Tuesday 30 May 2023

Sounds of the city

As we are counting down the days to our UK holiday - which will be less than two weeks away by the time this post is published - I am retracing my steps once more to earlier this month, halting the time machine on Thursday the 17th of May.

This wasn't the usual run of the mill office day as, courtesy of a public holiday in Belgium, I had the day off and thus we were allowed to sleep in just that little bit longer. 


With a sunny aspect and temperatures up to 16°C, it could have been a day full of endless opportunities if one of my migraines hadn't decided to throw a spanner in the works. Although my symptoms are rather mild compared to some, I wasn't up to doing much and I definitely wasn't in the mood to go out for a walk or some such thing.

Nevertheless, I still found reason to dress up, unearthing this long-sleeved vintage dress of many colours from my wardrobe. For some unfathomable reason, it hadn't seen the light of day since the early days of the pandemic in March 2020.



Apart from the pink belt with its green plastic stitching, which was a Mango sales bargain last Summer, my accessories were all of the green variety and either flea market or charity shop finds. The vintage  big-eyed Bambi brooch is ceramic and one of my all-time favourites. It's got leaping deer and teddy bear cousins, all with a tiny chained collar around their necks, the poor things ...



The day was spent with some lazy pottering, starting with photographing my latest specs as promised.

They are dark green on the outside and off-white on the inside, and have translucent pale pink arms. They're from the French Anne & Valentin brand, same as my previous varifocals (see here), now converted to computer glasses.

I also engaged in some holiday prep, jotting down a couple of ideas on what to do and see once we've made it over there. 



While most people were making what we call the bridge, taking Friday off as well, I needed to go into the office. It was a quiet day, so I didn't really mind doing so, as it enabled me to catch up with a couple of things. It was a totally different story when I tried to make my way home, though, as Antwerp's shopping streets were chock-a-block! At 19°C and with non-stop sunshine, I'm sure it was the perfect day for a shopping  trip, but I couldn't get away from the crowds and into the sanctuary of our garden fast enough.



Judging from the flowers in our hanging bucket of strawberries, we are in for a treat, although I've got a niggling feeling that our catsitters, Inneke and Maurice, who will also be looking after some of our plants, will get to enjoy the first harvest. Having made its entrance in Dove Cottage's garden in May 2020, it's going into its 4th season this year. All I've done with it so far, is cut back last year's wilted foliage in Spring, give it a feed and add a fresh layer of compost, which appears to be doing the trick.

Lavender-blue flower spikes almost seem to have sprung up overnight in our Catnip (Nepeta faassenii 'Walker's Low'), while our Cotoneaster bush is alive with bees mad for the nectar provided by its tiny and rather nondescript flowers, their humming providing a meditative soundtrack.



Saturday brought a mixture of sunshine and clouds, the 20°C shown on the thermometer once again toned down considerably by lots of wind. 

If Thursday's outfit had to wait three years for another outing, Saturday's two-piece had an even longer wait to make it out of my wardrobe again. Unless I'm mistaken, I last wore this on a trip to Bruges in April 2019. I know, too many clothes, too little time to wear them all on a regular basis! 



I bought the cobalt blue belt with its massive rectangular buckle at the same time as the pink one in Friday's outfit. Again, the rest of my accessories (beaded necklace, moulded flower ring and metal flower brooch) were second-hand buys, picked up from various charity shops and a flea market over the years.

My shoes are Damart by way of the popup shop but sadly they caused some rubbing to my right foot, which rules out wearing them as an alternative to my Clarks Cloudsteppers on our holiday.

Saturday's outing took us to a local garden centre, as we were on the hunt for a plant watering system to keep our patio pots from dying of thirst during our holiday. We didn't find what we were looking for that day but, on our way back, we stopped at the edge of town charity shop for a browse.  Our finds, which I'll share in a later post, included an Italian made red leather crossbody bag, which got its maiden outing on Sunday!



On Sunday morning, we picked up our friends Inneke and Maurice and drove into Antwerp for a spot of culture.

By pure coincidence, we all turned out to be wearing denim jackets! While Maurice and Jos recently bought theirs on the high street, and mine was a lucky find at Think Twice the other week, Inneke's jacket is home-grown vintage which has been gracing her wardrobe for many years. 

