08 September 2007

Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam - "Hi, I'm looking for the Vermeer that isn't always here"



07 September 2007

Utrecht, Netherlands




Where a flying saucer has landed on this building.

Rietveld-Schröder House










Some of Rietveld's chairs as depicted on some tiles decorating the motorway overpass near the house.

06 September 2007

Plantin-Moretus House-Workshops-Museum Complex, Antwerp




Some of the world's oldest printing presses

Brugge, Belgium







One of the most charming old cities in all of Europe

05 September 2007

Notre-Dame Cathedral in Tournai, Belgium
















A really amazing church. It was built between the 12th and 13th centuries, at a time when the cathedral architecture in Europe was moving from Romanesque to Gothic. The Tournai Cathedral itself is a transition from Romanesque to Gothic! You enter the massive pure Romanesque nave, you get to a transept that is early Gothic, and then the choir is pure Gothic. It's really incredible to see this. I've been to many of the most impressive Gothic cathedrals, and I've seen a lot of Romanesque cathedrals, but I had never seen a cathedral that is such an incredible testament to both styles and such an amazing transition between the two. It's under major restoration and there is an archeological dig taking place just before the transept. When I arrived I was really scared that I wouldn't be let in. There were signs saying that it was completely closed. I guess they relaxed that a little, the choir was closed but the nave and the transept for the most part were open and I was able to walk around and see what I wanted to see.

03 September 2007

Place Stanislas, Nancy, France




One of Europe's most remarkable squares, although you wouldn't know it from my picture, but trust me it is.