Museum-O-Rama

Phewsh did we go to museums while we were in Europe. I keep telling people that we went to a lot, and I have wanted to create a chronological list, so here it is, for posterity.

1. Horta Museum (architecture), Brussels, 12 July 2011
2. Automium (history, world expo), Brussels, 13 July 2011
3. Museum of Cocoa and Chocolate (chocolate), Brussels, 19 July 2011
4. Museum of the National Bank of Belgium (history, currency), Brussels, 19 July 2011
5. Pompidou modern art museum (art), Paris, 22 July 2011
6. Musee Carnavalet (history), Paris, 22 July 2011
7. Louvre (art), Paris, 23 July 2011
8. Autoworld (cars), Brussels, 26 July 2011
9. European Parliment (government), Brussels, 28 July 2011
10. windmill museum (history), Brugge, 30 July 2011
11. Cinquantenaire Museum (art), Brussels, 3 August 2011
12. Magritte Museum (art), Brussels, 3 August 2011
13. Belgian Museum of Ancient Art (art), Brussels, 3 August 2011
14. African Art Museum (art), Brussels, 4 August 2011
15. Royal Palace (art), Brussels, 5 August 2011
16. Belgian Comic Strip Center (comics/art), Brussels, 5 August 2011
17. City Museum of Brussels (art, history), Brussels, 6 August 2011
18. Beer Museum in Schaerbeek (beer), Brussels, 6 August 2011
19. Tram Museum (transportation), Brussels, 6 August 2011
20. Curtius Museum of Liege (art, history), Liege, 7 August 2011
21. Museum of Wallonian Life (folklife), Liege, 7 August 2011
22. Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art (art), Liege, 7 August 2011
23. Van Gogh Museum (art), Amsterdam, 9 August 2011
24. Purse Museum (purses), Amsterdam, 9 August 2011
25. Rijksmuseum (art), Amsterdam, 9 August 2011

MONUMENTS- not really museums but sort of close, so I decided to make a separate list.
1. Arc du Cinquantenaire, Brussels
2. Braunfels Castle, Braunfels, Germany
3. Eiffel Tower, Paris
4. Arc de Triomphe, Paris
5. Congres Column, Brussels
6. Mannaken Pis, Brussels
7. Porte de Hal, Brussels

CHURCHES - some have a museum-like quality and feel, and most contain important (and really old) art, so another list of the major ones we saw (there were many others we passed along the way as well).
1. Dom in Wetzlar, Germany
2. Cathedral, Brussels
3. Notre Dame, Paris
4. Sacre Coeur, Paris
5. St. Catherine's Church, Brussels
6. numerous churches in Brugge
7. Cathedral in Antwerp
8. St. Bartholomew, Liege

Well I had estimated we'd seen 30 museums and there are only 25 listed, although if you count the monuments.... Regardless, we experienced a lot of variety and culture in Europe, no doubt.

Wallonia

I've missed blogging. I cannot figure out what to blog about post-Brussels, though, so I'll go back to posting about our trip. We had a few awesome days I did not cover yet, despite being home for almost two weeks.

On Sunday, 7 August the four of us took the train to Liege, Belgium. It is in the Wallonia, more French-speaking, region of the country. While the rain in the forecast held off, it was quite breezy, a strange weather day, alternating between cloudy and nippy back to sunny and quite warm frequently. We started the day figuring out the bus to the historic city center and getting a helpful woman to guide us to La Batte, a huge flea market along the beautiful river. Common items at the market included cheeses, breads, sausages, sunglasses, socks, and scarves (one scarf purchased and modeled by me, approved by Lucy).

La Batte was super crowded which made us all testy. We eventually scraped together a lunch of cheese, pastries and bread and dined in the sheltered courtyard of a bonus museum, the Curtius Museum of Liege. Turned out all museums were free for the first Sunday of the month. This unplanned museum stop included some beautiful modern courtyard gardens tucked between the wings of a museum housing ancient weapons, antique bronze and pottery, archeological dig artifacts including bones, and some other historical exhibits about Liege. As we wandered around the city, I noticed the architecture was distinct from other places we'd been, with older, simpler looking buildings, including less ornate churches, some with a unique red trim but most in darker shades of stone and brick.

