Went to Delft over the weekend and visited Johannes Vermeer Centre... it was really nice to learn something about the painter... and i learnt that the painting of the girl with the pearl earring... her eyes follow you no matter where you are standing, earning the painting the nickname, "Mona Lisa of the North"
I love his 'Little Street"
We had perfect weather and the light was amazing. Hence, you can only imagine the light the painter himself saw when he painted.
So many things happened in the last week. First was the celebration of Queen's Day in Amsterdam, which turned out to be shocking due to the car crash and reportedly attempted attack on the Royal Family. All the parties and concerts in Netherlands were cancelled, except for Amsterdam. Due to the high volume of people in the city, cancelling it there would have been a terrible idea as the public transport would not have been able to cope and this poses a security issue too. So it carried on. We didn't realise the severity of the whole incident after we came home.
But it was an experience to be in Amsterdam for Koninginnedag. The parties on the boats, complete with DJs who are completeing to be the best party boat, the sheer number of people on the streets and houses that open up their WC to earn $$. It was a sight to behold in a sea of orange!
Then we went to makro and did a massive shopping trip as we were going to throw a BBQ for his parents. But his mother had an attack of giddiness due to her being unable to equalise.. so that was off and we invited some friends over for BBQ instead. it was a good BBQ, enjoyed by everyone with great food, marinated by your truly, with tiger prawns, chicken kerbarbs, anchovy pasta, egg and potatoe salad, beef and skippy! Loved skippy..
And yesterday was Remembrance Day. I didn't know about it.. i forgot H told me about it last week when the trailer for Diary of Anne Frank movie was on, and i was at the tennis courts having a round of tennis. A couple of minutes before 8, my friend told me that we had to stop playing at 8pm. I was like huh? And she explained. 2 minutes of silence to remember the dead. And i did wonder if people will stop mid game to observe the silence. And yes they did. Most of them did, except for 2 courts. Apparently it happened in the gym where H was at too. He noticed that suddenly, the music in the gym was switched off. And when he looked around.. everyone was standing and observing the silence. It is something quite profound.
So after tennis, we just watched Diary of Anne Frank. It was surprising to find out that H, being Dutch, has never read her dairy, while it is a staple in our secondary school literature class. Hrrrmmpp.. thought that all children, especially the dutch or the germans, would have read it. And it was such a coincidence that i was at Anne Frank's Huis in Amsterdam just last week.
And i got the funkiest thing.. a storm umbrella, free from ING after i opened a bank account. I realised the severity of the North Wind after my umbrella was blown inside out. And this Senz umbrella, designed by students in Netherlands, is a hit. Said to have a patented frame withstands 70 MPH gales! (100 km/h). Mine is in orange, but then!
