we know ahead of time if we'll be able to go inside.
If we can, we will!
This particular church pays tribute to to its members by hanging heraldry shields/emblems everywhere your eye can see. It even has a map where you can locate whatever shield you're looking for. This was a first for us.


But what astounded us more than anything was the pipe organ...the magnificent organ extending from almost top to bottom. This, too, was unique for us. It was worth the entire trip.

The organ of the Grote Kerk in Breda is one of the few complete mechanical 4-manual organs of the Netherlands. It has an interesting history which dates from before 1530. The organ has been restored in 1969 by Flentrop.

It so happens that this church in Breda is from Oranje-Nassaus (House of Orange-Nassau), the Dutch Royal Family, where 17 members are buried in the chapel. In this collage above, you can see some of the art work throughout the church that pays tribute to their religious and historical heritage.

By far, the above Grote Kerk is Breda's most important city landmark. But as a fortified city, it also holds strategic military/political significance, and is home to the Dutch Royal Military Academy, as seen below:

As Dutch cities go, this one is a beauty. Not too big and not too small. Just right. It has it all, as you see below...the architecture, history, canals, art, water tower and windmill.

What more could you ask for...except for maybe a RED HAIR FESTIVAL coming up in September. Can you believe it! Initiated in 2005, it attracts attendees from 30 countries. Will we go? You'll be the first to find out, trust me. I suspect not, since we're not fans of huge crowds. But just the thought of it sounds fun, doesn't it. That's Breda!

Back to the beginning of this post is the little girl fishing, who was the frosting on top of that day while out-n-about here in The Netherlands. Also, the reminder that today is my turn again at Vision & Verb. Did I ever tell you I LOVE LOVE LOVE my life here in this country!

The Organ Grinder

Since we're entering a nice holiday weekend for most of us (yes, even here in Holland!), here's something for the holiday spirit.

This organ "grinder" was in our Amsterdam neighborhood last Friday towards the end of the day. Our front windows are usually open because we get lots of sun there throughout the day, so when the music started, it filled up our apartment.

We both ran to the windows and this is what we saw:

Remember that our apartment is facing the street on the first floor. So when we went to the windows, we opened them wide (European windows swing open from the side or the top, both opening inward into the room--not up and down like in America). I sat on the window sill and started clicking away.

Everyone loves this guy, I'm quite sure!

Before he hopped back onto his contraption, he even waved to me. I told Donica later that we should have thrown him a coin! Next time we'll throw two.

And then off he went.

These are the small pleasures that fill me up here in Amsterdam. A day in our life. A moment in time. Just had to share it. :)

Now you go and find a happy moment this weekend. Or maybe it will find you!