Throughout the original section of the city were scattered many tiny alleys, labeled Impasse [streetname]. I captured this image of a resident headed out from one. There were amazing homes and gardens tucked back along the impasses. Brian was enjoying exploring them while Julia had a tantrum because she suddenly did not want to walk anywhere. She almost walked up a mountain of stairs in a huff, but prematurely turned around. We dragged our reluctant eight-and-a-half year old (and a more chipper eleven year old) to the Museum of Wallonian Life, our first folklife museum on the trip. It was amazing, with so many little glimpses into everyday life in this region. Even Julia managed to cheer up eventually once she saw old scouting gear, vignettes of Wallonian rooms and antique toys.

After grabbing a beverage at an outdoor cafe near the Prince Bishops Palace, and seeking shelter inside from the gusty winds, we eventually found another bus over to the modern art museum. Housed in an old World Expo building on an island in the river, the collection was the perfect size and period.
After another drink and snack while listening to modern French rap/hip-hop music at the museum, we walked along and across the river back to the train station. Not sure if we'd catch the 5:00 train back to Brussels, we walked briskly, led by determined Julia, then ran, then caught the train which fortunately was a few minutes delayed.

I'd rate this as not our best day, but it ended very well with the wonderful modern art collection which was not too overwhelming in scale and offered many opportunities for learning and discussion.

Back to Regular Life

Time flies when you are reentering regular life. I should have been blogging diligently this week since Brian took the girls to St. Michaels for part of the week and I stayed home by myself. I wanted to get back into the swing of work plus keep the cats company; they missed us a lot. Well, I did not blog, obviously. It will take me a little while to write about the last few days of our adventure in Europe and I want to write about a few more general topics too. If you are still reading, thanks. It must seem a little odd to read about our time in Europe when we are clearly back in Maryland, not even jetlagged anymore. It is even stranger to be writing while sitting here in The Nook, a little room in our house on Poe Road.

A few general observations about coming home. Dorothy was absolutely right, there is no place like home. The girls and I came back two days before Brian, for Lucy's team tennis tournament which I think I previously mentioned, at least six times was it? A minor blip when we had to turn around in the cab on Thursday morning because Julia left her passport in the apartment. Joy. The girls and I enjoyed "duty-free shopping splendor" in Brussels airport. Julia managed to hang onto 20 euros; Lucy and I were tapped out after last minute purchases.

My girls continue to impress me with what perfect travelers they are. I'm pleased to report that after a week plus at home, they are still eating salad and more interesting foods. And we still have a bit of Belgian chocolates left, even after one or two chocolate courses here in Bethesda. Julia got replacement shoes that are an exact replica of those she ruined at Porte de Hal. We all tucked the sweatshirts we had in Europe in the deep recesses of our closets (you know the ones, mine is pink; Julia's is striped; Lucy's is black); we might wear them again in 2012. Because of tennis it took us until Tuesday to completely unpack.

I love the way the girls talk about our trip already. Their perspectives on the world have changed in wonderful ways. We will cherish our experiences forever. After spending so much time with my daughters over the last eight weeks (including the three weeks when Brian was in Brussels before us), it has been a disorienting couple of days by myself. Well not completely by myself; the cats snuggle right next to me constantly.

I'll write my next post about something more specific from our trip. We did have some wonderful days I still want to share.

What Have We Been Up To?

So you might have been wondering what we have been up to since I've not posted for a few days and just finished Saturday (and it is Wednesday evening). Well here is a quick summary and I'll try to write more later.

Sunday - all four of us took a day trip to Liege, part of the Wallonia section of Belgium so definitely different than Brugge.

Monday - quiet day mostly at home for the girls and me; Brian at work of course; did not catch up too much on blogging because we were focusing on our journals.

Tuesday - big day trip for the girls and me to Amsterdam (Brian had a business trip for an important project back in Vienna for 2 days). This was a complete change from our original goal of going to Luxemburg, but we voted and chose Amsterdam instead. Awesome day, definitely worth a post all its own.

Wednesday - today, our final full day in Brussels; also will post more soon; let's just say FOOD. Cheating to post after I return to the US? Hopefully you'll all stay tuned and still read. I want to post a bit about our transition to regular life too. Thanks for reading!

A Day for Brian

For Saturday, 6 August, I mapped out a pretty good day filled with activities that I thought Brian would really enjoy. If one gauges enthusiasm for our day's events by number of photos taken, we took 209 on Saturday. Brian employed a good strategy in his journal to record the day. I copied his structure in my journal and I will use it again here.

