In Bruges.

Wasn’t that a movie? 

Haven’t seen it but I can imagine they made the most of the quaint little streets, lovely canals and bridges, medieval buildings and pretty parks. Bruges has been just the right size for us to get to know in the 10 days we were here. It is about the same size as Dee Why and has a population of just 20,000. We have walked, cycled and Segwayed our way about town every day and can now get around without a map! As long as you don’t venture beyond the outer canal and  occasionally look up to find out where you are in relation to the belfry then you will eventually arrive back at home.

Home for us has been a great 3 level house in the tranquil northern quarter of Bruges on BalieStraat. It was wonderful to have the space to spread out and be messy for just a while. Everything we own for this year fits in to our car and every now and then it feels good to take it all out and rearrange and take stock.  Mmmm, no room for that Lancel handbag or Philip Treacy hat!!

Our first few days were a little overcast but then summer arrived and we were kept awake at night by the airless heat and sunlight beyond 10pm.  Chocolate, beer, lace, swans, bears, Michelangelo’s Madonna, markets, waffles with more chocolate and pretty flowers, we did it all and still had time for a trip to Dunkirk in between.

Bruges was lovely, easy and bright. A beautiful, uplifting place to be and we will remember with our five senses; feeling the  cObBled stones under our bicycle wheel as we explored the town (Why do all the bikes have thin racing wheels that feel every single bump?), seeing the centuries-old Bruges skyline of spires and canal bridges (Boy are there a lot of these), hearing the sweet sound of the bells (every 15 minutes there are the sounds of bells somewhere in Bruges, thankfully our local Sint-Gillis Kerk built in 1258 starts at a respectable 8am), smelling the stagnant water of the canals ( catching a whiff of this foul air will quickly bring you out of the dreamlike romance that you are wandering in, but just as quickly it will vanish) and the unforgettable taste of Belgian chocolate from one of the 49 chocolate boutiques.( Mmmmmmm yum, we indulged in just one scrumptious chocolate each evening until we had a massive blowout on the last night when all hope for the diet was lost ) .

Swans on the canals

After the death of Mary of Burgundy in 1488, Bruges went through some troubled times. The townspeople, enraged by new taxes, rose in revolt and beheaded the bailiff, councillor and town administrator (whose name was Pieter Lanchals). According to legend, when the duke Maximilian of Austria regained power, the citizens of Bruges were ordered to keep swans or long necks (langhalzen- in reference to the administrators name) on the canals for all eternity as their punishment.

We met this family of swans on a landing by the canal and were attacked by the protective father swan.

 

These two are trying out the 'beheaded' look

Swans in the Springtime

Swan and cygnets - perfect

The Bear of Bruges

When Baldwin with the Iron Arm,          

 the first Count of Flanders , visited

Bruges in the 9^th century, the first

creature he saw was a big brown bear.

After a fierce fight the Count killed the

bear and proclaimed the bear to be

the symbol of the city. Needless to say,

there are statues all over the city of

this now adorable and brave bear.

BruLee

Balancing in Bruges.

Today we did a tour of Bruges and our feet did not touch the ground and we did not use fuel and we did not go by horse or on the water.      

 How did we do our tour? 

By SEGWAY

When we first came to Bruges we did not have very good weather but we could see these two-wheeler-electric-motor-bikish things and it looked fun so we went and talked about it and how much it would costs and we also looked at how much normal bikes would cost to hire for a day. Finally mum and dad gave in. So we were walking down the street to the laundry and bumped in to a Segway shop and asked if we could do it on Monday and he gave me a test go to see if I could do it. Well today is Monday and we got there at 10 minutes to 10:00am and the sun was out and not a cloud was in the sky.

When you see it you think you need a lot of balance but you don’t need much at all, all you need to control is the direction your Segway goes in.  To make it go forwards you lean forward and to make it slow down, stop or go backwards you lean or pull back on the handle bars. After a while your legs start to ache even though you are just standing, because it uses muscles you barely ever use.  We had a 2 hour tour around the bumpy streets in Bruges. Charlie was our guide and he was a bit strange but his boyfriend Andre was really nice and he was the one that taught me how to use the Segway.

 

M@D!$oN

Reverse altitude sickness?

Driving into Amsterdam, a strange sense of gloom hung over us. We knew we were driving north only to go back down south to Bruges after a 6 night stay in Amsterdam. ( Bad planning on our part.) Our base while we were in the Netherlands was Muiden, a small country town on the outskirts of Amsterdam. After Paris we wanted something more rural but found accommodation a problem. So, for the second time only, we have opted for a Bed and Breakfast stay.



