Research trip: Belgium & the Netherlands

Yesterday, Serge and I finally found the chocolate pizza in the frozen section that he was telling me about!

This was the pattern in the basement of the public library in Amsterdam that screens the bathrooms from the storage lockers. I love being in a place that allows lockers, as I live in a country that is too terrified to be practical.

At the very top of the library is a glorious view of the city, and the day I left was bright and sunny.

The Amsterdam trip was a last minute gift to myself, to have a moment where I didn't have to be taking notes or thinking of good questions to ask. I love the pavers used for streets and sidewalks because it makes repairs a lot easier than tearing up the road.

I only visited the Van Gogh Museum and the Rijksmuseum (left and center), which was too much for  a day but I don't regret trying.

This room of an elaborate and huge dollhouse reminded me of paper drying lofts, even if it's really just a linen room.

Aside from a bowl in another room, this was about all they had of Korean pieces in the Rijksmuseum, but that makes sense as it focuses mostly on Dutch culture and history (and really hammers home how incredibly wealthy they were, and the access to other places they had because they were such excellent sailors).

The city trip was after I had a beautiful visit with Peter and Pat in their home and studio. It was great to finally meet these important paper artists and see their work in person.

The research bit was about Peter's beater, though of course the life's work is all connected, which I had first seen two years ago in Vienna. I got to see one in action and the other at rest with its wonderful bedplate and all.

In Brussels I had a visit to the Magritte Museum, which was much more interesting than I had expected. It's always nice to be pleasantly surprised.

I also visited their musical instrument museum, which was very thorough. I was interested in the lacing on these drums, and fascinated to see so many bagpipe-type instruments made from animal skins from many different parts of the world.

On our drive from Brussels into the mountains, I saw the disposable gloves at the gas station. I'm more used to seeing these for mixing food in Korea rather than for diesel fuel.

Serge has been an amazing host (here he is sewing the facing of a wove mold that will be shipped to Cleveland). He has an insane amount of info on many topics besides English mould making, his specialty. He was especially kind and forgiving this morning when I did the worst thing possible: I erased all of the photos from our trip to his teacher's widow in England. !!! I am still horrified by my carelessness. He had taken time off of work, arranged the visit and booked lodging, drove from Belgium through France through the tunnel to Maidstone, and then did the reverse commute. He can at some point return to re-scan these images, but what I did was horrible. I saw them on one drive, didn't put them onto my other drive, and then formatted the first drive. One minute they were there and the next, gone.

This is the marvelous loom that he bought from his late teacher, Ron Macdonald, in action. It's a gorgeous machine. We are now on our second trip into the countryside and return tomorrow to the city so that I can repack for my final country on Sunday: Germany.