Antwerp 1914 - 1918

 

A highlight of this commemorative programme is the contemporary reconstruction of the 1914 pontoon bridge, symbolising the connection between the past, present and future. The temporary pontoon bridge across the River Scheldt near Steen Fortress will be built by Belgian and Dutch engineer battalions. The bridge allowed a lot of people of the city to flee to the UK or Holland on the 7th of Octobre 1914.

 

 

So, as my dad and I are from Antwerp, we had to corss the bridge as our forefathers. We managed to get some of the 100,000 tickets that were available, but not together, so my parents, kids and au pair crossed the bridge in the morning.

 

The bridge while people are crossing it in the morning.

 



Waiting for the crossing, I guess 100 years ago, people were not laughing as there was panic as the Germans were advancing on the city...

All th eboats that have to push the bridge against the very strong current of the River Scheldt.

Once crossed, there were a lot of activities.

 

Every now and then the bridge has to be broken up to change boat positions as the River Scheldt has tides or if the boats needs to be fueled or if schips have to pass...

 

The city showed herself at her best for the tourists I guess. All these pictures were not taken by me, but by our au pair or my dad.

The boys and Mum as they are crossing the bridge.

Son #1 and our au pair.

 

Allmost at the other side.

 

One of the activities.

 

In the evening, DH and I went to the city to cross the bridge, but we first went out to diner.

 

 

Had a bite to eat at comocomo, great tapas.

 

But when we left the restaurant it started raining, luckily we got one of the last umbrellas at one of the tourist shops... as this was the line at 22.00.

At 22.30, we crossed the bridge, in a full blown storm, it added to teh atmosphere, as it rained,was cold and windy and everybody wanted to cross the bridge as fast as possible.

 

On the other side, the view was spectacular.

And yes, we did it, it has a strange feeling to know that this was the way many people were able to get away from the city you were born... But I am glad we had the opportunity.

 

MAS

Son #2 and 3 had a birthday party in the city of Antwerp, so we decided to visit the MAS, a museaum where they have brought several collections together. I must say it was spectacular to go to the roof and see the city from another angle. There was also a stand where you could write a message and place it in a glass bottle and if you left one, you take another onwe with you, so we are anxious to see what someone else wrote...
We finished our visit with some mussels with french fries which we bought from a local charity that was having a fundraiser.  Great idea, great mussels.

Today - one year ago

 

Today, one year ago, I was standing on top of the Empire State Building. Wish I was there again... Sigh...

Hospital

Oh yeah, on wednesday son #2 had his cast taken off and on Friday night we are back in the ER...
Playing soccer, he kicked against a concrete border instead of the ball and his toe was black and blue and he had three lacerations on his foot...
So, we spent the whole friday evening in the ER waiting rooms, waiting to been seen by a nurse, waiting for X-rays, waiting to be seen by a doctor...
= a bad sprain of his toe and foot, the three lacerations and two weeks no sports...

Training

 

Fire Fighter training, yes, on tuesday and today, tomorrow first aid, Ihave my refreshers this week, so I am all set again. Had a great time, had a great time, quite some laughs and good teacher who.

And at th end, we are still laughing, so it was a good training day. And no, we didnt loose the other, they were still inside the building battling the backdraft exercise.

First day of school

 

Ah, this morning it was D-day. The end of summer holiday and the first day of school.

 

And son #2 got his good cast, in fluo yellow...

Last weekend before thenew schoolyear

As it was the last weekend before the schoolyear, DH and I took friday off that spend a last weekend with the kids. On friday monring we left for Aachen in Germany, were we spent the day.

 

The sun wasnt always shining but it was warm, so we had a nice day. We had a wedding the next day just across the border in Holland, so we stayed in a hotel in the village where the wedding party took place.



 

The next morning we had some time over before the wedding, so we took the kids to a local museum, which said in the brochure that it was about the local customs, mining activities, etc.

 

But once we entered the museum (which was free admission), it turned out to be a kids museum where they had all sorts of activities for kids. It is called Continium. There is also a kis laboratory, where they can make all sort of stuff, like:

SLIME...

A solar powered fan

 



a roman catapult

 



 A dino house

 



 

So it turned out that we didn t see much of the mueum, as we had to leave to go to the wedding.

I couldnt resist this picture of my cousins mustache tatoo...

Great wedding, fun party and a the end, we spent today in the museum as well. As the admission was still free, we looked through all the exhibitions and the kids, made a car that drives itself, some hairgell, shampoo, and a rocket launcher... So we really had a great weekend.

TGIF, I think not

Well, no TGIF for son #2. He broke his wrist earlier this afternoon. I was called at work to please and come pick him up as he had a nasty fall and they thought he needed to go to hospital, so I left work immediately and drove up to the Speelpleinen and found him sleeping and really looking pale. As he is not a complainer, I took him to the ER, where the nurse said that it was probably nothing, so I asked if the doctor could have a look at it and he send us for x-rays. And yep, he broke his wrist, so 6 weeks in a cast... great way to start the new schoolyear...

Bean stalk

 

Because it is hot with a lot of rain, our beans grow and grow. My dad blanted some plants a couple of weeks ago and as DH and I are not really green people, I thought this would never work, but look, the plants give a lot of beans. We already ate twice from them.

Family weekend

On Friday we gathered for our annual family weekend, as we were only allowed on the premises after 15.00, DH took the boys to Snowworld for some summer skiing. I had to wrok, so they went with the four guys only, it looks like they had a great time to me and the kids loved it.

I had some difficulty getting there as the traffic was terrible, even though it is summer holiday, but I managed to get there after dinner...

 

The next day started with rain, but luckily it stooped soon enough and we had a very nice day, it was even warm in the afternoon.

 

My parents had their 46th wedding anniversary while we were there, so there was cake...

 

After dinner, the kids were allowed to make smores and they loved it. In the morning they had been making flares.

So son #1 couldnt wait to light one... He couldnt even wait until it was dark...

We had great fun around the campfire with what apping to family that wasnt present, yes, I know, modern day youth... But we spent some family time together.

And this morning we had to clean up before we left, so we also had to get the frisbee that was on the roof, as it was not ours. So DH suggested to just lift one of the boys on the roof. And they did it safe, as he was wearing a helmet...

 

TGIF

OK, the weekend is coming, just a couple of more hours. Hang in there.

Paper due

I saw this C&H and I realised time is ticking away and I need to work on the adaptation of my paper. It is due end of the month, so I need to get my butt in gear.



Farmers market

This morning we visited a local farmers market and one farmer sold differnt sorts of cauliflowers, the white ones we normally eat, the green ones but today he had purple ones, and they made me think of the purple minions.
I know, sometimes, my brain is taking me on weird thinking paths, so we bought one, the kids looked horrified that I mentioned we would eat it... but we already had great fun with it, taking pictures.