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Y turned nine this week. Part of celebrating that is visiting Legoland and Lego House in Billund.
Especially Lego House was a lot of fun, spending a full day building stuff in a relaxed and not overly crowded environment. You can leave the venue for lunch or a walk outside and re-enter again.
Y climbing a huge Lego brick in front of Lego House
Lego mosaic image of us three at Lego House
The weekend after my birthday I flew to Zurich, and spent the weekend with dear friends H and P, who both live in Switzerland. We visited the mountains and enjoyed being outside. Good to catch up, and good to be in the mountains. Seeing mountains has a calming effect on me.
At Oeschinensee near Kandersteg
Eiger north face at Kleine Scheidegg
Monday morning I had some time to myself in Zürich (as I did Friday afternoon arriving). I browsed a book store and enjoyed coffee looking out over the lake.
Coffee on Lake Zurich
In celebration of my birthday E and Y took me to the Voorlinden museum for lunch and exploring the current exhibitions. The weather was great, it was a relaxed day.
E and Y waving from inside a pool (by Leandro Erlich, 2016), me standing at the pool side
An attic room, by Hans op de Beeck
Enjoying the view from a bench inside Voorlinden museum
The last days of April and the first days of May, we spent a week in the southern most part of the Netherlands, in the hills of Zuid-Limburg.
It didn’t quite take me away from all the stress, driving home I teared up thinking about how I would have to work the next day (and decided I wouldn’t). But walking through the country side and exploring Maastricht city and the marl underground quarry beneath the St. Pieter plateau was enjoyable.
Today I hung four ‘blues’ linocuts by Diana Huijts above Y’s drum kit. I bought them over the Christmas holidays, after having them on my wishlist for four years.
Diana Huijts is an artist living and working in our former hometown Enschede. We already have two prints in our living room from Huijts Alpha Tower series. The Alpha Tower is a sky line dominating highrise in Enschede, built in 2008. Huijts made a series of lino’s in 2009 and 2010, akin to the Hokusai series of Mount Fuji, from different perspectives (both geographically and socially) in and around Enschede. I look at them with pleasure every single day.
She made these lino cuts of musicians a few years later, 2015-2016. I took an instant liking to them when I first came across them. May it inspire Y as she practices her drums on our top floor.
We’re visiting Berlin this week.
Arriving yesterday, heading out for dinner we realised our hotel is one block away from Beta Haus.
Which is where we visited the last time we were here, a decade ago. In between a baby happened and a pandemic. Now Y is at an age she enjoys exploring a city as well. So here we are, back after ten years. First impression is it still feels much the same as last time, with much that attracts me and as much that pushes me away. I’m curious to hear what Y will think about the EU’s largest city.
Walking past Betahaus last night