STOP 1: City Museum of Brussels to see the wardrobe of Manneken-Pis, something which Brian had mentioned he wanted to see. Kids free on the weekends. Also interesting models of the city as it developed and a bonus for Mommy, watercolors of Brussels painted between 1894 and 1897 displayed alongside maps of the street corners, photos from early 20th century and photos today from the same spots.
STOP 2: Actual Manneken-Pis outdoors, seen in a Belgian costume. Souvenir shopping along the way.

STOP 3: Jean-Phillipe Darcis cafe, previously mentioned, this time for an eat-in treat of decadent cakes with coffees added for the parents. Of course we got macaroons to go.
STOP 4: Porte de Hal, one of the gates into the original city and the only one remaining. We did not pay to go inside to the museum, just walked around and ate lunch on the bit of wall remaining. We will not go into what happened to Julia's shoe. Note both Brian and I bought a one-day transit pass for the day and we got the most out of that for certain, with 9 rides (which does include transfers).

STOP 5: The Beer Museum in Schaerbeek, a northern part of Brussels. I must admit I got turned around in getting us there so we had a bit of a walk after the subway and bus ride combo to get there. Luckily after we arrived, it started pouring (and not as we were wandering around looking for it). History of beer, over 1,500 beer bottles, 800 beer glasses, old equipment for beer-making, and free sample of beer (OJ for the girls). And more beer to buy from the sweet couple running the place. I am a good wife.

Side bar on transit: lots of transit and waiting for transit although afterwards we felt like it provided good rests for all of us between activities. To the left, the girls waiting for Tram #7 after the beer museum. To the right, the girls on a 1905 tram for an historic ride.

STOP 6: Tram Museum, at which we not only went on the old tram, along the same tracks out to Tervuren through the forest where Julia and I had gone on Thursday, but toured the extensive collection of trams from horse-drawn to about the 60s. Julia in particular loved going on the trams in the museum; it was really cool.
STOP 7: A special dinner at a fancy restaurant next door to our apartment, Le Pre aux Clercs, the perfect ending to a special day.

Les Schtroumpfs

You know how sometimes you just pull it all together? A great plan, nice balance, happiness, fun and learning, relaxation and activity? I managed to do it twice within two days; I'm mighty proud. I'll cover Saturday separately since Friday will fill up this one. After a morning spent relaxing and working diligently on our journals in the apartment, we took the bus to the Royal Palace. Julia displays her new smile in front of the palace, courtesy of losing a tooth that morning. Love that. The green shimmery stuff on the ceilings and that chandelier, not so much; they look cool but are thousands of green beetle wings.

I'm more a fan of the gold paint and the multiple gigantic crystal chandeliers in the other rooms. We also liked the many huge paintings of members of the royal family of Belgium plus the marble, granite, fireplaces, and musical instruments. All free and completed in about 45 minutes.

A planned stroll through Brussels Park as our path to the next activity was lovely. I pushed my luck a bit with another stopover at the Congres Column, but it was right on the way (even Lucy admitted it later). Bonus: learning about members of Belgium's first government and noticing how many transit stops are named after them.

Now the real fun began. I had no idea that Belgium was a hub of comic strip creativity and innovation. Now I have a greater appreciation for the history, talent and sheer volume of work from Belgian artists thanks to the Belgian Comic Strip Center. Housed in a stunning Art Nouveau building designed by Victor Horta (see how it all comes together?), we learned about how comic strips are produced and read the history and successes of some of the most famous Belgian artists. Even the restaurant was cool (cafe for Mommy; frites for Lucy; crepes for Julia).

I fell in love with Tintin and Snowy (Milou in French). We saw the genesis of the Smurfs in 1958 as rough sketches practically on the back of a paper place mat which someone almost threw away (be sure to click on the photo to the right to see the details). Or as they were called in the original French, Les Schtroumpfs. Our adventure ended in the reading room sketching our favorite characters into our journals and reading through some English comics they had in their library. We were about one and a half hours late for meeting Brian at home for dinner because we had such fun.

Catch Up Photos

A few photos to catch us up from the last couple of days, when I have posted picture-free. Don't worry; we returned to our picture happy ways on Friday.

3 August - beautiful glassware from the Cinquantenaire Museum

3 August - heart art from Cinquantenaire Museum

4 August - Julia in the gardens at the African Art Museum, Tervuren

4 August - Julia bounding toward the African Art Museum, during her special Mommy time while Lucy did a morning of tennis camp