Friday 10 June 2011

My Tweet Lord...

(subtitled 'When I Went Down To The Woods Today')

I'm just back from a couple of days in HollandI do love being around Dutch people. It feels and sounds so familiar and nostalgic and the simple flavour of Dutch cooking brings back many childhood memories of home-cooked meals at Oma's table. 

I'd never ventured beyond Amsterdam before and so it was with delight that I found myself in the North Brabant province in the town of 's-Hertogenbosch (which translated means The Duke's Woods, and is often shortened by the natives to the more easily pronounce-able Den Bosch, or The Woods).

While the days themselves were filled with meetings, Thursday evening gave me the opportunity to walk around the city with my colleague (a local) before dinner.  It's absolutely beautiful and historically rich with the remains of its medieval fortifications, the old buildings, the fountains (based on this visit, I have decided that the Dutch have a touch of OCD around fountains) and the thing that makes Dutch towns...well, Dutch - canals.  Here's a short pictorial walkabout of my evening in 'The Woods':

Crossing the Canal to the Medieval City centre
The 'neat as a pin' town square
The medieval well (in the town square) unfortunately covered over
The Town Hall
Statue of artist Jeroen Bosch
A statue I liked in a side street
Excellent signage in another side street
But there was one thing that was so perverse and unexpected that it was the thing that inspired me to post about the trip in the first place.  The cathedral was undergoing a refurbishment and there was a desire to represent the 'new generation' by including a modern angel in the pantheon - so here she is...

...on her mobile:
Nothing like a direct line to the Big Guy Upstairs eh?

4 comments:

Travel With Lulu said...

I would love to take the family there soon - I haven't been since college. Also dying to see the bulbs :)XOL

Unknown said...

Happy Homermaker UK, I have seen so many amazing photos of the acres and acres of tulips in Holland that I think my brain hasn't registered that they are real so like you, I love to see them 'for real'!

Linda A. said...

I'm catching up so missed that you had been in 'my neck of the woods' (generally speaking) recently. I'm in The Hague, but that's only an 60+ minutes driving from Northern Brabant and Den Bosch. Lovely area.

JANE said...

Love that angel! Got to love the Dutch . . . there's a surprise round every corner!