Also note that - again purely by chance - both Inneke and I were wearing red based dresses! Great minds, and all that!



After having left our car in the car park near my office, we walked past the cathedral and into the direction of the Grote Markt, with its row of striking Guild houses, before continuing to the 500-year old Gothic Vleeshuis (Butchers' Hall). If you've been reading my blog for a while, you might remember I passed this iconic building with its façade made of alternating layers of red brick and white sandstone known as bacon layers, during one of my lunch break walks back in April. 

It was a relief to see that the roadworks which had marred my view of the building at the time had finished, so that I was able to properly photograph it before stepping inside.



Although the Butchers' Hall already opened its doors as a museum in 1913, it was only as recent as 2006 that the museum was reborn as Sounds of the City, the exhibits now entirely devoted to 800 years of musical life in Antwerp and the Low Countries.


If you think music and a Butchers' Hall are a strange combination, then rest assured that it isn't as far fetched as originally thought. Music was already being played in the neighbourhood a thousand years ago. Opera, first staged in Antwerp around the corner on the Grote Markt in 1682, was subsequently performed in this very building in the 19th Century.


The streets and alleyways here were littered with cafés where both locals and sailors danced into the early hours to the music produced by dance organs, like the one two collages down on the top left. 

The exhibits include hundreds of historical instruments, ranging from a large selection of harpsichords - Antwerp became the capital of harpsichord building in the 17th century - square pianos, organs, brass instruments, church bells and carillons, as well as a glass harp, to name but a few. 



Along the way, you can find out about famous musicians, minstrels, opera singers and fanfares or brass bands, and there's a multitude of drawers containing a vast collection of historical scores. 

The list is truly endless and we'll have to come back at least once to take it all in, as well as to listen to some of the music available via the museum's app.

I'm sure Kezzie and her husband were itching to try out some of the instruments on display when they visited the museum last year! Perhaps they played the upright piano in the dancehall exhibit in the basement?


Here, one can also admire various examples of the calliope (below, bottom left), the precursor to the jukebox. The basement attendant kindly turned on the magnificent dance organ for us, which was a lot louder than we'd bargained for. 

Jos and I wouldn't have minded taking home the wooden gramophone on the bottom right. 

Other exhibits in the basement include reproductions of a bell foundry, containing original objects from the foundry of the Sergeys family which date back to the 16th Century, and a brass instrument workshop, which contains part of the old Van Engelen workshop which closed in 1970.



Apart from the four of us, there was only one other group of visitors, whom we encountered briefly on our way to the basement, so that we had the place - and the attention of the knowledgeable and talkative attendant - practically to ourselves.


We concluded our cultural outing with a drink in one of the cafés lining the Grote Markt before re-joining our car and returning home.

And here's a look at my outfit of the day! Incredible though it sounds, it was the first outing of this vintage Diolen dress I found at Think Twice last year. Judging from the crispness of the fabric and its overall pristine condition, it might just as well been the dress's first outing ever!



I replaced the dress's original self-fabric tie belt with one of the stretchy belts from my collection. 

Apart from the off-white beaded necklace, which was a charity shop find, my accessories were all bought on the high street, which in case of the ceramic heart brooch was Cardigan's, as it was purchased during our wet Welsh holiday back in 2017.

From a future holiday to a past one, we have neatly come full circle. Hope to see you again in my next post!


42 comments:

  1. The museum looks and must sound fantastic! I love the idea of a harp made of glass, too.

    Fab outfits and lovely colour combinations. What a shame about the shoes rubbing. I have that issue a lot as I have wide feet, but usually manage to 'break' the shoe in eventually. The shoes that rubbed you were a beautiful match to your outfit. Denim jackets all looked great.