Seeran and Ivar were our hosts for the week. Seeran is a long lost California Girl who came to Amsterdam 15 years ago to start a new life but now dreadfully misses the "sunkissed skin and layin' underneath the palm trees - It's undeniable!"  Ivar is a true Dutchman and taught us the ways of the Dutch first hand. Their cosy house was neat and tidy and we shared many hours together. We learnt to play Risk - World Domination (in Dutch) and also learnt how the Dutch like to openly discuss their personal opinions down to their last breath. Confronting at first but once you realise it is the way of life here you seem to get drawn into the heated discussions. 
We were lucky enough to have Seeran and Ivar take us on a drive through the countryside one day and they showed us the working windmills, we walked along the dyke, ate at a traditional ice cream shop, went to the best, BEST pannen koeken hais (pancake house) in Holland and on the way home we stopped at the community garden and then bought fresh farm milk straight from the cow down the road. MMMooooooooooooooooo! Very delicious.
Muiden was an interesting place to visit but the gloom was still there. Seeran explained to us that night that often people who visit here from a sunny place are overcome by a sadness caused from living 3 metres below sea level plus the unending miserable weather. Even though we were here for the Summer Solstice we didn´t see much sunshine. About a third of the Netherlands lies below sea-level and the dykes holding back the sea are dependent on constant rain to keep them from drying out and sea water seeping in.  Yep, time to head south.



SadLee

We had a few trips into Amsterdam including a day at the NEMO science centre.

NEMO science centre was really, really fun. It had so many activities to do. They had one of everything. A good one was this massive bubble maker that you stood in and then lifted a hoop over your head so then you were inside an enormous bubble. Another one of my favourites was going in the science lab and having an experiment to do all on my own. I had to wear a lab coat and protective glasses. My experiment was to mix 5 different powders with water and then test their temperature, smell and if they were clear or murky. I had to record it all on a clip board.
Pulleys were awesome and I could even lift dad up by pulling on a rope going through 5 pulleys. I found out, the more pulleys you have, the easier it is to lift things.

This man did a show in Dutch which I couldn't understand but it was really interesting to watch. It was called Chain Reaction and he set up this long course of things moving and making the next object move. There were balloons on a wire, bikes spinning, chairs sliding, balls falling, candles burning string, fans blowing little boats across a pool, dominoes collapsing, weights dropping, water running down pipes and so much more. You didn't know where to look because it was all happening at the same time just about. AWESOME.

It was the best Science Museum I have ever been to.


M@D!$oN

Another day, Charlotte and I went to see Anne Frank's house. The queue was so long we didn't go in but bought the book and sat in a pancake cafe and started to read the Diary.

NB; Our other computer (with all the 10,000 photos on it) crashed. No pics for this one.

MadLee

Van Gogh Museum.

After such a great experience on the Hop on - Hop off bus in Paris we chose to explore Amsterdam using the Hop on - Hop off canal cruise                

Our major stop for the day was at the art gallery square where we collected brochures for the Rijks Museum, Van Gogh Museum and the Museum of Contemporary Art and over lunch the girls decided which one we would visit. A lot can be said for the design cover for tourist brochures and of course the one with the bright happy sun flowers on the cover won and we were off to the Van Gogh Museum.

We learnt long ago when visiting Art Galleries and Museums with children the best approach is to go to the gift shop first and let everyone choose their favourite postcard and then with something tangible, that is all theirs and in their own grubby little hands, we can set off to explore the gallery and find that piece of art and learn about the artist and that particular piece of work.

 My choice was 'Vase with Irises against a yellow background'. Van Gogh painted this in May 1890 just a few months before his tragic death while he was in the assylum in Saint-Remy. It was part of a study of Irises and the contrast of colour with violet and yellow. This still life is not the famous painting of Irises bought by Alan Bond in 1987 but is part of the same series and painted during a very troubled time for Van Gogh. He painted 70 works in his last 70 days and this being one of them. One of my favourite all time paintings because of its strong colour and subject of simple flowers in a vase.            Lee

I chose this picture of  'The Bedroom'  because I liked all the different bright colours Van Gogh used. He painted this in 1888 of his own bedroom in his yellow house in Arles. I found out that the walls were once purple but the painting has faded and now they are blue. We learnt this by watching a video about when they cleaned the painting last year and found the true colour underneath some old paint. The walls are slightly on an angle but he did this on purpose because the room was actually not straight. He wrote a letter to his brother Theo and told him about this painting. He did two other paintings of this room.                                                            Madison

This self portrait done in 1886 I liked as it was deep and moody and showed the depth of his "dark days". To me it looks like he is about 55-60 years old but in truth he was only 33 when he painted this in Paris. He was only to live another 4 years until he turned the gun on himself, shooting himself in the stomoch and dying in his brother Theo's arms 2 days later. What I also discovered is that there was a picture of a nude woman on this canvas first before he scraped it off and did this picture over the top. All this to be proved by X-ray.

Paul

I chose this painting of the happy sunflowers because I loved all the brightness and detail. I once had to draw a sunflower, but even though they may look easy, they are actually fairly hard to draw. I really understand how difficult it is to get all the fine detail. This was one of Van Gogh's favourite paintings he did, and we can tell this because he has signed his name on the vase. It  is said that he painted the sunflowers to impress  his friend, another very well known artist, Paul Gauguin, and welcome him to his home. He also painted 4 other sunflower paintings, some with yellow backgrounds and some with blue backgrounds, but this is the most famous of the 5. He then said that sunflowers were his flower, and since then, he loved them and so do I.         Charlotte

                                                                                     

Vincent Van Gogh only ever sold one painting in his life time. He was on the verge of becoming a known artist when he died at 37 years old. It was only after his death that his brother Theo's wife collected all his paintings, drawings and letters between the two brothers and dedicated her life to make him recognised as the famous Dutch post Impressionist that we know today.    