    You must be so excited about your holiday; I hope the weather remains fine whilst you're here.
    xxx

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    1. Thank you Vronni! My feet are getting more difficult with age, it seems. I thought I'd be OK with those shoes, since they are Damart! xxx

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  2. Ah, the Vleeshuis! I love your photos. It is one of my favourite museums ever. I really liked the Bell foundry. We werent able to touch anything when we went (we were still wearing masks then) as there were still Covid restrictions.
    OOh, you're coming to the UK- are you in Wales again? xxx

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    1. I'm glad you loved the museum so much. I'd quite forgotten there were still restrictions back then, though. And yes, we're coming to the UK, although not to Wales, we are staying just over the border in Shropshire! xxx

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  3. Also, love your light floral outfits, so pretty and I love that blue belt! You look really pretty and summery in them. It's been warm here but today was cold and blusterys so I'm glad I chose to wear my linen dungarees!

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    1. The weather has been strange, chilly in the mornings and we've been plagued by that eternal blustery wind as well! xxx

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  4. The Vleeshuis looks such an inspiring museum to visit, well worth several return trips, I should think, with all those priceless instruments. I would love to have the vintage gramophone, a thing of rare beauty.

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    1. Thank you Janice! I do love a vintage gramophone! xxx

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  5. here we say: "zwei doofe - ein gedanke" ;-DDD
    thenaks for all the very interesting impressions from your day out with friends..... we had a wonderful "ausflug" last sunday - but i was to busy chatting to long missed friends and eating cake to take photos.......
    good you pulled out the cute frock in pink and yellows - perfect dress for spring!
    xxxx

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    1. Haha, that's funny! I often forget taking photos on outings with friends as well, but I was determined to show you the museum! xxx

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  6. Fascinating museum. I could spend a week in a place like that.
    Beautiful outfits, and what fun having an accidental denim jacket coordinated group photo.
    -Goody

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    1. Thanks Goody! We will be purchasing a museum pass which enables us to return as many times as we like and visit lots of other museums too! xxx

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  7. That photo of you, Jos, Inneke and Maurice in denim is hilarious - you look like you should be in a band - maybe Belgium's 2024 Eurovision entry!
    Fabulous outfits - isn't it scary when you look back on old blog posts and realise it's been years since you last worn a certain garment? I ought to be ashamed of how many clothes I have but it doesn't stop me adding more to my collection!
    Your garden is looking fabulous. Try Amazon for an irrigation system. We've got one for the pots and window boxes for when we're away, they're really easy to set up and pretty cheap, too.
    What a shame your new sandals rubbed. I've always looking out for those Cloudsteppers in your size when I'm out and about and although they do pop up in charity shops they're always too big for your dainty feet.
    The Butcher's Hall museum looks fascinating. I'd leave the musical instruments to Jon, it's the wallpaper and the Scala Festival poster that really catch my eye!
    Two weeks tomorrow....I'm so excited! xxx

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    1. I'm not sure any of us can hold a tune though :-)
      Although I loved seeing all these different instruments, I was fascinated by the wallpaper and posters too! xxx

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  8. Antwerp is wonderful and great you went again to the butchers hall. this music museum is very interesting.
    I think it's great that you only have to wait 2 weeks for your vacation. 🧳
    with a huge hug Tina

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    1. Thank you Tina, and only 4 days at the time of writing! xxx

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  9. How funny that you were all dressed in denim jacket and you and Ineke in red dresses. Gerben and I always mention what we are going to wear when we go out, otherwise we often end up wearing the same print or colours. And we don't want to look like a ANWB couple, lol. In two weeks to the UK! Oh gosh sigh, and everything else. We didn't went in our may holiday, pfff, I miss it. Fabulous to look forward to that isn't it! Have a great day!

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    1. Thank you Nancy! Only 4 more days, I'm super excited! xxx

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  10. Was für tolle farbenfrohe Kleider, steht dir super. LG Romy

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  11. As ever, your outfits are a delight and that cute Bambi brooch was a cheery sight on what is once again a grey and cool day here in the UK.
    I had some alpine strawberry plants that produced an impressive harvest every year for a number of years and I didn't lavish any attention on them at all, so it definitely looks as though you're in for a treat.
    How funny that you all reached for your denim jackets that morning! That said, they work with everything don't they?
    Butchers' Hall is a fascinating place with its bacon layers, history and exhibits. Like Vix, I was drawn to that festival poster and the old photos.
    So glad you had a lovely day out with friends. xxx

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    1. Thank you Claire! We do have some alpine strawberries as well, which seem to be multiplying every year without any intervention from my part whatsoever ...
      I seem to be wearing my denim jackets (plural :-)) a lot in Summer. They're both coming to Shropshire! xxx

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  12. What a fascinating museum, how lucky you were to have the place practically to yourselves. I hate museums when they are crowded, is hard to see anything. I am in the lookout for a denim jacket too, I want one that is 'worn in', looking like I have had it for years! I hope that the weather brightens up for your holiday, it's quite like winter here at present.

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    1. Thanks Carole! I'm not exactly a fan of crowded museums myself. And I get why you want a denim jacket that is "worn in", which is why mine is second hand! xxx

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  13. I'm in love with that multicoloured dress and the matchy pink belt which enhances all the fab pinkiness!, and the cute brooch!. Totally understand you about the 'too many clothes' ;DD but still shopping a little bit more.
    That cute floral dress in yellow and orange and blue shades is really lovely, that cobalt blue accessories rock it and the brooch is such a fab piece!. Sorry that those shoes were not as comfy as they look, so annoying!.
    What an amazing museum!, so interesting!. And it's so funny that all you were wearing denim jackets (and you and your friend wore red dresses!), totally 'great minds', as this kind of jacket is fab for spring, and red&denim rocks!. And that's a really fab red dress, love its bold geometric pattern, colour and style, and love how you accessorized it (so amazing that it was probably its first outing!).
    Looking forward to read your next post!. We'll not going to UK this year, which makes me feel a little bit sad not only because of missing it but also because not having the chance to meet you. But I'm keeping hope!
    besos
    besos


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    1. Thank you Monica! Only 4 days to our UK holiday now ... I'm taking both my denim jackets :-) Oh and I keep hoping that one day we'll meet too! xxx

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  14. I like your dress very much :)

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  15. I am sure you will have a wonderful holiday! The countdown is on! I'm glad you got to enjoy a public holiday and sleep in. That first dress is so gorgeous. The colours are incredible. I love your new glasses! The frames are fantastic. Also, can I just say that your cobalt blue accessories are the best? You always find the most incredible pieces. I'm glad you were able to have a good day with friends! Love that you all turned up in denim jackets. It definitely made for a good photo! What a fun day that must have been.

    the creation of beauty is art.

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    1. Thank you Shannon! The countdown is definitely on, only 4 more days now! xxx

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  16. I really like that long sleeved dress of many colours. I love how you styled it with a pink belt and green necklace. Green accessories match this dress quite nicely. It was a lovely look.
    The other dresses you wore are also really pretty. I love your colourful vintage style.

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    1. Thank you Ivana! I should definitely wear that dress more! xxx

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  17. Oh, I'm so sorry you had that awful headache! Those are never fun. I'm in love, this time, with the blue/green dress! Such lovely colors on you! But then again...the red...Lolol...TOO hard to choose!
    hugs
    Donna

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    1. Thank you Donna, and thankfully the migraine has gone ... for now! xxx

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  18. Oh, goodness, I'm falling behind! That yellow/pink dress is marvelous, Ann - I would wear that! I spy the twin of my metal floral brooch/earrings! Your new specs remind me very much of a pair of L's Theo ones - very cool.

    That's so funny that everyone wore a jean jacket! You know you're a fashion influencer when...everyone you know "got the memo"!

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    1. Never mind Sheila! I'll be falling behind soon enough!
      You're right, that flower brooch could have been a twin of yours! xxx

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  19. I have to confess I haven't really been in Belgium we just drove through. We slept in our car somewhere in the woods of Belgium some years ago. It rained that night non stop. Antwerp seems to be a place to see ...

    xxx Regula

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    1. It doesn't always rain in Belgium, Regula :-) xxx

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  20. I love all the different denim jackets! what an interesting museum. Love the red dress too. xx

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    1. Thank you Gisela! I can't believe we never visited that museum before! xxx

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  21. I love the dress of many colours - it's such a cool print.

    That museum looks really fascinating. No stealing gramophones!

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    1. Thank you Mim! It was very tempting though :-) xxx

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