ArtisticalLee

Notre Dame.

It was a gloomy Sunday when we visited Notre Dame but that did not stop the crowds from coming out in full.

In 52 BC a small Gallic tribe of the Parisii people lived on this tiny island on the Seine, perhaps seeking refuge from Julius Caeser or resting as they crossed the river. It was from these people that Paris claimed its name and the community of Ile de la Cité was born. The island in the centre of Paris is connected by many ornate bridges and the eastern end houses the gothic Notre Dame Cathedral.

Bishop Maurice de Sully decided in 1160 that Paris should have a cathedral worthy of the powerful principal city of France. In 1163 the first stone was set in place by Pope Alexander III and King Louis VII. It was not completed until 1272. For more than a century thousands of men and women worked on the 'state of the art' structure. This new form of architecture was called 'Gothic' and it allowed buildings to be taller and open on the inside. To showcase the 35 metre high walls three large rose windows of multi-coloured glass petals were placed high above the nave to allow light and changing colour into the church. They are as impressive today as in 1270 when King Louis IX would have seen them. The building of such an immense structure presented many problems and it was at this time the invention of the wheelbarrow and variations on the pulley were invented.

Notre Dame is a Catholic Church dedicated to the Virgin Mary. It is open to the public
- free of charge- as all churches should be. Not like the Rosslyn Chapel in Scotland that had the audacity to charge £8 per person just because it is in the Da Vinci Code - Wasn't happy with that one!!

The next day was the Pentecost Public Holiday in France. Everything was closed so we looked once again to God to show us more of Paris and we headed for the grandiose Sacré-Coeur built atop Montmartre and dedicated to the Sacred Heart of Christ.  We walked in on mass held in Latin and sat for a part of the service but it was difficult to follow and so we joined the silent procession of visitors along the carpeted path around the church.

Under the silver statue of Mary we lit candles and said our prayers. Further along, we saw the silver statue of Jesus and crowds of people reaching to touch his feet.  One lady with long wild hair stopped to touch the foot of the statue of Jesus and brushed against the flaming tower of candles. Her whole mop of hair caught alight and flames leapt above her like a flaming halo. People were screaming and just as quick a man smothered the flames with his prayer book. Smoke and the smell of burning hair covered the little alcove we were in. The lady with the singed hair must have been on a very deep spiritual level as she was the only one unaware of what had happened and everyone slipped back into silent prayer.


Angels at Sacre Coeur

From Mont Martre we walked down to find the Moulin Rouge. (I guess that was enough religion for one week for Paul.) It wasn’t hard to spot the distinctive red windmill and the girls and I stopped for a quick little cancan on top of a Metro air vent. If only my girls wore dresses, we could have got the Marilyn Munro shot. Paul ducked over to see if we could get tickets for that nights show but just as we had found out all week the show was fully booked for weeks in advance. The walk along the strip was quite revealing and led to a whole evening of questions from Madison about birds, bees, feathers and red lights.

ReligiousLee

Eiffel Tower.

More handstand photos on our HANDSTAND Page

A few days ago we went to the Eiffel Tower; it was the sunniest day of the whole week so that was good.  We walked there from our apartment; it only took about 30 minutes to walk. When we got there, there were two queues to get the elevator up. One was a massive queue which definitely went up and dad and I lined up there. The other was just short but we didn’t know whether it would open, Mum and Charlotte lined up in that queue.  At 9.30 when the gates opened, Mum’s queue took off and dad and I had to run like mad to get to mum and we got up really quick.   Good one  mum!           

The queue to go up the Eiffel Tower.
Taken from the first level.

We chose to use the lift because our legs would have got very tired if we walked all the way up.

When we got to the 1^st level we saw heaps of signs that say how far away the countries are. We found Sydney easily, it was 16,962 kilometres away.  So far away.   

You could see for miles and miles all around, infact you can see 74 kilometres on a fine day and it was a fine day. I could not believe how high it was because when you are on the ground it doesn’t look as high as it does when you are on the top floor looking down.



Mum, Puss and me at the top.

Looking straight down from the top.

Our apartment is between the Palais de Chaillot and the park.

Paris and the Arc de Triomphe

Puss leaping off the Eiffel Tower.
No cape but he still survived.

Facts:

1} They use 50 tonnes of paint every 7 years to paint the Eiffel Tower.

2} It has a double decker elevator.

3}  It has 1,665 steps from bottom to top.

4}  It was built in 1889 for the Universal Exhibition, and was only meant to be temporary

5}   It was the tallest building in the world for 40 years until 1931.

6}   In 1912 a local tailor launched himself from the tower using a cape as wings. ……..dead man.

7}   It has 2.5million rivets.

8}   The top level is 276 metres above the ground.

9}   The whole tower is 324 metres high.

10}  We had dinner at Place du Trocerdero and from about 9pm it is all lit up. Then at 10pm it twinkles with a million sparkling lights.


Soooooooooooooooo beautiful!   
I will remember it forever.

M@D!$oN